Nothing like a new camera to make you feel smart as a box of rocks!

[llovelace]

The pics I posted taken by my friend Patrice, the whole session was less than 10 minutes, I wrangled, she shot. I didn't use a light tent, used a floor lamp w/ movable head, and the black backround is the back of a large picture frame, lol we do learn to improvise in this hobby don't we.

What camera did you get?

[JLC]

... we do learn to improvise in this hobby don't we.

What camera did you get?

LOL...That we do!!

I got a Nikon D3000, and VERY happy with it, despite the learning curve.

[sgath92]

I am going through the same renewed learning struggle with a new camera too.

I had like just finished figuring out how to use my old one really well, but it was time for a new one for many different reasons. It got to the point where I was always borrowing my friends' cameras because they took higher resolutions than my old one.

[2kdime]

Just picked up a d3000 myself.....

Feel like Im in over my head!

[spitzu]

Spent another few hours today messing around with my new SLR and I think I'm finally beginning to understand the basics and am getting somewhat comfortable with the settings and modes, but...I can not stand this kit lens ANY MORE. I just ordered the Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM off of Amazon. Pretty silly when only a month ago I thought spending more than $200 on a camera was pointless.

The wife is sooo going to kill me...

[Swingline0.0.1]

My new Nikon 3100 is a great cam. I am taking hundreds of photos at a time. I think it is very important to get the telephoto lens as well. I like to use manual instead of auto as much as possible. It is a big change from a point and shoot. Here is one of the very first photos I took with it. I have gotten much better, but I love this picture!

[2kdime]

I just ordered the book "D3000, From snapshots to great shots"

We'll see how it goes

[Lucas339]

sometimes you can get around single point metering by centering the point you want in focus, in this case the head of the snake, and then moving the camera so all of the animal is in focus. sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. if you just point and shoot at a 3d object, the camera will pick up the closest thing to it and focus on that. I shoot at a 5.6 aperture for most of my animal shots. not sure what lense came with the camera but they usually only go to 4.8 or so with the regular lense. i like hot lighting (continuous) for most of my stuff, animals and people. once you get it all dialed in, it will all come together. keep practicing!! and fiddle with lighting!! sometimes the best shots have shadows in them!!

here is a shot of my baby cause this is the photo section most of the light is to one side. it is from power compact lights shining through umbrellas.

[JLC]

Lucas, that is such a beautiful picture!

I like the duck, too!

I'm enjoying my camera a lot, but am still a bit frustrated at how many different (but often critical) details there are to keep track of when taking pictures. The other day, I took a bunch of really cool outdoor shots, but had forgot to reset the ISO, which was left at 1600 from my previous attempt at indoor pics without a flash. So the whole batch turned out great, except they were all grainy.

Then the other day, we went on a nice family outing and took a bunch of different pictures with different lighting situations and settings. I forgot to turn on the VR on the lens (which had been off for a tripod shoot)...so some of the shots turned out blurry when they probably didn't have to. And the kids would get VERY impatient with me because I'd have to stop and fiddle with all the settings to try and get a good picture of what should have been a fun candid shot. At least I ended up with a few good ones out of the whole batch.

I'm just hoping for the day when all of this starts to gel into a cohesive and intuitive understanding and I can get comfortable taking the camera anywhere without stressing out about it.

[Lucas339]

it will all fall into place once you get the hang of it. before you know it, you will be switching through all that stuff without thinking about it!!

have you learned about shooting RAW format yet? it is really helpful for photo editing.