Hi I'm Eddie and I'm a fairly recent beginner to photography(getting into it during 2018 and buying a camera in early 2020). I use a Lumix-Panasonic-DMC-ZS50 for most of my photography but have to use my Samsung for macrophotography of insects or arthropods. Mainly I think composition and exposure are where I intend to improve, especially with composition since I'm such a newbie. However, I definitely need to get better at using manual focuses for getting closer pictures as well. I do exclusively nature photography since it aligns with my chosen career of biology(currently doing my major in Biology) and I find it quite enjoyable. I never really learned with any technical classes and did most of my experimenting in random forests I came across along with the Virginia Living Museum which I worked at for some time. This is probably why my composition ability is pretty lackluster. Hopefully I can get better at these things over the next few years, but here are some of my fairly recent photos that show my regular quality.
Hi Eddie, welcome to the forum. Your experience is much the same as all of us - practice makes perfect and it is useful to see how others go about their photography. You can get lots of help on here. To get detailed comments on photos post them in the section labelled 'Appraisal'. It is best to stick to one at a time otherwise it can get very confusing if there are several people commenting and cross-referencing each other's posts. Outside of Appraisals the convention is to not comment in any critical way. I like your thunderstorm shot, that is very good.
Hi, composition rules vary depending upon subject, use the rule of thirds ( place the focus of view on intersection of line), leading lines, mirroring, I could go on, Books on how to paint can teach you how to use composition, there maybe photography books, but I find art books show the basics best.
