Learning my way around a camera

I own an amazing (for me) camera, the Canon Rebel XS. As of a few weeks ago I had never used anything other than a point and click, or as my step-mother says "A camera that only requires a PhD to use. Push Here Dummy!" Har-de-har. So my challenge is to learn how to use the camera in a manner worthy of the Canon Rebel. By way of demonstration, here is one of the first pictures I took with this awesome camera, on automatic mode: Hi Jack! It's an ok picture, for automatic mode and no photographic knowledge, but it it not going into a picture frame any time soon.




Here is a picture of Lovely Lucy that I took a few days ago, experimenting with various shutter speeds and aperture settings: Yikes! Hello , washed out Lucy!










And this evening, after a moderate amount of self study, I experimented in full manual mode and while I have eons and eons to learn, I have to say that I am pleased with my progress so far. Here are my two favorite (read: only) models. The light wasn't ideal and neither were the various contortions I executed trying to get these guys to sit and stay. But I am proud to say that I am moving in the right direction. Eventually I'll learn about composition and lenses and I will bankrupt my family with this hobby!