Greeting from Southern California!

[DY3VERSITY]

Hi, my name is Ricky and I am definitely new to the photography world. There are two thing in my life that relieve stress quite well. The first one is music and the second one would be beautiful pictures. That's my reason for enjoying pictures and hopefully I will be able to compose my own library of relaxation! I currently have a D5100 with a kit lens and I am looking at a few lenses. The main thing I look to shoot is landscape, architecture, and portraits. Do you guys have any recommendations on lenses and gear in general? Thanks everyone for your future help!

[TPF Sponsor]

[BeegDave]

Hi, ther !!
I just joined today! I also love to shoot scenics, especially ghost towns and sillouettes.
I reside in Orange County CA, and there is a lot to shoot near here.
Welcom.

[antawnmason]

Hello, just joining to day too and I'm glad to be here. Nice to meet you here.

[Josh220]

Orange County here.

What would you like to know most about? Do you need recommendations for books and websites that will help?

What kind of gear suggestions do you need? Lenses, lighting, filters, etc...?

Post up some examples of your work!

[DY3VERSITY]

Orange County here.

What would you like to know most about? Do you need recommendations for books and websites that will help?

What kind of gear suggestions do you need? Lenses, lighting, filters, etc...?

Post up some examples of your work!

I've been really trying to learn about the basics of composition and lighting. I really want to get the fundamentals down. I'm taking a beginning photography class right now and that's really helping. Some good books and websites on those would be greatly appreciated!

As for gear, I really enjoy shooting in natural light, so im not too concerned about flashes, but lenses are a big priority for me. I know that there are so many different ranges, that I am not to sure what I want/need right now. The lenses that I have been looking at are the 18-105 and the 12-24(going to rent it). At this moment though I have a standard 18-55 kit lens, a 1.8 35, and I am renting an 85 macro. I really want some clean, crisp, and vivid images. As for filters, I don't know anything about them or which ones to use in what environment.

I'll get some pictures up asap!

On another note, do you do a lot of HDR shots? I was looking at your flickr and you have some amazing shots! Also, do you do a lot of post processing on your images?

Sorry for all the questions. I'm just getting a lil overexcited about taking pictures!

[Josh220]

I do a lot of off-roading/expedition runs and often times I do HDR's when it's mid-day since the lighting is so horrendous. If I come back from a trip with 200 shots, I usually have 15-20 of those shot for HDR (sets of 5 images typically).

I do less post processing than it looks like, but everything is touched up in Light Room and CS4 since I shoot RAW (contrast, vibrance, etc).

I'll post up some good sources tomorrow (well, later today) but for starters I would look into Scott Kelby's books:
Amazon.com: Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (9780321678737): Scott Kelby: Books

You can buy them separately as well. Invaluable information for a beginner though.