new to rendering, be easy on me

OK so im new to this as far as renderings go. Its just something i have been workin on for a few days and wanted to get some opinions to see how im doin so far. please keep in mind it is not done i know theres more to be done. i just need some help and advice if at all possible. Things like what i need to improve on in terms of what i got so far and what else to look at as i move on with this rendering. so please take it easy on me.

If this is your first swing at it, you did good so far. In terms of 'improving', IMO you have to look at it and ask yourself the question, "what do I need to do to this image to make it look real?". You will find the answers with that question to yourself.

I'll point out a few things that should be dealt with in your next steps. When you mix the color channels or use Hue/Sat to alter colors, as you see it changes other close colors that have some level of that same color value in it. Note the headlights. Do they look original like the grille? Note the sky highlights on the fenders, bumper, roof and hood. Those should be white. The blacks should be black and grays should be gray. Sometimes you can use selective color to remove the color from the whites, or often I make a path of them or a mask and remove the altered color portions to reveal the original white highlights on the underlying original image. This is where working layers is very important.
As many will also point out, you will want to brush in natural looking shadows over the wheels and tires. I'd probably tone down the brightness of the wheels too, they seem to pop too much. I would also consider removing the altered color of the landscape. Its a good habit to get into to make a path of the vehicle from the start which will make some of these changes I've described much easier and quicker to accomplish as you progress through the project. I am going to assume that you prefer the blue to green grad. If so, you will probably want to bring the green on the bumper corners back to light blue which would give a better appearance of what that paint job would really look like if someone did it.
Hopefully some of these suggestions will help.

ok thanks a lot for the advice. im still not sure how to get the shadowing down on the rims yet. and now that i have done the hue/sat on the image already, how do i go back and change it so its not on the landscape. i mean truthfully i wanna take the background out all together but then what do i do with the reflection s on the paint?

The answer to a lot your questions is easily solved by working in layers. When you start working in PS, the first thing a person needs to do is always work in layers. For example if that were a project of mine, I would have several layers of the truck, one or two of which would be the original image which would then allow me to erase or remove portions of the most visible layer to reveal the underlying image. Example: Open original image> dupe layer> change Hue/Sat of the red channel to make the truck blue, which of course changes other areas of the image too. Now select the areas you want to remove such as the background or the headlights on the modified "duped" layer. With the original or underlying layer visible, you will "reveal" the original image. Think of it like this. Place a piece of white paper under a piece of black paper. The white paper represents the original image. The black paper represents the duped original image that was then modified. Take a pair of sissors and cut holes in the black paper, which then reveals the underlying "white" of the original image.

When you start to do one of these projects, I recommend the first thing you do is make a path of the vehicle body. This would be the entire "outline" of the vehicle, including the cut out of the fenderwells. Save the path, make selection then copy the "body" and paste it to another layer which will be over the original. Dupe a few of these new body layers. When you place your wheels under the top body layer, you then have the opportunity to create a new blank layer between the body and the wheel and tire layers and brush in the shadows. Each image will benifit from different shadowing techniques. Sometimes I use a paint with light method, others I use a soft brush set to a lighter opacity. You just have to play around with it. Learn to use the path tool. Save every path you make. This will make changing things along the way very easy.

ok but when u say put it a new layer between the wheels and body can i do this now? or r u suggesting starting over? what do u mean the path tool?

I guess when you say "now", you flattened the layers? If so just make a path around the wheel well edge, save the path, make it a selection and brush the shadows on a new blank layer.

Look on your tool palatte. Find the Pen Tool. That is the tool you need to learn to make paths. Learn how to use it....it is your best friend in PS.

haha. my first rendering ever had a chameleon paint job, except the highlights were blue and the shadows were green. that's an awesome coincidence.

so how do u get the paint to look right? i mean most renderings i see that are really good it almost looks cartoony? i mean how do i get that look? or get the trees and other reflections out of my paint?

cut out the entire body, make a duplicate of the trim(headlights, grille, bumper, chrome, etc, lay that on top of your duplicate, set the duplicate body layer to color channel and use hue and saturation to adjust colors. that should fix your paint.

wheels need work, make the white backing on them black and it would look better, and play around with your levels on the paint, right now there is not much differance between the light and dark colors!

keep at it!