[BandofBrothers]

Hey guys,

I am still very much learning with my Nikon D3100 with the standard (kit?) lens. I have fitted a HOYA HD UV filter and the official Nikon Lens Hood. I tried a few cheaper ones from ebay but the bayonet clips always got jammed and were an absolute nightmare to remove.

Anyway, I have been out and about over the last 8 weeks or so, snapping away, trying to get the hang of everything. Below are a few photos I thought I would share. I know my composition mainly sucks, I am trying to improve this all the time.

Also, some of the technical aspects may not be the best i.e. should have used a better aperture setting for a better shot etc. All were taken using Aperture Priority Mode, ISO generally 100-200 (sometimes 400 in very dim lighting to maintain an acceptable shutter speed for handheld shooting). Focussing was set to AF-S and matrix metering mode. I shoot in RAW and also JPEG (fine) - so I end up with 2 copies of each photo on my SD Card. I import the raws into iPhoto and keep the JPEGS in a seperate folder just as a "quick and dirty" copy of the photo I can upload to facebook / forums etc).

Most of the pics are untouched in terms of post-processing as this is an area I have very little knowledge / confidence in as of yet - this will be my next learning curve.

Please offer any critique / comments you may have (please be gentle as I am by no means good yet.
1
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0050.JPG

2
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0002.JPG

3
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0110.JPG

4
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0094.JPG

5
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0108.JPG

6
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0119.JPG

7
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0149.JPG

8
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0292.jpg

9
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0428.jpg

10
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10707083/forums/DSC_0513.jpg

Some of the things I struggle with the most (and I am always questioning if I am doing these things right) are as follows:

1. Focussing - 99% of my shooting is stationary subjects, so I am using the "AF-S" focusing mode, with the centre "dot" the one I am using. I am focussing on the subject, half-holding down the shutter button until I get a single beep, then moving the camera to re-compose the scene and fully pressing the button to take the photo. Is this the correct way to do things?

2. Aperture.... I know about the principles of DOF etc and how to achieve them. However, I generally use f5.6, f8 and f11. The reason being (I have been told) that the "extreme" f-stops such as f3.5 and f22 on my camera can cause some loss of quality to the images. When I use f5.6 to isolate my subject from the surrounding area e.g. a dragonfly from everything else, I can't seem to get the whole thing in focus. For example, I will either have its head or its tail in focus and the rest is blurred with the background. In this instance, do I need to use a slightly larger f-stop e.g. f8?

3. In landscape scenes, where I want everything to be in focus - I use a slightly higher f-stop (usually no higher than f11) and focus on something roughly 1/3 of the way into the scene, then recompose and take the picture. Generally speaking - am I doing the correct thing here? I have read up on all the hyper-focal jargon but it's too much for me, and hoping this "tried and tested" way will suffice?

Sorry for the mammoth post - and thank you for any comments, critique and advice you can offer.

[rich1]

1 and 3 stand out for me

[nickymarshall]

Your pics are taking forever to load on my laptop, so no comments on them yet.

However - your camera will cope with any aperture, it's the lens that will struggle.

Also, don't get too fixated with focusing and re-composing - you can focus on a subject and shoot.

[shotokan101]

Nice set but - you really need to read the forum rules on maximum image dimensions and file sizes - waaaaaaaaaaaaay too big in all cases and as a side effect the image sharpness is being severely compromised in some cases - e.g. the first windmill shot with the very "jaggy" straight lines...

Jim

[BandofBrothers]

Originally Posted by shotokan101

Nice set but - you really need to read the forum rules on maximum image dimensions and file sizes - waaaaaaaaaaaaay too big in all cases and as a side effect the image sharpness is being severely compromised in some cases - e.g. the first windmill shot with the very "jaggy" straight lines...

Jim

oops sorry about that - I have turned them into links to the full sized jpegs.

I will have a play about in a bit and make them into clickable thumbnails - I was half asleep when I made this thread and thought I had done it right, my apolagies

[shotokan101]

Originally Posted by BandofBrothers

oops sorry about that - I have turned them into links to the full sized jpegs.

I will have a play about in a bit and make them into clickable thumbnails - I was half asleep when I made this thread and thought I had done it right, my apolagies

LOL - no worries - the image size info./restrictions isn't terribly obvious to be fair and having properly sized inline shots will help both your IQ and the viewers load times

Jim

[BandofBrothers]

Originally Posted by nickymarshall

Your pics are taking forever to load on my laptop, so no comments on them yet.

However - your camera will cope with any aperture, it's the lens that will struggle.

Also, don't get too fixated with focusing and re-composing - you can focus on a subject and shoot.

Would you say I am limiting myself by sticking with the kit (default) lens? I have heard on a few forums they are not the best quality.....

I mainly do landscape and nature photography - what lenses would you recommend? I could ideally do with something for close-up's like the bugs etc in my pics, but also something with more reach for birds in trees. I just can't get close enough with the 18-55 kit lens.

Would I need to purchase a few different lenses for my usage? i.e. a macro lens for close up's and a bigger lens for distant objects.

Many thanks for any help

[BandofBrothers]

I have added clickable thumbnails now

I have also left the links there in the post - so you can click to view the full sized jpegs too

[shotokan101]

Thanks - really like 1,3,4, 9 and 10

[pixelpixel]

BandofBrothers can you edit your post or can a mod ????

Can you remove th_ before the image code ? so #1 would change like this.

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v638/marty121/?action=view&current=DSC_0050.jpg][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/marty121/th_DSC_0050.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

and changed to

[URL=http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v638/marty121/?action=view&current=DSC_0050.jpg][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/marty121/DSC_0050.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

that way you get nice big images on the forum. Like this.

[BandofBrothers]

I have amended the photos now, so they should show up correctly (sorry for being a newbie haha)

[pixelpixel]

Originally Posted by BandofBrothers

I have amended the photos now, so they should show up correctly (sorry for being a newbie haha)

Cool, they look far better. Don't worry about it