Noob

[JTG40cal]

Hey all. Ive always loved and appreciated photography, but never really taken a serious approach towards it. I've been that avid point and shoot guy always trying to make something out of nothing while seeing other's work and saying to myself, "I would love to be able to create something like that!" Well, last night I finally took the plunge and bought myself my first Digital SLR. A Canon XSi. I went straight to my dad's house, from the store, to show off my new purchase. Well, really to borrow a couple of his lenses. I havent put the thing down since and have been snapping pics of everything I see just. I have to admit that it is all overwhelming...so many variables, options, conditions, etc. Regardless, I am very excited. Sorry this was probably better suited for the "welcome" section. Anyways, here are some pics I have managed to grab in the past 24 hours (Sorry they are so small. I guess Flickr compresses them some. Can anyone recommend a better site to host photos?):

Our puppy:




Alpinestars hat (motorcycles are another hobby):



Skate decks in the living room:



My fiancee's mom:



My truck:





One of my zombie killers:



Me:

 

[SrBiscuit]

congrats on your new purchase!
looks like you;ve got a nice start there, and this is a great spot to learn lots!

what lens did you use to shoot the wide angle shot of your truck?

on a side note, those pistol clips make me nervous. (glock22?...)

 

[JTG40cal]

congrats on your new purchase!
looks like you;ve got a nice start there, and this is a great spot to learn lots!

what lens did you use to shoot the wide angle shot of your truck?

on a side note, those pistol clips make me nervous. (glock22?...)

Thanks! I really love the camera so far and yeah, this looks like great place. So much info and the pics are amazing. Its awesome to see so much different work from so many people in one place.

I used a Canon Ultrasonic 10-22mm EFS to shoot my truck. Like I said in my first post, I am still learning and spent much of today just experimenting with different lenses, different environments, and different camera settings. Im not even messing with the "basic modes". I really want to learn how to manually capture great shots. Im definitely in the trial and error stages

The clip draw on the Glock really isnt that bad and as you can probably imagine, its a VERY comfortable carry option considering there is no holster. There is a lot of tension on the clip so the gun stays put. I have my CCW and never carry with a round racked. Its actually a 23 (hence the screen name JTG40cal - as in .40 caliber).

 

[dak1b]

good shots!

 

[SrBiscuit]

ooooo nice lens on that 10-22.
im DYING for the sigma10-20...only a matter of time.

continuing the side note lol...
i dont have any experience with the clipdraw. having the unprotected trigger would make me nervous, but if youre not carrying chambered, it seems a bit better. (though many would argue carrying unchambered is dumb, but i just don't feel comfortable carrying it chambered. glock19 here)(and in saying glock22 i was refering to model, not caliber...isnt the 22 a compact .40?)

nice shots...looking forward to more with that wide angle!

 

[musicaleCA]

Personally I'd go for the 12-24mm, but that's just because it's an EF mount instead of EF-S.

How are you converting to B&W?

 

[JTG40cal]

ooooo nice lens on that 10-22.
im DYING for the sigma10-20...only a matter of time.

continuing the side note lol...
i dont have any experience with the clipdraw. having the unprotected trigger would make me nervous, but if youre not carrying chambered, it seems a bit better. (though many would argue carrying unchambered is dumb, but i just don't feel comfortable carrying it chambered. glock19 here)(and in saying glock22 i was refering to model, not caliber...isnt the 22 a compact .40?)

nice shots...looking forward to more with that wide angle!

Thanks SR! I really like the shallow depth of field and almost characiture effect that the wide angle gives when right on top of subjects. Im still playing with the aperture and blurring the backgrounds. Im gonna keep at it though!

Side note - You are absolutely right. The 22 is a .40, but its the full size model. The 23 is the compact and the sister of the two is the 27 (subcompact). The 27 is just way to small in my opinion. I was however looking at the 29 the othe day. It is actually a 10mm (think of it as a magnum .40) and is in between the 23 and 27 as far as dimension. Very cool pistol. And yeah, I have heard both sides of the carry argument (chambered or not) and like you, I just dont feel comfortable walking around with a loaded gun in my pants. Especially considering I did some trigger work on my Glock and have it down to a 3.5lb pull. Also I would argue this...if you are ever in a situation where you need to draw your gun, you better hope its not when someone already has the drop on you. Unless you are Billy the Kid, I dont think you would have time to draw and fire on someone who already had you in their sights. It doesnt take long to take a step back while drawing the pistol and racking a round.

Personally I'd go for the 12-24mm, but that's just because it's an EF mount instead of EF-S.

How are you converting to B&W?

Thanks for the input musicale. I will certainly keep that lens in mind for when I start looking to buy my own lenses. I only got this camera itself 48 hours ago and borrowed that lens from my dad. To be honest, I really have no idea what I am doing at this point. Just a lot of experimenting so any input is greatly appreciated.

The B&W was done through the monochrome setting under the picture style menu of the camera.

 

[benlonghair]

Is your license plate really iron curtain? That's good. I like the use of DoF. Nicely done.

 

[inTempus]

You guys might want to stop with the gun talk, the mods will be here shortly to either warn you or just lock the thread. Firearms are a hot political issue and we have some folks present that don't appreciate our "gun culture". So, to avoid flame wars that have nothing to do with photography they've banned the discussion of firearms.

If you would like to keep this thread going (assuming it's not too late already) you should drop the issue of guns. You can post pictures of them, just don't talk about them.

 

[JTG40cal]

Is your license plate really iron curtain? That's good. I like the use of DoF. Nicely done.

Hahaaha! Thanks. Its actually supposed to be Steel Curtain (Pittsburgh Steelers reference), but everything was taken. FE - Iron (or steel) was the best I could come up with.

You guys might want to stop with the gun talk, the mods will be here shortly to either warn you or just lock the thread. Firearms are a hot political issue and we have some folks present that don't appreciate our "gun culture". So, to avoid flame wars that have nothing to do with photography they've banned the discussion of firearms.

If you would like to keep this thread going (assuming it's not too late already) you should drop the issue of guns. You can post pictures of them, just don't talk about them.

Thanks for the heads up. I guess it is a photography, and not a firearms, forum.

 

[Samanax]

Congrats on the new camera.

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Personally I'd go for the 12-24mm, but that's just because it's an EF mount instead of EF-S.

Canon doesn't make a 12-24mm lens...which brand are you talking about? Sigma or Tokina?

 

[JTG40cal]

Sam - Thanks for the links! The more info I can get at this point the better. I have a lot of reading to do!

 

[Weaving Wax]

As for the Flickr comment, you can get them in a bigger size by clicking the "all sizes" option at the top of the picture and then clicking "grab the pictures URL" down near the bottom. TPF with resize it for you, but at a slightly bigger size.