New to posting--not to forum

[DianeM]

I have been lurking on this forum for several months. Actually, I've been looking in since I got an Olympus E-510. It is my first SLR. When I retire from the "daily grind" in 4 years (I'll not be so lucky as to quit working altogether , I want to be a serious hobby photographer. Soooo, I've been trying to learn about photography techniques, tools, etc. I do want to share one photo with you. It is a sunrise picture I took from the deck of our vacations house--6:30am, 5 degrees! I actually won a local phot contest with this photo! I tried many camera settings until I finally got a result I was happy with. I would very much appreciate recommendations for improvement. These are the settings for this photo (and to be honest, I probably only understand how and why I arrived at half of these):
File Size: 426 kb - 800x600
Resolution: 800 x 600
Flash Used: No (auto) Focal Length: 14.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.0063 s (1/160)
Aperture: f/8.0
ISO Equiv.: 100
Exposure Bias: -0.70
Whitebalance: Manual
Metering Mode: matrix
Exposure Mode: Auto bracketing

[steevdavis62]

Thats a damn good shot mate. I love the streak of cloud. It takes an average shot and makes it a unique, great shot. Good capture of the colours

[morfasie]

Yes, well done, nice shot, good composition and exposure. Maybe up the exposure just a tiny bit

[southernbelle]

The colors are so vibrant. I love the cloud streak!

[FrankenPengie]

...on top of all that, it even follows "the 3rds". A grand capture.

[crazzy88ss]

Well if you won a photo contest with it, I think that's all there is to say about that shot

Personally, I would have included a little bit more ground/little less sky. I feel bad saying anything negative about a shot that's won a contest :P

[DianeM]

Thank you for comments and suggestions. And PLEASE don't ever feel bad giving me suggestions--I truly appreciate it; I'm so new at this. And the contest was nothing professional--more fun. Fun to participate in and fun to win but I have long believed that the moment you are satisfied, you cease to improve!