My Nikon D3200 arrived today (props to cameta camera for super fast shipping).
I snapped a few pics all on auto settings but I thought I would share.
Any comments are welcomed. I also would like to know how I can improve the 3rd picture. The colors look terrible (yellow sky). Should this be fixed in post editing or it is settings related?

first one:
if only the bush to the left wasnt there. it would make it look so much better.

second one:
this photo is meh for me. its a bit bland and boring.

third one:
reasons for the yellow sky and such is your auto white balance and shooting in auto.
i generally dont like pictures like these simply because there is to much happening. (i mean garden photos and such. unless you have a clear focal (ex a person or object) its a bit hard to look at)

overall learn to your settings in manual mode and then switch to aperture priority or shutter priority. using pure manual most of the time is just not convenient in shooting unless you are in a place where you have static lighting that doesnt vary. the framing and composition seems to be pretty decent in the three photos something not typical to a new photographer as well as the focus seems to be pretty accurate.

tl;dr first photo good, rest are meh. got some concepts down. get away from auto and learn manual then semi manual modes.

This post was edited by AbDuCt on Apr 17 2013 03:08pm

id focus on a bright spot near the bench and press half the button so the autofocus reacts. Choose your part of the picture now and press the trigger so you get a pic. You should have better colours than but the sky still will be very bright.

I have one question and one note to add.

First, if I want to try and take some pictures of the stars (without an equatorial mount) and other stuff at night. what settings should I aim for and how should I focus at that distance? I tried last night but it was cloudy in some spots and I had trouble.
I know (think) it should be a low shutter speed and I assume large aperture?

Secondly, I just wanted to give another +1 to Cameta Camera. They were great for what I needed. Way cheaper than buying a new camera but Im pretty much getting a new one. Looks flawless, shutter count is barely over 100, and comes with the standard accessories.
The reduced price really helped to pursued me to purchase.

This post was edited by AXIS on Apr 18 2013 09:12pm

i would purchase a tripod as well as a remote. once you have those two accessories you are going need to go somewhere where there isnt any light pollution. (mountains, farm lands, etc) the next part is trial and error. i usually set my camera to bulb mode (shutter stays open as long as the remote is locked in) a wide open aperture with the lens set to infinite focusing mode (normally maxed out and then turned back slightly). it normally takes longer than what any shutter setting you have preset to take a good star photo. id start at 5 minutes and work your way up. its most likely better suited when you go camping and such or if you have friends to hang out with because you will almost definitely be out there for many hours take photos.

that being said you are at 2 downfalls. 1 you dont have a high powered zoom lens or telescope adapter. and 2 you dont have a equatorial mount to rotate your camera at the earths rotation. meaning that you will never get those cool looking nebula photos. although you can do some other pretty cool things like star lines and such. also just a tip. it normally takes about 10 minutes before star lines start appearing in your photos so watch out for that.

I shot some more today all in full manual it its getting easier to dial in the settings.
Although I did miss out on a few good shots due to over esposure and blur, I found it was easy to get fairly crisp and clear images with a little trial and error.

A couple more questions:
What gives some images really vivid and bright colors? I was shooting some very colorful plants and while the pictures turned out ok and the sky was a nice blue instead of yellow, I would like to see some more vivid results.
What rule or guidelines do you guys use to set aperture? I was just kinda switching between max and min mostly and using the iso and shutter speed to dial the rest in.

It isn't about guidelines really. It's about knowing what these things are. If you find out what aperture really is and what it means as well as how shutter speed and aperture affect the amount of light that hits a sensor, then you will begin understanding why your photos turn out the way they do. There's also the ISO to think about. This is all about exposure.

max aperture generally does not give good results, try avoiding anything above f/16
good light gives good colors/saturation/vibrance = vivid images
overcast skys will make it look alot more dull
bright midday sun will also kill the colors

If you don't have a specific look in mind f/16 is good for sunny days, f/11 for cloudy and like f/8 is the max for shade. If you have a good high shutter speed you can stop down to get better bokeh but you shouldn't shoot with direct overhead light. Especially not people because then you get raccoon eyes.

Cloudy days although dull are good practice for soft light on skin. Editing can fix the dull colors assuming you shoot RAW. Shade is usually way too dark so off camera flash helps for dual exposures unless you have a good lens.. The lower the f-stop the more light your sensor picks up because the more open the lens is.

Another good rule if you don't have a particular exposure in mind that also uses the f-stops I posted in the previous sentences is take your ISO for example ISO 100 shutter speed 1/100 (ISO 200 with shutter speed 1/200 etc). then choose the appropriate aperture according to your lighting situation. this works really well outside in sun and on cloudy days. it works pretty well as a start then you can tweak it from there if you can't get an accurate reading off your light meter.