Yup. Don't be discouraged.
I also shoot lots of cannot-make-it pictures.
Maybe I'm more forgiving to myself.
I still post on whatever website.
There are two parts in the journey of learning photography.
One part is the artistic part. Photography is just like painting or drawing.
The other part is the technical part. The medium itself requires technical knowledge and mastery of equipment.
I decided to learn the technical side first before the artistic side
You can set yourself goals in both technical side and art side. That way you will feel encouraged everytime you achieve a goal.
You can start learning either way or even both ways. But you have to know that a sharp photo is a technical achievement and a photo that makes you keep looking at it is an art thing.
The idea is to see what you like about other photos, and analyse what is good about it before trying to achieve that effect.
I recommend you visit
www.photo.net to see some examples of some good photos. (just don't look at mine hehe. They suck.)
There are many elements to making a good photo.
Composition: Rule of thirds for example... Don't always put the focus of the picture in centre, unless there are 'lines' in the picture that leads to the centre.
Sharpness/Focus: Are your pictures sharp where they're supposed to be? If they are blur, isit cos your shutter speed not fast enuff for your focal length? Camera shake in hand? Should you use tripod? Or is the subject moving too fast?
Choice of background in relation to subject in foreground: Does the background make the subject stand out or enhance the look of the subject? Or is it too messy and not blurred out enough? Does the background explain or complete the story of the subject?
Give yourself goals to achieve so you can feel good once you've achieved them, and go on to give yourself new goals.
That said, you can choose to ignore everything I've said... cos I'm also a beginner :bsmilie: