Quote - Great start!!

A little advice...

Set some goals of elements you want to learn: IE: shadows, lights, reflections, posing, placement, expressions........etc

Then make it your mission with each image you create to add at least one of those elements, and to pay extra attention to that single one element that you are trying to master.

Don't overwhelm yourself by trying to learn everything at once, because you will just get frustrated.

Learn in layers. Scenes are built from a series of elements that come together as a whole.  Think of these elements as layers.

Concentrate on one element and work hard on learning that one, even though the other elements may not be up to your vision.They will be in time :)

Once you are comfortable with that one element and have a good feel and are getting decent results that you are relatively happy with, with that one element, then work hard on a second element, while still incorporating that first element into it.

For example when I was learning lights, I spend months making images and concentrating on nothing but my lighting. I still used relections and the material room etc, but my efforts went into working on the lighting in my scene. As a result I'm pretty comfortable making my own lights now. No near a master, but I am adequate enough with lights that I can usually get what I want from lighting in my scene.

I can't wait to see your furture images and watch you grow. 

Another tip.  Never delete an image from your gallery. Use the first ones as a guage to your growth.  This time next year you'll be uploading master pieces!!

Very sage advice. As a matter of fact, that's pretty much how I am tackling this. I am working on lighting now, as such. This piece was the first that I was relatively happy with the lighting. The only blotch I see is the green spot light I used to give her face a glow off the light saber. I know I could have set up the light saber to do that (saw that in a tutorial on here somewhere), but I didn't' know that at the time. I got too many reflections on the wall behind her. Oh well, live and learn. And no, I won't be deleting any of my work.

If I had a nickle for ever time a woman told me to get lost, I could buy Manhattan.