Greetings from Hawaii!!

[Re3iRtH]

Hello everyone,
Wanted to introduce myself. I have just purchased my first DSRL, a D3300 with 2 lenses. I was super close to buying the D7100 but I figured, what if I hate it or get out of it in a month? So far this seems really interesting. I am ridiculously green. I look forward to interacting with everyone on here

There is a lot to photograph here! Could someone share some tips on photographing sunrises? I read the manual and a few beginner DSLR articles but am still a bit lost. I have tried shooting in the Aperture priority setting but I never know what I should be setting the ISO at. Thanks guys!

 

[TwilitLens]

Hi there! Welcome to the forums. Congrats on your purchase. And trust me, you don't need "pro-level" camera bodies to take great shots.

Sounds like you've got a good question for the beginner section here. But to give you an initial hint, sunrises (and sunsets for that matter) offer some great opportunities. Because of the angle and quality of the light at these times of day, some very dramatic shots are possible. ISO 100 or 200 are good settings, btw.

When you post over in the beginner section, be sure to let us know what types of lenses you've got (focal length and whatnot). That way, maybe we can help you choose what's right for you without you having to spend any more on extra gear.

Cheers!

 

[weepete]

Welcom to the forums from me in Scotland mate. Its a good place to find out about photography and a nice community.

For sunsets/sunrises it's normally best to use a tripod, remote shutter release, mirror lock up, an aperture small enough to get a deep depth of field (think f11-16) and a low ISO. A decent tripod will help you eliminate camera shake and enable you to shoot at longer shutter speeds. Sometimes you will also want to use digital developing software like lightroom. Getting a good exposure can be difficult, as the sky can be bright and the foreground dark, so neutral density filters are useful or HDR (braceted shots combined in post) can be used and a circular polarising filteris worth looking into. You'll want to learn how to resd a histogram and make sure you dont blow out the highlights too.

 

[Re3iRtH]

Hi there! Welcome to the forums. Congrats on your purchase. And trust me, you don't need "pro-level" camera bodies to take great shots.

Sounds like you've got a good question for the beginner section here. But to give you an initial hint, sunrises (and sunsets for that matter) offer some great opportunities. Because of the angle and quality of the light at these times of day, some very dramatic shots are possible. ISO 100 or 200 are good settings, btw.

When you post over in the beginner section, be sure to let us know what types of lenses you've got (focal length and whatnot). That way, maybe we can help you choose what's right for you without you having to spend any more on extra gear.

Cheers!

Thanks Twilit! I will post about it in that section.

 

[Re3iRtH]

Welcom to the forums from me in Scotland mate. Its a good place to find out about photography and a nice community.

For sunsets/sunrises it's normally best to use a tripod, remote shutter release, mirror lock up, an aperture small enough to get a deep depth of field (think f11-16) and a low ISO. A decent tripod will help you eliminate camera shake and enable you to shoot at longer shutter speeds. Sometimes you will also want to use digital developing software like lightroom. Getting a good exposure can be difficult, as the sky can be bright and the foreground dark, so neutral density filters are useful or HDR (braceted shots combined in post) can be used and a circular polarising filteris worth looking into. You'll want to learn how to resd a histogram and make sure you dont blow out the highlights too.

Thanks mate. I guess a tripod should be my next purchase. This View NX2 software came with the camera. Think this is sufficient, or should I step into the big leagues (so to speak) with something else?

 

[weepete]

I'd say step into the big leagues with Adobe lightroom and photoshop. Adobe currently have a subscription service for $9.99 a month, if you can afford it its worth purchacing as its a really powerful editing tool and is probably the best software for post processing currently available.

I like this guy's tutorials, have a wee gander to see what you can do

YouTube