rmalarz Loc: Tempe, Arizona

Those are good choices. Your selection of manual is a good choice. I'd stay away from auto anything, especially ISO. You're the photographer and in command of the situations.
--Bob

dbfalconer Loc: Salida CO

All these are good suggestions and tips. I’m new at this too but in my opinion your photos are very good! The portraits have a contemplative quality with nice background blur (called bokeh). The flower would be sharper using a tripod but is interesting nonetheless. The lighthouse has good composition. I just took a Composition class at my local photo club: the teacher said, “Throw out the Rule of Thirds!” In other words, rules are good to keep in mind but are also made to be broken!
I enjoy this forum because I have learned so much here (though I am not in the big league of $$$$$ equipment.) And my small local, non-competitive photo club has some amazing photographers eager to help. You might like a local critique circle, too. Check with local clubs or camera stores. Good luck!

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

There is always something to learn and something to improve. Shooting in manual mode means making lots of changes. I shooting in either Aperture priority of Auto.

leftj Loc: Texas

It's good to see someone be honest about shooting in Auto. There will always be a time and place for Auto especially when you are shooting on the fly. Almost anything that is wrong in Auto can be fixed in post, even if you are shooting jpg.

PhotosByCat Loc: Baltimore, OH

Being a new by myself it’s not always easy to determine who is a known expert instructor. Some can be great photographers but crappy instructors.

leftj Loc: Texas

Just do your research.

rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

I think your photos are basically good. Try the "rule of thirds" for placement of your subject and general organization of the photographic field. Experiment with other settings (focus, shutter speed, aperture) until you get what you want. Good start!!

anotherview Loc: California

Yous write: "I have the camera set to manual mode and I select the aperture and Sutter speed but if I move from place to the other where there is change in light I have to set the shutter speed again in order to get a correct exposed image. I was wondering if this is normal."

Yes, in manual mode, correcting the shutter speed becomes necessary (and normal) when the light changes, assuming you leave both the aperture and ISO settings unaltered.

Let me please suggest you study the exposure triangle to learn the relation of the three main exposure settings to gain a correct exposure.

You write: "sometimes the pictures come up kind of blurry."

Generally, a blurry photograph happens from a shutter speed set too low for the conditions -- such as handheld shooting. The rule of thumb for handheld shooting says to set the shutter speed to match the effective focal length. Here, with the Canon 50mm lens, the shutter speed would then become 1/50 second.

This matter becomes a little complicated because some lenses have image stablization (IS) which allows shooting at much lower shutter speeds than otherwise -- up to four stops lower. So instead of a shutter speed of 1/50 second, you could shoot at 1/2 second, handheld.

The Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens, however, does not have IS.

Recommendation: When shooting handheld with this lens, set the shutter speed at twice the shutter speed called for: 1/125 second.

As well, use handheld techniques to minmize the effect of any movement on your part.

Because a craft, photography requires learning by doing. So practice taking photographs while you learn from both your mistakes and your successes.

Online videos may help you to learn photography. Yet, you may also benefit from attendng a workshop that explains camera operation basics, and the same for editing your photographs. Workshops can ease the daunting prospect of learning photography.

Your posted photographs show that you have talent for doing photography. Now you have to keep at it over time. You will improve your photographic work.

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Welcome to the Hog Lianet, very good set of pictures.

srt101fan

Forgive me, but I can't let your statement "Almost anything that is wrong in Auto can be fixed in post..." go unchallenged.

How about image blur (induced by subject and/or camera motion) because Auto picks too low a shutter speed? Or, too much depth of field because Auto picks an aperture that doesn't give you the blurred background you wanted? Or the camera didn't focus on the area of the image most critical to you? Or the meter being misled because it "thinks" that a white cat is actually grey?

I think Auto is great for some situations but less than adequate in others.

leftj Loc: Texas

What part of "almost" do you not understand?

camerapapi Loc: Miami, Fl.

In the first place, welcome to the forum. Whenever you use manual exposure mode if there is a change in lighting you have to readjust the exposure. You certainty have a good eye and I believe, if you are not into it yet, that learning basic photography should help you improve on your images. There should be instructions at high schools and if you live in Miami at the Dade County Community College so just look for them. Libraries are a good source to find books on photography. To know your camera should be the first step so keep on reading and learning the functions in camera that can improve on your photography.
Photo Clubs are also an excellent source for learning. You will always find veteran shooters there willing to give you expert advise and the critique sessions are most useful to learn.
You are still too "green" in photography and you have a lot to learn but your images are telling me that you are doing fine. Because composition is such an important part of the photographic process and because you are looking for help I took two of the images and cropped them to taste with a better visual design. Your fourth image should look better without amputating any extremity and try always to do so for portraits of the whole body.
I hope the modifications I have made to your images meet your taste.

SusanFromVermont Loc: Southwest corner of Vermont

You are on the right track. Photos show you have the eye. However, one of my pet peeves is photos where the legs and/or feet are cut off when they could have/should have been included!

The suggestion to study the exposure triangle is something you should follow through on. [ISO - Shutter Speed - Aperture] = [Sensitivity to light - light gathering - depth of field] Each of them affects the other - a change in one may need to be compensated for with a change in one or both of the others.

Suggestions for where to find good instruction - also check out CreativeLive.com. They have a segment called "On Air" where they broadcast video tutorials for free on many different subjects. The photography videos I have seen have been excellent, very good instructors, you just have to tune in when they are on and watch. The website does want to make money, so the videos are also for sale if you like one well enough to want to refer to it again. Many photographers have their own websites and offer tutorials, some free, some for a fee, and a lot of them also have workshops. Go online and search for photographers in your area. Some whose websites I have followed are: Matt Kloskowsky [MattK], Ben Willmore, PHLEARN [Aaron Nace].

James R. Kyle Loc: Saint Louis, Missouri (A Suburb of Ferguson)

If there is a "Camera Club" in your area = Join Up.

If Not - or the distance is too far to meet-up with one. = READ. READ EVERYTHING.

Here is a Name = Bryan Peterson.

ALL of his books are very good - You might begin with "Understanding Exposure".

AND Too = there are a whole "gaggle" of VIDs on YouTube to watch and learn from.

Welcome to the Art and Science of Photography..... And to the UHH Forum.

-0-

hookedupin2005 Loc: Northwestern New Mexico

You might try Apeture priorty, and let the camera set shutter and ISO settings... and a tripod is great advice.