Greetings from a SLR NOOB!

[BuZzZeRkEr]

Greetings! I just wanted to formally say Hi to everyone and that I'm brand spanking new to the SLR world. I just purchased my first DSLR Nikon D40X the day before thanks giving. I'm still very new to all these camera functions like ISO, aperture, exposure, shutter speed, flash settings etc.etc.. I'm sure I'll have alot of questions and pictures to post.
I thought I'd share my first picture ever taken with my D40x. This shot was on thanksgiving day of my wife and son. I think it turned out fantastic, but then again I am a noob. Any opinions? What would you have done? Its ok to be brutal, I'm not sensitive and I understand your just trying to help. Thanks in advance!

 

[Johnboy2978]

First welcome to TPF. Nice to have a fellow Virginian here.

This is a pretty nice capture just shooting right out of the box. The main thing that jumps out at me is the crop/composition here. It's a little unbalanced. You don't want everything dead center, but at the same time, your wife is being cut off while your son has some nice breathing room. Beyond that, portraits look nice with a shallower depth of field (using an aperture with a lower number). It makes the background more blurred while leaving the main subject in focus.

Again, not too shabby right out of the box.

You will want to post pics in one of the gallery sections though as this section is primarily for questions.

 

[BuZzZeRkEr]

First welcome to TPF. Nice to have a fellow Virginian here.

This is a pretty nice capture just shooting right out of the box. The main thing that jumps out at me is the crop/composition here. It's a little unbalanced. You don't want everything dead center, but at the same time, your wife is being cut off while your son has some nice breathing room. Beyond that, portraits look nice with a shallower depth of field (using an aperture with a lower number). It makes the background more blurred while leaving the main subject in focus.

Again, not too shabby right out of the box.

You will want to post pics in one of the gallery sections though as this section is primarily for questions.

Thanks for the insight. I was thinking exactly the same thing! After I uploaded the full picture to my computer I was dissapointed I didn't frame the picture a little to the right...<sigh>. Its kinda funny, at this moment I'm exploring the aperture priority setting as we speak by shooting some macros on my tripod. Just trying to find some interesting objects and textures.... next is exposure I guess.
I had some questions as far as speelights for the D40x, maybe you can help....or maybe I should just start another thread. Currently I'm just using the stock flash, but obviously need a speedlight with bounce capabilities. I was looking at the SB-400, but looking to save a few bucks. I think there are some after market speedlights that will still work with the D40x iTTL functions and are bigger but slightly cheaper. Any recomendations? Thanks for your time.

Sean Taylor R.I.P.

 

[Johnboy2978]

Well I won't be much help as far as SB 4/6/800 go since I'm a Pentax guy and not a Nikon shooter. I personally went with a Sigma EF500 DG Super if you decide to go 3rd party. It seems to have all the functions I need. I guess if money was not an issue, I would stay brand conscious and would've picked up a Pentax 540 but it was an extra $100. The Sigma seems to be a pretty good flash at $229. Might check it out.