Need encouragement & advice

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John Thomson

Senior Member
Sorry, I dont know who Ansel Adams is, Horoscope Fish its all good, I am taking all advice on board, thanks and keep it all coming, was never great at reading books due to suffering from certain learning difficulties, so sometimes I find it easier just to ask questions was not trying to cut corners
 
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Daz

Senior Member
jet2004uk said:
Sorry, I dont know who Ansel Adams is, Horoscope Fish its all good, I am taking all advice on board, thanks and keep it all coming, was never great at reading books due to suffering from certain learning difficulties, so sometimes I find it easier just to ask questions was not trying to cut corners
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I feel your pain on the Reading Books, no disability but I just cant keep concentration for a book

Hence I suggested FroknowsPhoto, Matt Granger is also a good person to watch (both on YouTube) plus have their own videos

Other than that really just have a look on YouTube there is soooo much free info out there to learn
 
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Blade Canyon

Senior Member
jet2004uk said:
Sorry, I dont know who Ansel Adams is...
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AAg.jpg

See, even Ansel Adams practiced on still subjects...
 
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mikew_RIP

Senior Member
I think at the moment you are suffering from information over load :D easily done when you start in photography,my advice is forget raw for a few weeks and shoot jpeg i think its Horoscope has a great set up list for getting the best from jpeg,if he sees this ime sure he will post the details.
You just need to see some results that please you you and then consider moving on to raw in a step by step process.
 
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mikew_RIP

Senior Member
Just pinched this set up guide from one of Dons posts:D

If you are shooting JPG I would suggest that you use the Fine>>Large setting and also set your camera for better sharpness.



Go into your Menus and highlight the "Shooting" menu (the camera icon)

Drop down to "Picture Controls" and click right one time.

From here, highlight "Standard" and then click right one time.

From this settings menu, increase the "Sharpness" setting to "7".

Drop down and increase the "Saturation" setting +1 notch on the slider.

Press "OK" to exit the menus and you're done.
 
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jay_dean

Senior Member
Don't be discouraged with what people are saying. We are here to help, honest. Have a quick look into the basics of the exposure triangle, how Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO affect each other. Just spend an hour adjusting each one in increments to see what happens. Keep those ISO's as low as possible, Unless you have a D4, at ISO 5000, your camera can't handle ISO's that high effectively. Get some PP program. I know some can be expensive, nothing about this hobby is cheap really, but they are really worthwhile, they can turn what looks like a poor photo into something special
 
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Don Kuykendall_RIP

RIP :(
I was just about to post that.

While you are just starting out there is not problem with shooting JPEG Fine + Raw. That way you get some good photos now and you can practice on the RAW files. That is what I did when I started on DSLRs. (I came from a heavy film background)

Start off simple by shooting in program mode and work your way up to the other modes. The most important thing you can do now is have fun with your camera and get some good photos. Learn one new thing a week till you know it all. I have been shooting for 35+ years and I learn something new every week. I read articles, watch youtube clips and read a lot of posts here and look at the photos.
 
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traceyjj

Senior Member
Don took the words out of my mouth. My daughter is learning photography and she started on the auto setting, learning how to frame her shots and letting the camera take care of the rest of the settings. By looking at the exif data when she processed/cropped her jpgs she was able to learn what the general settings she needed to get the types of images she wanted. Gradually she stopped using Auto, and mostly she is full manual control (including focus!)
Get your "eye" first, then develop from there...
good luck, and most importantly, HAVE FUN while you are learning.
 
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Eyelight

Senior Member
My concentration wonders also and manuals and even some how-to books can be quite dry. The basics of exposure are a must to know and then the camera review of each shot will teach you more than anything.

Take a photo - review photo - adjust setting - take a photo - is it better/worse - adjust - repeat.
 
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adityasoman

Senior Member
Bird photography is one of the most challenging one !!! Start from basics
Take hold of your camera and watch videos.Try to follow them.Pause the videos if necessary.It takes time and patience and lots and lots of practise.
As everyone has already said.Try to understand which control does what.How it will affect.Shoot in P mode and see what values the camera chooses.Build from there.
Use single point focus.And keep the focus point on the subject.
You are using a tele lens without stabilization.So watch videos on how to properly hold a long lens.Start from here :)

The more you click the quicker you'll learn.Always enjoy clicking ;)
 
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John Thomson

Senior Member
I just wanted to say again, thank you to peoples advice on here, I have been away and done some reading (Horoscope Fish) :) , have watched some videos, and done some trial and error shots, thankfully I have seen an improvement in some of my photos, not brilliant but better, well in my eyes anyway and that is a big thing which will encourage me to keep at it, once again many thanks people.

(now should I post a photo lol )
 
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mikew_RIP

Senior Member
jet2004uk said:
I just wanted to say again, thank you to peoples advice on here, I have been away and done some reading (Horoscope Fish) :) , have watched some videos, and done some trial and error shots, thankfully I have seen an improvement in some of my photos, not brilliant but better, well in my eyes anyway and that is a big thing which will encourage me to keep at it, once again many thanks people.

(now should I post a photo lol )
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If you realize every one wants to help then post your pictures:D
 
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SteveH

Senior Member
One good way to learn, is to pick a single, fairly simple subject - It could be an ornament, house plat, dog etc. and take a few shots of it - Pick which you think is the best, and post it in the Critique part of the forum ( http://nikonites.com/photo-critique ) Just bear in mind to only post one shot in a post.... And then people can concentrate and discuss one photo and the settings used and look at your composure etc. Where a set of shots are posted, its hard to say what the photographer should have done differently, as each shot is slightly different.
 
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aroy

Senior Member
Here are a few tips
. Shoot in RAW. Then use the Nikon View NX to examine, adjust exposure and convert to jpeg. In case you are adventurous, then download the free RAW processor - Nikon Capture NX-D. It gives more options for processing. The most relevant in your case - WB, Distortion control, Exposure control and recovering shadows and highlights.
. Desist from going above ISO 400. I normally shoot ISO 100 most of the time. You will get less noise.
. Most of the "cheaper zooms" are soft at the long end. Limit your zooms to 200mm and see the improvement in quality.
. Do not shoot beyond F/11. Diffraction will make the images softer. Most practical setting is - RAW, ISO 100 (or 200), Aperture Priority - F/8, AF-S, Single Focus Point, Matrix metering.

Find the focal length spread at which your lens is sharpest. Do not go beyond that. Instead use the 24MP sensor's real estate to crop. You will find that cropped shots at the lens's sharpest region are much better than those taken at 250mm to 300mm. Remember that unless you are printing big. Of the 4000x6000 pixels of the D3200/D3300, an 8x10 print requires only 2400x3000 pixels and for the Web you rarely cross 1200x1600. So never be shy of cropping.

FSC_8524.jpg
Owl taken at 85mm and cropped to 800x800 pixels. Enough for web posting
 
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