Rules are there to break them ;D Sure, the rule of thirds can produce some pretty dramatic and awesome shots but always playing by the rules is boring. Put your subject right in the middle for a change. Use dark backgrounds instead of white all the time. It just breaks the monotony a little :D

Thanks muchly :) I tend to follow the rules then get bored of them so try something new .. although your right in a way what with there being a 3rd of ground, a 3rd of cloud (different colour) towards the last 3rd of sky :D

This is a nice shot indeed! Did youedit a RAW file or did you just upload the unedited JPG?

Thanks! Also my comments appear to be broken/breaking :P This is a resized version straight from the memory card, i don't have the skills (yet) to use that sort of software but I do have GIMP on my PC which I fiddle with now and then

At first I thought so too! But using RAW converters like Lightroom or RAW Therapee (which is free actually) is pretty damn easy.
I just edited this photo in Lightroom 4, want to see the result? I recently also found a very good tutorial for Lightroom on youtube. Let me search for it again^^

Sure i'd like to see what some editing to the image looks like! I've heard of Raw Therapee from a friend a while ago and I meant to check it out, i think next time I'll reset the camera to take 2 images .. one in JPEG and the other in RAW.

http://abload.de/img/1366551003.hus.....wolf_l0ssx.jpg
Note that editing JPGs with a small resolution doesn't work well at all in Lightroom. It is designed to edit RAW files afterall.
All I did was ramp up the contrast, increased the saturation and sharpened it. And for the sharpening I actually used a preset that comes with Lightroom :P
JPGs that come straight out of the camera just look boring and don't have much contrast. Photos taken with DSLRs are usually not very sharp as well so that always has to be improved.

And here is the Lightroom tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EURb_ZbxzRY
If you want to just download RAW Therapee instead that works, too. That program works essentially the same.

Oh my! :) i like the editing job you did there .. I'll certainly have a sniff at light room as there are some pictures that I think would have a bigger impact with some minor tweaks.

Before I used to be all "i'll never use editing software!" but I can see the point of them now with that stuff you did :) thanks for sharing that info

No problem!
At first I never saw the advantage of using RAW files. But then I saw this tutorial and gave it a try. I was blown away, it makes SUCH a huge difference! Now I always keep my D3200 on RAW+JPG^^

I think i may start doing the same :) thanks again *SLURP!*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nQ2oiVqKHw all i gotta say

I had the same sound in my head too when i opened it *paw paws at*

Why so dark? :U

super late, I'm sorry.