A couple of questions from a beginner.

[Peeled Apples]

First, hi everyone - first post I've been reading these forums for a couple of months and have found them to be very informative so I thought it was finally time to post something.

I'm pretty new to digital photography and bought myself a Nikon D60 & 18-55 VR lens about 3 months ago and have spent a while getting to know my camera, learning about exposure basics, etc. I feel i'm pretty competent in all modes including manual (still got a LOT to learn but I can get decent pictures and thats a start).

Anyway, onto my main point. I have a couple of general questions that are kinda frustrating me and if anyone could help me out i'd be most grateful.

1) I feel the pictures i'm taking are maybe not as sharp as I was expecting to be. Don't get me wrong, my pictures have improved and I know the camera is capable of taking truly great and inspiring pictures. Am I right to assume that this is most likely down to and inexperienced photographer combined with a kit lens (which I know aren't reknowned for producing the sharpest images - I plan to add an 55-200 and also a prime lens to my collection asap)?

2) I understand the advantages of RAW and have taken a few shots in RAW to get some experience in processing these but when processing an image i'm not sure if I should be trying to get the image as close to the original scene as possible or just producing the best photo I can from the RAW data. A good example of this say I take a picture of a rose. When processing the image should I be trying to produce the same shade of red as the flower has or is it acceptable to go for a darker or lighter shade if it makes for a better image overall?

I've mainly been taking family shots n stuff while i'm learning but i'm planning to soon start venturing out with my camera with the sole purpose of taking photos (my fear is I disappear for hours and return with no real useable pictures at the end of the day).

Thanks in advance for your help (and sorry for the long first post).

#1.) Yes, probably you are right.

#2.) Try to reproduce what ever you want it to be. That's up to you.

[theArchitect]

Remember if you're shooting RAW, there is typically no sharpening by default. You might want to factor this in when viewing/printing.

[Mr Guy]

It depends on what kind of "not sharp" you're talking about. There's a whole lot of "not sharp" varieties. There's out of focus, narrow depth of field, motion blur, chromatic aberration, spherical dispersion, camera shake, and just general lens softness. All of those have different causes and solutions, and identifying them and preventing them in the first place is part of the learning process.

Could you post some examples?