[Bruce Clark]

Hi, I see you are relatively new to the forums. Welcome. You will find everyone here friendly and ready to share advice and opinions.

The bird photo does not do much for me personally but the second is certainly interesting. Composition is fine with a strong diagonal line in the cloud bank, except for the vehicle on the left. I would cut that out. Do you have or use any editing software? if not there is usually an in-camera cropping tool. (depending on camera model of course). While cropping you might also level the photo so the shore line is horizontal.

The image is very blue and quite dark as you can see, if that is your intent then that is perfectly ok. If your are interested in editing then it is relatively easy to correct the colour to make it a bit warmer or more yellow/orange. It could also be corrected by the camera white balance setting. If you want mere serious editing there are many options and many people on this forum with expertise and willingness to help.

All the best.

[olivohanna]

The darkness was my intent. I'm so very new at this and welcome all of your suggestions. I'm looking to join a photography club locally so that I can learn. Thanks again for your unput

[tonezime]

Nice job catching the line of the sun along the clouds in that second picture. It does make the lighting on the beach subjects more difficult, though.

[micromacro]

The darkness was my intent. I'm so very new at this and welcome all of your suggestions.

There is critique section here if you want to hear suggestions how to improve your picture.
Since you asked, here is my opinion. Please keep in mind that it's subjective opinion , I'm not an expert. I just want to illustrate that adjusting WB brings the beauty of sunset, imo. It's lovely picture, and you can play with raw file better.

[olivohanna]

I'm no expert either😃 I appreciate the feedback. Lots to learn