TOTAL new beginner here...

batmura · Sep 19, 2012

Hello, everyone!

Greetings from Istanbul, Turkey!

I am a total beginner in the world o DSRL and I just purchased my first ever camera today. After reading tons of reviews online and considering my budget, I picked a Nikon D3100. I know next to nothing about (digital) photography, but I love taking landscape photos and enjoy checking out people's creative work. I know I have a long way to go in regards to composition, technique, etc. At this point, I only have the kit lens and I do not intend to upgrade any time soon. I'd like to take my time and get to know my camera and take as many pictures as possible.

As I've already said above, I am mostly interested in taking landscape pictures because I love travelling and I'd like to take pictures of architecture, the sunset, empty streets, etc. Another thing I'm interested in is taking close-up
photos of objects where I can hopefully blur the background. I would love to shoot pictures of my aquarium fish if I can. Do you think a D3100 with a kit lens will suffice to achieve my goals?

Excuse me if I lack the correct terminology for these terms; I hope to get a better grasp of things after doing more reading. I'll probably start with the manual of my camera and then pick up some digital photography for beginners/dummies, I suppose.

I'm not going pursue a career in photography or anything, but I do take this hobby seriously and would welcome any advice from experienced photographers. Also, if I ever feel a picture I take is good enough, would any of you offer their criticism on it (bearing in mind I am totally new in this)?

Thanks!

Designer · Sep 19, 2012

You didn't say what exact lens you bought with your camera. Typically it will be the 18-55 zoom, and that will be fine for most of what you want to do.

As for criticisim, you need not wait until you feel a picture is "good enough". The more important thing when asking for a critique is to say what you had intended to do, what you did to try to achieve your goal, and what settings were used. If you remember to accompany each posted photo with that information, you will receive valuable feedback.

batmura · Sep 19, 2012

Designer said:
You didn't say what exact lens you bought with your camera. Typically it will be the 18-55 zoom, and that will be fine for most of what you want to do.

Thank you for your reply. It is the 18-55 zoom indeed. I am glad to hear it will let me do some landscape and cityscape shooting. Do you have any idea if I can also take some photos of my aquarium fish? I'd turn off the light of the room and turn on the aquarium light and then do a macro shoot of the fish. I've read that in order to blur the background there needs to be a distance between my subject and the back, but considering the aquarium tank is not that big would it still work? I have read several boards online and most people suggest changing the lens with one that has a lower f number in order to be able to do that. However, I don't want to do that yet, as I want to familiarize myself with the camera first. I just don't want to try to do things it won't allow me.

sydneys · Sep 20, 2012

Batmura, if its any help, you may like to know that I'm even more of a beginner than you! You have clear ideas about things you want to achieve. I just like the idea of taking better photos! And I can't remember my camera specs. I'll have to check before I start posting more!!

Best of luck
S

thosewhotell · Sep 20, 2012

just get out and shoot. post pictures, and don't scared of (constructive) criticism. Take all comments on board, but ignore negativity for the sake of negativity. I always say if just ONE person likes a photo, then you have done a good job. Over time you will learn what you enjoy shooting. At the end of the day, it is about what YOU enjoy, not what others enjoy.

Judobreaker · Sep 20, 2012

Definitely try shooting those fish, just don't expect those extremely nice and creamy backgrounds you see in photos made by people that have had years of practice.

For those kinds of backgrounds you're probably going to need either a larger fishtank or a lens with a bigger aperture (lower f-number == bigger aperture).
With your lens you'll get less blurred backgrounds, but that's not necessarily a problem.
Here's a photo I shot 5 years ago when all I had was a Panasonic DMC FZ-18 (compact camera):
http://www.rvantwerpen.com/wp-content/gallery/blijdorp-zoo-in-rotterdam/20071227_150952_small.jpg

Believe me, that was a pretty darn small fishtank. ^^
I'm not saying it's the most brilliant photo, but it's rather nice in my opinion. It was good practice too.

The biggest 'trick' to photography is to be able to create good photos with the equipment you have.
Of course better equipment will give you more options, but that does definitely not mean you can't make good photos with slightly less good equipment.
you have a very decent camera which is capable of producing very nice photos. Your lens is not the best, but it can still create nice results.

The things you should concentrate on first are exposure and composition.
This is knowledge you need with any camera/lens combination, no matter how good or bad they are.
Some people can create the coolest, nicely lit compositions with a simple point and shoot camera while others butcher the most basic vacation scene with the most expensive DSLR they could find.

This camera/lens combination should definitely be able to cope with landscapes, street, architecture, sunsets, etc.
Like I said before I don't think fish shouldn't be too much of a problem here either.

One thing you did mention in your second post is macro. This is going to be a problem without any extra equipment.
How much 'macro' would you like to go?
True macro means going past 1:1 on the sensor, this is basically creating very close-up shots of insects, flowers, etc.
If you're going for true macro you're going to need either a macro lens (a more expensive option) or something like extension rings (a cheaper option).
Also, extra lighting can play a big part in macro photography. While not always needed, it can be a real help.
If you're going for practice first, I suggest to keep to your current set-up for a while and start worrying about extra fun later when you think you've had enough practice.

Here's a good read btw:
Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials & Learning Community

I don't have a problem with people asking me for critique on their photos, that's what most of us are here for anyway. Helping out each other.
This goes for a lot of the members here.

Solarflare · Sep 20, 2012

The 18-55mm kit lens will serve you very well for landscape photography. Run it at f/8 for optimal quality.

I believe there is something like a 11-16mm DX lens from Tokina around that is quite cheap and very popular, though its manual focus, but that is no problem for landscapes.

batmura · Sep 20, 2012

Judobreaker said:
For those kinds of backgrounds you're probably going to need either a larger fishtank or a lens with a bigger aperture (lower f-number == bigger aperture).

I know it's too early to ask yet, but what would be the best lens if I want to take pics with a blurry background, acquarium or otherwise? Would I need one that zoom well, too? Today was the first day I experimented with my D3100. I took some pics at home in bad light and tried to familiarize myself with the menu a bit. I can't say I liked any of the pics, but I'll go out tomorrow before sunset and do some shooting outside.

The fish photo you took is awesome indeed. That is not a tropical tank, though, is it? Could I ask how big the tank was? I have an 80-litre tank and I'll start with the catfish I have because they are bottom feeders and easier to shoot. Do you remember if the lens of your camera touched the glass of the tank when you shot that picture? I find when there's even a small distance, the lens will reflect so I try to touch the glass with my lens. Is this technique correct?

When I said macro, I was actually trying to say I'd like to do some close-up shooting with a very blurry background. I tried the Aperture shot at home tonight and achieved nothing. I'll give it another shot tomorrow outside. I so look forward to seeing what it will look like and if I'll be able to pull it off. At home I tried to get as close to my subject as possible, picked the smalled f number and ensured there was some space in the background, but there was no blur whatsoever and even the subject seemed terrible. I'm hoping this has to do with the poor lighting.

The website you gave me is great. I've enjoyed reading it so far.

I look forward to you guys' thoughts. Thank you!

P.S. Can I take a picture like this one with a D3100 or is that way over my head? I would love to shoot such pictures someday: http://www.pbase.com/maximzar/image/82079205

Judobreaker · Sep 21, 2012

Yes you can shoot such a picture with a D3100.
Might be a bit tougher than with a really high-end camera but definitely not impossible.

Anyways, about the blurry background: Zoom hasn't got much to do with blurry backgrounds.
I'll tell you some basic things about lenses so you can understand what you need to keep in mind when getting one.

Each and every lens has 2 very important properties which you need to understand. Focal length and aperture.
The focal length determines how much your lens will enlarge the things you see through it.
The aperture determines how much light you can catch through the lens.
When looking for lens you're going to have to decide what kind of values you want on these 2.

For the focal length you have a few things to keep in mind.
What do you want to achieve? Are you looking for a tele-lens with a large magnification (longer focal lens, higher distance), something a bit more normal or a wide-angle lens for landscapes (very short focal lens).
On your camera I'd say that 'normal lenses' range roughly between 20-100mm. Over 100mm you're starting to venture into the tele-lenses and under 20mm you're in the wide-angle field.
To make a choice here you'll have to look at your main subject.
Tele-lenses are usually a good choice for wildlife, sports and anything that needs distance.
Normal lenses can be used for a lot of things. Portraiture, street photography, architecture, etc.
Wide-angle lenses are particularly nice for photos in which you need a very large view. These are mainly used for landscapes I think, but definitely not uncommon in street photography and architecture.
Of course a creative photographer may always be able to use any lens in any field of photography, but these are the 'main categories'.
For macro lenses you need to keep in mind that higher focal lengths give more working distance. Very useful when you don't want to scare off your subject. If your macro subject is not alive though a shorter focal length can be a lot cheaper and sometimes easier to work with.

Now we know what kind of lenses there are. We also know your main subjects from your first posts: Architecture, sunsets, streets and close-up.
Architecture, sunsets and streets are usually done with fairly normal lenses, the 50mm possibly being the most common one.
Wide-angle lenses are also definitely used for these.
Close-up can be done with normal lenses I think, there's probably some nice normal lenses around with a pseudo-macro label (they say it's macro but it means close-up, it's a marketing trick).
All you need to decide now is whether you want a single lens with all of these in them (ultra zoom lens, usually lower quality), multiple lenses with a single focal length (prime lenses, usually very high quality) or 2-3 lenses which cover your area (zoom lenses, usually decent to very high quality).

The next step is the aperture. This story is a lot shorter.
Wide aperture means strong light capacity. A f/2.8 lens can gather much more light than a f/5.6 aperture.
When taking a photo your aperture determines both how much light is gathered and your depth of field (DoF), the area in which objects are sharp.
A wide aperture will gather a lot of light and have a small DoF. This also means the background will be blurred more!
So, for a nice blurry background you will need a small aperture.
This is where things get rather expensive though... A lens with a max aperture of f/2.8 is a lot more expensive then a lens with a max aperture of f/3.5 for example.
Lenses with a larger max aperture are usually a lot better in quality too though, simply because professionals buy these lenses a lot more and are willing to pay. If you do get a more expensive lens for its aperture you're usually sure to get a good quality lens too.

One detail for lenses btw: If a zoom-lens (like the one you have now) says f/3.5-5.6 this means that at the smallest zoom the aperture will be f/3.5 and at the largest zoom the aperture will be f/5.6, so it increases when zooming. This is a lot easier to produce so these lenses are cheaper.

So there you have it, the most important things to look at when choosing lenses.
There's a few extra things like vibration reduction which are easy enough to understand, but that's just for extra pleasure. ^^
You might want to look at the 50mm f/1.8 btw, it's a very popular lens because it is cheap, good quality and has a very large aperture.

As for the fishtank: I think it was a tropical fish tank in a zoo, probably not much bigger than yours.
For this shot my lens did not touch the glass, it wasn't needed as luckily enough there weren't much reflection problems there.
The best thing to do if you do have reflections is get a rubber lens hood which you can press up against the glass so there definitely is no reflection possible.
I don't have these so I usually use my hand or something to cut off as many reflections as possible, getting close to the glass helps as there will be less reflections to cut off. ^^

batmura · Sep 22, 2012

I have been reading Bryan Peterson's book Understanding Exposure being an absolute beginner. I've had my camera for only two days and so far I'm not pleased with any of the photos I have taken. I have a question for those of you who might have read Peterson's book about "the camera's light meter" indicating certain numbers as "correct exposure." Peterson suggests shooting in manual mode with f/5.6 for starters and he says whenever it indicates the "correct exposure" we should press the shutter. I own a D3100 and wouıld like to know if my camera indicates any such thing and if yes where can I see it?