First Attempt with new camera

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13 May 2007
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Lancashire, UK
Bought myself a Nikon D40X a few days ago so I thought I'd post my first attempts at taking some photo's with it.

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I didn't think they were too bad for my first attempt, but I just need to learn how to edit them in Photoshop next.
 
2 and 3 don't do a huge amount for me im afraid, as they look a bit soft. Number 1 however is very nice. you could maybe do with a tiny bit more detail in the foreground, which is where you would use a ND grad filter, but even so its a good shot. :)
 
I need to go out and find some more interesting things to take some pictures of, as these were all taken from my garden.

I'm sure once I get into it a bit more I'll be able to expand my kit and get some extra bits which should help me.

Major problem I had is holding the camera still enough to take the up close shots of the bee (I tried to get one of a spider but I was too shaky!). Don't know if I need to get a tripod or if I just need to learn to stand still.
 
No. 1 is rather nice! Apart from what MK has said I think there might be a little bit of flare where the house is (difficult to tell at this size).

I don't think a tripod is much help for macro shots, you need to keep the shutter speed up with either more light or higher ISO :)
 
When handholding shots, tuck your elbows in, take a deep breath, then exhale a bit. Support the weight of your camera with your left arm.(Cup your hand under the lens so it takes the weight, yet allows you to adjust the zoom and focus rings). Then the right hand is to simply balance the camera and operate the controls. This technique doesn't matter so much with the kit lens, but as you get bigger lenses it becomes more and more important. also try and make sure that the shutter speed is over 1:1 of the focal length. So if the lens is at say 50mm, try and make sure the shutter speed is over 1/50th etc. :)
 
messiah khan said:
Also try and make sure that the shutter speed is over 1:1 of the focal length. So if the lens is at say 50mm, try and make sure the shutter speed is over 1/50th etc. :)

Sorry to ask a stupid question, but when you say the shutter speed should be over 1/50th for a 50mm shot I'm not sure how I can tell this on my camera. I'm guessing that when its showing a shutter speed of 50, does this mean that its actually 1/50th ?

As I said I'm still new to all this and I can't find any information on my camera which is that helpful.
 
TheKnat said:
Sorry to ask a stupid question, but when you say the shutter speed should be over 1/50th for a 50mm shot I'm not sure how I can tell this on my camera. I'm guessing that when its showing a shutter speed of 50, does this mean that its actually 1/50th ?

As I said I'm still new to all this and I can't find any information on my camera which is that helpful.

I can't quite remember how it displays it, but that sounds about right. I think it shows it like 50 for 1/50th, then if its in seconds, it goes to 2" for 2 seconds.
 
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