Newbie Requesting Suggestions

Dusty73085

Hello everyone! This is my first post here at Digital Grin. After a few days of lurking here and a couple other photography forums, I decided to sign up here and jump right in!

I have to admit, I am very nervous and a bit hesitant about posting my images...especially since everyone her is so talented!

A little about myself, since I am new.
I have been interested in photography since well before High School. Each year, I tried to get into the much popular photo classes, but never managed since I had a tight schedule being on the swim team. After High School, I immediately went to school for graphic design and got my first permanent graphic design job a few months before graduation.
I have been working in the industry full time for about 4 years and all through that time, my love for photography never wavered.
I may not have had the equipment, but I still tried to capture interesting shots with my point and shoot.
So, now you know a bit about me. I will admit, altho I was always interested in photography, I never really studied anything about it. So, I know next to nothing about it. However, I recently came to partially own (borrow from my mom) a Nikon D100, and my interest has peaked again.
I feel its high time I start learning the techniques and equipment it takes to become more than just the general photo taker.

Enough of my babbling (and I greatly appreciate it if you read all of that) and on to some pictures.

I would love to hear some tips about what I can do to improve.

These first two were taken with my old Canon PowerShot SD400 point and shoot.




These next few were taken with the Nikon D100. These were just so I could get a bit of a handle on the settings, zooming, focusing and all of that. I would really like some advise on how get sharper images in my focused areas. (If there is any info you want about the images, let me know...Im not really sure what would be useful)

The lighting on this one, I wish was from the front but all I had was the natural light coming in from the window.






Thank you very much in advance for any and all comments. It took alot for me to get up the courage to post these!

rwells

Hey Dusty,

Welcome to Dgrin


Don't be nervous about posting pics, we're all somewhere on the learning curve, some are just further along than others.

Looks like you off to a fine start!

My initial suggestion of what you posted is composition. Research the "Rule of Thirds", then try to apply that to your images

Looking forward to seeing more of your work, and also looking forward to following your progress!

Dusty73085

Thank you very much Randy! I greatly appreciate it!

I will certainly look up the rule of thirds. I plan on going through all of the photography tutorials that are here before I shoot anything new as well.

Art Scott

Do us a real favor and number your images...so that anyone that wants to give advice can easily do by referencing by number.....but I willl say that the 1st pic need more contrast in the sky and mountain...you may want to get a book on HDR (High Dynamic Range)....

On the parrot pix...metering for the background and shooting with flash would have been great

I guess the rays to be fresh water rays..basically I would have played with different angles............

wfeller

Love the morro.

Dusty73085

Art, thank you for taking the time to offer some suggestions.

I will be sure to number my images from now on.

I do know a tiny bit about HDR images and would love to try out some images like that. Is it generally a good to use the HDR technique in outdoor settings? I would imagine I could do a little messing around in Photoshop to help with the contrast of the sky in the first image.

On the parrot pictures I did try a few with the flash and they were blown out...is there anything I could have done to still use the flash but avoid it being blown out? (...I will also have to look up what you mean by 'metering the background', but I may have an idea)

Playing with angles is a great idea, I enjoy moving around to get that interesting look.

Thank you again for the suggestions!

Thank you wfeller! I hope to return there one day.

Dogdots

Welcome to Dgrin

Rule of thirds is a good place to start as Randy mentioned along with a whole lot of reading what ever you can find about photography and photo editing. I too am in the process of being self taught, but I've learned a 'whole lot' from all the wonderful people here on dgrin

I'm looking forward to seeing more photos taken by you

Dusty73085

Thank you Mary! Your avatar is super cute! The nice people here is the main reason why I chose this forum.

Can anyone recommend any good beginners photography books?

Dogdots

Dusty73085 wrote: »

Thank you Mary! Your avatar is super cute! The nice people here is the main reason why I chose this forum.

Can anyone recommend any good beginners photography books?

The first book I can recommend is your camera's manual. That was the first thing I was told to read when I started photography. I still chuckle at how many times I'm still told that by some of my photography friends I'm more a "get out there and try it" kind of person then a "read the manual" kind

I'm sure someone will hop on here and give you some good advice.

BradfordBenn

Nice shots. I also echo Dogdots suggestion about reading the owner's manual. I read mine once a year and as I gain more experience the directions in there make more and more sense. I am getting to the point where I am not thinking about the camera settings I am thinking about the picture and composition as I am comfortable enough with the camera controls that it "gets out of the way".

I also highly recommend shooting with someone else if you have the chance. I have learned as much in one night shooting with Grimace and an afternoon of shooting with aktse as I did the entire first year of trying and experimenting myself.

Go out and have fun.

dlplumer

Welcome. #4