D60 Pics - C&C please!

I have tried some PP for these pics using PhotoScape. I am curious to know if I am on right track. Want to learn the art of dslr photography and PP.
Would welcome C&C.

'] http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/johnkathi/lights.jpg[/IMG] [/URL]

'] http://i608.photobucket.com/albums/tt167/johnkathi/rose.jpg[/IMG] [/URL]

Seems there's some problem with my previous post.
Here are the pics.

Pic 1: Nice. Maybe the background is too busy, maybe you could have covered up the banners between the columns with the rose.

Pic 2: Nice. I'm guessing you put a feathered mask around the sky, and filled it with blue to block out the heavily noisy sky. I can see a slight purple glow around the lights, and the bottom right sky is purple and noisy too. Am I right?

I'd probably have to find out more before I give more CC. It might just be vignetting on this photo.

Thanks Hynee, for your comments!

For Pic 2, I don't know much about the technical terms you used in your comment but what I have done is just used the Auto level to turn the sky from gray into blue and sharpend the picture a little bit.

Maybe I will try to learn some technical aspects of PP which I believe will help me in understanding and receiving the tips from the forum in the future.
Thanks again.

Hi John

First pic has a busy background and there seems to be some noise in the shot with the lights. Not bad for first effort though.

Photoshop Elements is a good starting point for learning to process digital photos. Scott Kelby writes a great, straightforward "how to" book and also has a good website with lots of tips.

Start with a simple workflow: crop, levels, shadows/highlights, maybe some saturation tweaks, sharpen, done. Keep it simple and work up from there.

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Nikon D90, 16-85VRII, 50 f1.8
Canon A590IS

Thanks Morgan, for your suggestions.
I shall follow them.

It seems I have worked too much on the second pic. In the original pic, there was no noise at all. I will take care next time.

Apart from what everyone already mentioned, I think the two photos would have looked better with a portrait crop. The second would have been better if there were clouds in the background otherwise it's just a silhouette in front of a blue backdrop. It just seems too empty.

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RomeoD

http://www.flickr.com/rcdizon