Software, Software Development and other Atrocities

I got a Nikon D40 with standard 18-55 f3.5-5.6 lens from work and I am supposed to take "good"pictures with it. This is my first experience with a DSLR camera. I have had cameras before but all of them have been point-and-shot. That is: I never bothered about the settings!

Now I have to learn.

So I've been trying to take some pictures, with different settings of aperture, exposure compensation and shutter speed. Here you have some of them.

Playing with the aperture size (the f-number):








Changing the exposure compensation feature from positive to negative,





Using slow shutter speed, moving camera to follow object and keeping camera still while object moves.





I clearly need to practice. If the weather improves this weekend I will try to take some shots outdoor. Any particular tips you would like to share with me?

Help!