Well what can I say...a lot actually, so let me try to go with the most important things, tech stuff first: If you really wanne get the most out of it, buckle down and f*ck the automatic functions as much as possible. What do I mean? Try to rid yourself of:
-auto ISO, that is the sensitivity of the sensor, higher you put it the lesser exposure time you need but you get more grain. Looks like you used some in those test pics. Put it on manual and have it as low as you can while retaining proper shutter times (not shaking things up)
-auto aperture, that is what determines the depth of field. Lower number = less sharp parts of the pic. Your first one is a good example. This is one of your main creative controlls. For landscapes you wanne have more clear parts, so higher numbers. Detail shots call for lower numbers, portraits especially. For that professional cool look you will generally wanne go low.
-partially auto shutterspeed. I generally work with the A mode, where you set the aperture yourself and the camera determines the shutter speed. Most of the time this works well with my camera and is faster and easier. However you should learn how to use the shutter yourself, how to work in the M mode. When the camera fails you you can save the pic. Plus sometimes you wanne have a darker picture or something.
-automatic focus point. I am not saying to ditch autofocus, but look into how it works. Stock setting lets the camera select what should be sharp, but again, your creative controll suffers badly. I usually use a spot focus so I can pick exactly what should be sharp, then adjust the picture.
Now artistic stuff, where I have many rules, but I´ll start off with the most important ones, which can elevate your pics a lot:
-use the golden rule, which is in your mind cutting the pic in 3 parts, horizontally and verstivally, and then placing the interresting things on those lines. This makes the picture more cutting and easier on the eyes. Good examples are horizons (when you place them on the middle line it just looks...well) and portraits where the eyes should be on those lines to make em pop (combined with low aperture and focus on the eyes...bäm!)
-change perspective and think about it. Having pics taken from eyes height can work, but can get boring, especially with familiar things. Something as easy as crouching can work wonders. Be creative!
Also, if you take pictures of people there are 3 angles with different effects: down on the person = vulnerable, warm (since we look at children that way), eyes heigh = natural (equals), up to the person = strong, cold
-find those interesting details. Panoramas are great, but you still need to find the lines and interresting stuff in them. Look at what you are trying to photograph and think about what defines it. Find those details and place them.
Mainly beginners tend to let the camera do too much work, and computers just are not artistic, and just take wide shots without any thought in composition. Not that I blame them, heck I suck at so many things, just overstating it a bit here.
Maybe try to keep these things in mind when starting, but mainly just try, try, try, try and try. Take a million pictures, try every perspective, every setting, etc. Everyone can only give you ideas and guidelines, no laws. And you need to do it wrong to do it right.
Things like the golden rule are insanely powerful and you will find it in most great photos and pictures, but even that needs to be broken sometimes.
Just unleash the potential of the camera by shutting off the auto functions (gradually is fine, did it that way myself) and try. Also, 1 good shot out of 10 photos taken is a good quota for anyone!
Plus the same as with guitar: HAVE FUN!!!
