Comments on these photos?

[jipajappa]

I was encouraged in my intro thread to start sharing some pics, so here goes. Keep in mind that these are pretty much the first pictures I have ever taken on my D60, so I'm not necessarily expecting them to be so great. Any constructive criticism would be greatly appreciated (although compliments can't hurt, either )

A gorilla at the San Diego Zoo:

A sunset over the ocean in Coronado:

A clam:

A Snow Leopard at the San Diego Zoo:

 

[kundalini]

You have some noise issues in most, but dude or dudette, you have some really nice photos as far as composition and projecting your image.

 

[jipajappa]

Thanks! I've noticed that a lot of the pics I've taken so far seem to have some noise, but, as a noob, I don't really know why noise happens or how I can reduce it. Any suggestions?

 

[kundalini]

What kind of gear and settings are you using?

 

[jipajappa]

Nikon D60, usually a 55-200mm lens. I've been changing settings left and right. From what I've read, a lower ISO number usually means less noise? I know thats probably dumbing things down too much, but is that relatively accurate?

 

[Josh66]

Yeah, the noise in these is from high ISO. The last one doesn't say what the ISO was in the exif, but the others were 800 & 1600. Try to keep that as low as possible.

 

[kundalini]

Nikon D60, usually a 55-200mm lens. I've been changing settings left and right. From what I've read, a lower ISO number usually means less noise? I know thats probably dumbing things down too much, but is that relatively accurate?

I shoot a lot of crap shots and I know that it is partially due to keeping my ISO too low when it should be bumped up. The rest is because I'm not any good at taking photos.

I've got a 55-200mm.... don't use it much anymore, but I will tell you that it can be a damn sharp lens.... given enough light.