Hello from Montana!

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wreckdiver1321

Senior Member
Hi there, I'm a college student from Montana who recently got his first DSLR.

I got the two lens D3100 kit for my birthday recently. I was really into photography while I was younger, but that was when digital SLRs were very expensive and my budget was too low. I tried film for a while, even had a Nikon SLR. My composition has always been pretty good, but the expense of film and the coming of the digital age pushed me out of more involved photography. As time went on I kept practicing composition and making sure I took better pictures. For a long time, I've wanted to step it up. I did a lot of research on what camera to buy, and decided on the D3100. My plan was to buy one soon, but I ended up getting it for my birthday.

I take a lot of pictures. Especially now since I have a great camera to do it with. I do a lot of traveling, and I love taking travel shots. I am rarely without my camera though, and so my shots tend to be a bit random. :eek:

I'm planning to get some more lenses to round out my kit, including the 16-85mm and 35mm f/1.8. I'm also currently on the free trial of Lightroom, planning to buy soon. I have also made the switch to shooting in RAW.

Anyway, enough about me! Here's some sample shots.







 
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wreckdiver1321

Senior Member
Deezey said:
Welcome to the forum! For $10 a month you can get photoshop cc and LR5!
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Thanks! I did some looking into it. I'm not sure $120/year is totally worth it to me. I don't really need to edit at the pixel level. I'm pretty happy with Lightroom, and I can get it for $80 with the student discount.
 
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wreckdiver1321

Senior Member
Don Kuykendall said:
It will help if you add your camera gear. It will show up under your name each time you post. Many questions you ask are dependent on that information.
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If you're talking about adding it in my signature, it won't allow me to add more than one line. And I just added my camera to show up under my name. Nothing else shows up.

EDIT: Ah! got what you're talking about now!
 
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Deezey

Senior Member
wreckdiver1321 said:
Thanks! I did some looking into it. I'm not sure $120/year is totally worth it to me. I don't really need to edit at the pixel level. I'm pretty happy with Lightroom, and I can get it for $80 with the student discount.
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I said the same thing....but then @wud showed me why I would need photoshop! Just wait....
 
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rikman

Senior Member
Nice shots. I visit billings a lot. Haven't had time from work to take landscape shots


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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
One of our Super Moderators just moved from San Diego to right up the road from you to Billings. We have not heard from him in a week now. We may need for you to go dig out his frozen body. He is not used to cold weather. @Dave_W
 
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wreckdiver1321

Senior Member
Deezey said:
I said the same thing....but then @wud showed me why I would need photoshop! Just wait....
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Haha we shall see :D

rikman said:
Nice shots. I visit billings a lot. Haven't had time from work to take landscape shots


Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
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Thanks!

I see you're an airline pilot. My dad is an ATC at BIL. It's pretty nice to be here, only 45 minutes from Red Lodge or the Pryor Mountains. My folks also have a home up in Seeley Lake, near Missoula. Beautiful area, great image opportunities.

Don Kuykendall said:
One of our Super Moderators just moved from San Diego to right up the road from you to Billings. We have not heard from him in a week now. We may need for you to go dig out his frozen body. He is not used to cold weather. @Dave_W
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I grew up in Billings. I'll make sure to keep a shovel in my truck! We're in the process of getting 6-10 inches of new snow.
 
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rikman

Senior Member
Cool.. I'm surf I've talked to dad. I saw bighorn canyon from the air few months ago going in there. Took a few iPhone snaps. I'd also like to see little big horn.


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wreckdiver1321

Senior Member
rikman said:
Cool.. I'm surf I've talked to dad. I saw bighorn canyon from the air few months ago going in there. Took a few iPhone snaps. I'd also like to see little big horn.


Sent from my iPhone 5s using Tapatalk
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I'm sure.

Bighorn Canyon is beautiful. I'll be sure to get some pics from there when I go this summer. I'm a diver, and it's the best place to dive around here. Clear waters. Gonna need to save up bigtime to buy an underwater housing.
 
wud

wud

Senior Member
Welcome :)

I think LR really came after it with this 5. version and since 2014, I started using it a lot. But for a serious shoot, I always do the last editing in PS... It's just an amazing tool.

I like your first image, are the peppers laying on something or is it a reflection?


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fotojack

Senior Member
Welcome to Nikonites, Wreck. Are you with PADI or NAUI or "the other one"? ;) I'm a PADI Divemaster myself, and most of my diving has been in mountain lakes in drysuits.
Anyway...my take on the four shots: 1) a little dull, as in the lighting 2) great shot 3) best of the bunch 4)nice landscape ! :) Hope this helps. ;)
 
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wreckdiver1321

Senior Member
donaldjledet said:
Welcome,
Nikon has the nikon 1 aw1 for underwater. Don't
Know how deep you dive.
But maybe take a look see at it.
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Thanks for the heads up! Just looked into it, and about 60% of the time I'm diving below 50 feet, and I am planning to go to around 200. So I need a bit more. ;)

wud said:
Welcome :)

I think LR really came after it with this 5. version and since 2014, I started using it a lot. But for a serious shoot, I always do the last editing in PS... It's just an amazing tool.

I like your first image, are the peppers laying on something or is it a reflection?
Click to expand...

None of my shots are really that serious. I'm not a pro or anything, just a hobbyist, and LR version 5 seems to have more than I will use already. But like I said, we shall see :)

The peppers are on a glass tabletop, it's a reflection of a painting.

fotojack said:
Welcome to Nikonites, Wreck. Are you with PADI or NAUI or "the other one"? ;) I'm a PADI Divemaster myself, and most of my diving has been in mountain lakes in drysuits.
Anyway...my take on the four shots: 1) a little dull, as in the lighting 2) great shot 3) best of the bunch 4)nice landscape ! :) Hope this helps. ;)
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Thanks! I'm all over the map. OW, AOW, drysuit, boat, wreck, deep are PADI. Rescue is SDI. My public safety certs are ERDI, I have a tech essentials cert from UTD, and getting tech training from TDI. Planning on taking tech up to full trimix, wreck 1 and 2, and cave 1 and 2. Like I said, all over! I spend a lot of time diving up in the mountain lakes, but so far my favorite dive sites are wrecks in Lake Superior. I usually have a set of steel doubles strapped to my back. ;)

Thanks for the feedback! That first shot does leave a little to be desired. The lighting couldn't really be helped, I was shooting in a small room with windows on 3 sides and it was a cloudy day. I would have liked a few more colors in there. I really like # 3. That shot alone proved my D3100 to me in low light. If you look in #4, you can see the roof of the shack I took that picture in.

Still getting used to the camera, but I'm getting better all the time!
 
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