How to start up. Advise please

[Fastchas]

I'm looking at getting into photography a bit deeper than I currently do. I've got a Canon 20d which I'm getting well versed with. Well, I kinda know what the buttons do but getting photos of the quality on some threads here leave me a little deflated.
At the moment my kit is;

Canon 20d
Tamron 18-200mm
Canon 50mm f1.8
Canon 55-80mm kit lens (which never gets used)
Pk/4 NDF's

Just bought a laptop. What editing would be best for me. Lightroom? Elements? Which one and why?

What would you suggest would be a good addition to the kit? I'm toying with the idea of throwing a couple hundred quid at it. Would it better to update the body? I know a better camera doesn't make a better photographer but is a 50d so much better? Or a EOS600d? A few friends have these and they seem so much lighter and faster but also the images seem sharper. Or is it just me looking at other peoples images? Is a 20d old hat now?
I'll post some pics on when I get chance.
Thanks in advance.

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Thanks. I already use Picasa for managing them and I like it's simplicity for fixing and cropping. I've just started shooting in RAW but can't see the advantage with this in Picasa? Am I missing something?
I was going to get an editing suite off eBay. Missed out on Elements 10 last night for £29. Seemed a good price and plenty of bidders on it so guessing it was a good one to get.

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Here's afew pics I've taken with my 20d. Some edited/cropped in Picasa, some not touched at all. Please impart some constructive criticism and hints/tips.

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Hmmm...didn't realise there was only the one pic uploaded from the 6/7 I chose.
I'll attach some more tonight!

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Simpo Two said:

Well, from that one, I guess you wanted to capture the beauty of a pine cone. First, the background whilst out of focus is cluttered and so prevents a nice view of the cones - it's also the same colour which adds to the confusion. Second, as well as pine cones there's a lot of random branchiness which is ugly, and there is no obvious composition going on. The exposure is OK, but you've just plonked two pine cones in the middle and pressed the button.

I'd have concentrated on one cone, got in much closer, and adjusted my position to get a clear or at least plain b/g.

Generally if a scene doesn't work when viewed through the viewfinder, it won't work later. Not every scene makes a good photo; sometimes you need to walk on.

Yes I didn't see the twig that comes across the front of the cones until I looked at it in Picasa. But I understand your criticism and take it on board so thanks for that. I need to compose the shot more carefully, perhaps adjust my angle to get a better b/g instead of just point & click.
I do notice the image isn't actually that sharp either though?

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Here's some more (hopefully)

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Simpo Two said:

One of those makes the grade for me with no major issues.

But let's turn this around - can you identify the issues with the others? If and when you can, then you're halfway to fixing them for next time.

I would say the pic with the three birds perched. The two egrets looking to the Ibis(?) as if he didn't belong there. I didn't take the shot thinking this but that is the message it now conveys to me.
Looking at the water-skier, I cropped the speedboat out. Maybe I should've left it in? Looking at it now, it seems odd there is nothing pulling the skier along. Itried to go by the 'thirds-of-frame' rule, cropping out a lot of pylons/poles taking up the skyline.

The gull is heavily cropped, trying to get the bird in the corner 'flying' into the space I left on the right of the frame. It seems to have lost quite a lot of sharpness.

I quite like the pic of my son smiling. It has been softened a little but doesn't seem to be much colour in it.
All your comments are very much appreciated. Especially the comment about the giant tortoise and trying to capture the leathery skin (I never thought of this!)and also an idea might be to take a shot of the eye.

Can creativeness be learnt of is it a natural talent? Am I in bad habits of taking non-skilled photos over the past 40 years with point & click?

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Ed_P said:

Difficult to answer, but you can definitely learn to take "better" photographs. Have you thought of joining a local camera club? There's nothing like listening to a visiting judge providing a critique of your shots, to help you understand where you are doing well and where you can improve! OK, competition photography is a specialist area, but it does help you to think about your work. Assessing a photograph's merits is just like looking at any artwork. Your eye is drawn around the composition and hopefully, ends up at what the photographer decided was the most interesting part. Distracting items at the edge can interrupt this process. That's what all the stuff about "rule of thirds" and "leading line" is about. It helps think about composition.

A new libary hub opened by me recently and their FB page asked for suggestions for other activities so I suggested a camera club. We met last thursday for a preliminary, informal chat to see what we all wanted to get out of it. There was about 8 of us but a few others couldn't make that night so it seems quite a lot of folk are interested. We're next meeting on the 30th April. The Hub lady talked about getting pro's in as well for a chat.

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Some great, constructive comments there, I thank you. I shall work on these.