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I spent a day at the local historical park last month, playing with acamera from work. I've worked for a large Canadian 1-hr photo /equipment sales company for a while now, and they decided we shouldget all the sales staff together with a camera we didn't know and haveus practice with it for a day. I shot 5 rolls that day, and after Isaw the results, I decided that I want to get into the photographingside of photography as a hobby.

 

This is one of my favorite shots from that day, and, as such, is ripefor critical review. What should I have done to make it better?

 

I was at the wide end of a cheap 28-80mm Nikkor zoom (stock with theF-75 kit (N-75 to Americans)), and I like the effect that had on thestreetcar, however, I notice that there's some hardcore distortion atthe sides of the shot. Is there anything I could have done to correctfor this, short of taking a higher quality lens from the showcase?

 

I also notice that the sky is extremely light in comparison to thestreetcar. AFAIK, I was metering for the car, however, I'm still notsure about the exposure. With the sky covered, the car looks good,however, with the sky visible, the car almost seems to dark. Anyonecare to suggest how I could have improved that?

 

Sincerest thanks,

There is not much you could have done to improve the contrast, maybe shooting when there's lower light and so the sky is darker. Of this photo I particularly like the perspective and the greys, but to me it seems slightly tilted toward the left.
For the angle distortion the sole solution is to get an higher quality zoom or a prime.