New D5100

[thejosey]

Hey everybody,

I'm relatively new to photography, especially with a DSLR. I've always had a simple point and shoot or a decent camera phone (iPhones and now a Galaxy Note 3). I've done quite a bit of research before I made my purchase (yesterday) of the D5100. I'm really interested in bokeh and macro photography, but only have the stock 18mm-55mm kit lens as of now. Also, I don't have any gear for it (bag, tripod, filters, etc.). I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I'd like to get opinions on gear/photography with this camera/accessories that could get me going in the right direction. I've taken some pictures with the camera already, and again, I know some basics but I'm still learning.

Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to talking to everybody!

 

[lacogada]

Hi thejosey

I'm new to photography overall ... just purchased a camera from B&H and got a Nikon 50mm 1.8 as an extra lens.
I have a lot to learn. Some with more experience will give you lens advice.

I'll try and attach an image taken with the 50mm 1.8 lens.

 

[KmH]

Bokeh is not adjustable so it's something you don't have any control over - other than choosing a certain make/model of lens.

I suspect you're referring to making photos that have a shallow depth-of-field (DoF) which usually makes the background in a photo blurry.

One of the several factors that determine how much or how little DoF a photo has is using a close focus distance. Macro photography is all about using a close focus distance and the DoF in macro photos can be extremely shallow. To the point that several images have to be combined (stacked) to get as much DoF as you want.

So for Macro photography you will likely want a good set of tripod legs that you then add a head with focusing rails to. The focusing rails allow making small focus adjustments and the series of photos that will later be stacked to increase the DoF in the final image.

Many macro photographer also use supplemental lighting, also because the camera/lens is quite close to the subject. The built-in cameras flash can't deliver light close enough to the camera and a hot shoe mounted flash often has the same problem.
The solution is to use off camera flash.

 

[robbins.photo]

Hey everybody,

I'm relatively new to photography, especially with a DSLR. I've always had a simple point and shoot or a decent camera phone (iPhones and now a Galaxy Note 3). I've done quite a bit of research before I made my purchase (yesterday) of the D5100. I'm really interested in bokeh and macro photography, but only have the stock 18mm-55mm kit lens as of now. Also, I don't have any gear for it (bag, tripod, filters, etc.). I'm sure this question has been asked before, but I'd like to get opinions on gear/photography with this camera/accessories that could get me going in the right direction. I've taken some pictures with the camera already, and again, I know some basics but I'm still learning.

Thanks in advance and I'm looking forward to talking to everybody!

Well the best advice I can give you is get out and shoot for a while and find out what your current equipment can do for you. Experiment. Do some reading on depth of field and bokeh and how to acheive it, and experiment some more. Some reading on composition and rule of thirds, and then again back out to shoot some more.

Once you've got a pretty good handle on the gear you already have and get the chance to really evaluate it, then is the time to decide what else you'd like to add to your kit to be able to do the kinds of things you really want.