first DSLR shots

[Combat squirrel]

Hey no worries, wouldnt worry about them all being good, most seasoned enthusiasts take many many shots and only get a handful of keepers. As for focus, that can be many things, I assume you had the focus point on him?, it shouldnt have trouble picking it up -usually-, but sometimes it can depending on focal length and light issues, also lens -> camera 'personalitys'. Basically some lenses work better with some bodies than others etc etc, and there optimum focus speeds depened on certain light conditions and so on, its many factors. Try the focus speeds on a totally different subject in brighter light see how it does then, also the 'cheaper' telephotos are somewhat clumsey and slow to focus anyway, thats another thing to consider. Id highly recommend the canon 55-250IS lens, fast on focus speed and top notch quality for the money, around £160

 

[ljt]

Right, I thought I'd have a go at a bit of landscape photography this time around, using the kit lens again.

I went to Swallow Falls at Betws-y-Coed and the Horse shoe pass on Monday, thankfully the weather wasn't too bad, the sun kept trying to shine through the clouds.

Here are a few I took of these locations, again this is my first shot at some of the landscapes, so any help for the future would be great! They have had some croping and post processing in Lightroom

These 3 were taken out the car window driving past at about 50mph! (no i wasn't driving lol)

1)

2)

3)

This one was taken at the top of the Horse shoe pass

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These 2 were at Swallow Falls

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6)

It was a bit of a rushed visit in a day, as most time was spent traveling there and back, and this trip wasn't just to take photos. But the scenery was beautiful, so i might go back for a couple of days purely to get some good shots.

Many thanks

Lee

 

[Mint_Sauce]

I have to say, whilst they do look begginerISH (not patronising I hope as they're all actually good) there's something about your shots that make me think you'll be awesome in a few months time. Keep snappin!

 

[ljt]

Managed to get some time with my camera on monday. Went to Stratford to the butterfly farm, really glad I went. Took over 120 photos on the day, but the light was poor (dull and overcast ) so in some shots I had to rely on the flash and had to open up the aperture on the lens as much as I could, meaning lower DOF than I wanted on most shots. Here is about 5 of my favourites from the day.

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2)

3)

4)

5)

I was using the macro feature on my tamron 70 - 300mm (macro from 180mm > 300mm) to take these shots, but after this visit I really want a dedicated macro lense and a better zoom lens thats quicker at auto focusing

Many thanks

Lee

 

[montymint]

I REALLY love this shot

Very captivating. A Thread like this REALLY makes me want to step into the world of photography. i wish i could afford such a thing

 

[Mr Jones]

Very captivating. A Thread like this REALLY makes me want to step into the world of photography. i wish i could afford such a thing

Save up, get second hand. If you've got a compact camera already, sell it. That's how I did it and braved into more advance photography and so far, I'm loving it.

 

[Netvyper]

Save up, get second hand. If you've got a compact camera already, sell it. That's how I did it and braved into more advance photography and so far, I'm loving it.

I just hunted around for all the old hardware you dont think is worth a lot... when totalled up it was £300; and my 350d should arrive sometime very soon, 70-300 lens already here

 

[montymint]

Save up, get second hand. If you've got a compact camera already, sell it. That's how I did it and braved into more advance photography and so far, I'm loving it.

any tips on what i should be looking for, so far i have around 200 saved up.

 

[Mr Jones]

any tips on what i should be looking for, so far i have around 200 saved up.

Depending on which brand of camera is for you like;

Canon
Nikon
Sony
Olympus
e.t.c....

I personally went with the canon 20D, because it felt good in my hands, it's sturdy built like a camera (not as plasticy like the xxxD series) and because canon have a huge range of lens to choose from.

It's not to say the likes of 300D, 350D or even 400D if your budget stretches isn't good.

Nikon like the D40 are quite cheap these days in the second hand market and quite known for their "easy to use" interface, not used one for more than 2mins so can't comment on them.

Sony like the A200 is cheap brand new and have IS (image stabilisation) built in, which means you'll save more money when you upgrade in lens and IS is very useful. Only hitch is Sony is relatively small compared to the Canon and Nikon market, so lesser variety of lens - apparent that is set to change tho.

So have a look around, for 200 + abit more, you can easily have a 350D and kit lens or better, but I might be bias to the Canon side of things

 

[montymint]

Thats's worth looking into, i'm getting bonus at the end of august so if i can't afford a good starter kit i can wait until then, and up my budget to around 400-500.

 

[3dcandy]

not much water at swallow falls.....looks better when it's raining!
if you're into waterfalls, and swallow falls isn't too far away, you shoul try Pistyll Rhaeadr
google it and take a look, very impressive and free to visit too!

 

[domthecondom]

WOAAH. i like your shots, i hope i will get better soon, im still a noob at it, getting from video to photo is a bit hard but im starting to get the hang of ISO/Shutterspeed and apature...its all a bit confusing tho

 

[ljt]

not much water at swallow falls.....looks better when it's raining!
if you're into waterfalls, and swallow falls isn't too far away, you shoul try Pistyll Rhaeadr
google it and take a look, very impressive and free to visit too!

I do live a fair way from swallow falls, but I did say I would go and stop a weekend around that area so I could spend more time composing the shots, so I will put this on my list of places to visit. Cheers!

WOAAH. i like your shots, i hope i will get better soon, im still a noob at it, getting from video to photo is a bit hard but im starting to get the hang of ISO/Shutterspeed and apature...its all a bit confusing tho

The best thing you can do is practice, if like myself, just reading a book about photography isn't really your style, then the best way is just to take lots of shots and practice. I normally take about 5 shots of the same scene with different apertures/shutter speeds etc and then pick the best one.

 

[colinuk]

ALl good shots, like them all so far got to get me a macro lens at some point!

ColiN