The easiest way to improve your photography is to develop your skills in choosing what to show and what not to show. On the beginning level it is an easy way to impress your friends. As you advance it is absolutely critical to have this skill to get a photo show, an assignment, or publish anything. So start practicing now!
i suggest making at least 2 online albums. One for all your good photos and another for the ones that really stand out to you. The exceptional photos will get "lost" in your big album, and if people do find them their greatness is faded by the other photos around them.
Once that is going well, i would start even another album. The best of the best. It is OK if it is just 10 photos, and limit it to around 25. If you have more then 25 photos, spend a long time looking through them till you've found the ones that don't quite make the cut.
When you are sure in yourself what photos you like the most, start asking friends. Listen to them closely and be sure to ask them why. They may point out some things you missed. The goal here is really not to take their advice on which photos they personally like, it is to steal their ideas. Then use them & our intuition to re-evaluate our portfolio. It is your portfolio and not even a National Geographic photographer can tell you what should go in it.
This is not only great practice for showing your photos, but it will help alot to start taking better photos.
But wait, there is more! If you really want to follow through with the art of photography you need to know that having a portfolio with 25 amazing photos is the sports equivalent of a freshman bench warmer. You will get many compliments from friends and family, but editors and especially curators are much harder to impress. And with good reason, the difference between a very good photograph and a truly great photograph is both subtle and profound. Technical perfection with photography is no simple task, but if you really put your mind to it you can come close in a year or two. The depth and composition of photography can take a decade or much longer.
Printing... Do it often for your best photos. You don't really know what you have taken till you have a print in your hands. Prints also help tremendously for choosing your best of the best and also arranging your photos in a series to tell a story. Online galleries are wonderful things that let us show are work to the world. It is hard to imagine how anything got done without them. None the less taking with someone face to face and showing them your online gallery is the easiest way to make your photos look boring. There is no substitute for prints!
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