Fairly new to photography

[Briggs1979]

These are a few pictures I have taken since I received my Nikon D3000 for Christmas. I am new to photography and would appreciate any suggestions and pointers. Also I was wondering what would be the next lens to purchase for photographing wildlife? Thank you for your time and info!

 

[tirediron]

Moving to the wildlife gallery.

 

[SCraig]

Focus on the eyes, not the middle of the body. The whole face of your squirrel is out of focus because it appears that you focused on the center of his body and had a very narrow depth of field (wide aperture). The eyes are the most important point of focus because if they are out of the focus the entire image is shot.

You don't mention what lens(es) you have, but I would recommend the Nikon 70-300 lens for wildlife. It is an excellent lens at a modest price.

 

[CaptainNapalm]

When shooting wildlife (and most things outside for that matter) try to avoid doing so in harsh sunlight. Shooting the squirrel in softer natural light would be more appealing, nice composition in that one though. Generally a couple of hours before sunset and around sunrise are excellent times to shoot outside. Slightly overcast days are also great. The deer shot is cool but I think the background is a bit distracting and takes away from the main subject (maybe because the colours are very similar). The last pic is a bit unflattering because you're shooting directly down on the animal. Squirrel shot is really nice and my favourite. Good job.

For shooting wildlife you'll likely want to invest in the longest zoom lens you can afford. For me that was the 70-300 (as suggested by Scott above) and I'm really happy with this lens although sometimes I wish I did have just a touch more reach.

 

[Briggs1979]

The lens I have is 55-200mm it was part of the kit that I received...I have been working daily for practicing I know it takes time...thanks for the input so far.

 

[TimothyJinx]

The squirrel shot would be really nice if you had focus on the eyes. Keep shooting - these are promising!

 

[Rafterman]

That Kildeer is SO mad at you!

We have one nesting in our front yard this year and when I get too close with the lawn mower, she gets furious.

I agree with the comments about the squirrel. The mid-day lighting is casting some nasty shadows. The doe and the Kildeer are pretty nice though. Tough break on the doe with all those branches in the foreground, but that's what happens with wildlife shots sometimes.

I also second the suggestion about looking into the Nikon 70-300 VR. I had the 55-200 at one time like you too, but it wasn't enough reach. I ended up with the Tamron 70-300mm VC, which I also highly recommend.