reflection

I have been reading up on landscape photography, and while my focus will be on lifestyle, I would still like to learn the basics of how to take a good landscape photo. I don't own an ideal lens for landscape, so I debated on whether I should use my "nifty fifty" lens or my zoom lens for these and I decided to go with my zoom. They are not nearly as sharp as I envisioned, but I didn't use a tripod (which would have been helpful). I wanted to capture the reflection of the trees and the clouds on the lake in the late afternoon.

With the next two photos I was experimenting with something I learned: if the sky is lackluster the foreground should take up 2/3 of the frame and sky 1/3 and vice versa. I tried it both ways because the sky had some pretty cool clouds I wanted to capture and I also wanted to capture the reflection of the clouds on the lake.