Just Call Me "Totally Overwhelmed"

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Sakkasie

New member
Hi everyone, it's me, April. Two days ago I purchased my first dSLR, a Nikon D3000. Prior to that I had the world's worst point and shoot, also known as an Olympus F170. To say I'm overwhelmed is an understatement. However, I did purchase the "Nikon D3000 For Dummies" book and I'm slowly working through it. I also plan on signing up for a few classes as well. As well as diligently reading these forums. I figure sometime in the next 5 years it'll all begin to make sense.

I look forward to checking out everyone's photos and adding my very useful critiques which are usually along the lines of, "Ooo, that's pretty." Hopefully my critiques will improve along with my shooting. :)
 
bluenoser

bluenoser

Banned
Hello April! Congrats on getting your first DSLR!! Don't worry - we've all had that overwhelmed feeling when first joining the SLR world. However that overwhelmed feeling quickly gets surpassed by the insatiable curiosity to improve and the sheer joy you will no doubt experience along your photographic journey (wait until the bug to buy more lenses, flashes, equipments bites! - that's a different kind of feeling! :))

PS. I'd be very satisfied to get your "Ooo, that's pretty" critique of any of my photos! That would work for me any day!

Welcome to Nikonites. Have fun and enjoy!
 
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DW_

Senior Member
Welcome April! You have yourself a fine camera, now comes the hard part...hard, but thoroughly enjoyable!
 
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Eye-level

Banned
Hello Totally Overwhelmed! haha

Welcome April I'm sure you'll have it figured out in no time at all!

What kind of glass did you get with your D3000?
 
Eduard

Eduard

Super Mod
Staff member
Super Mod
Eye-level said:
What kind of glass did you get with your D3000?
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Welcome and remember that you can't break the camera by pushing the shutter. The wonderful advantage of digital is that you can try things and get immediate feedback. AND no one ever sees when you use the delete button!

(And in case you didn't know yet, "glass" is another way of saying "lens".)
 
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Mike150

Senior Member
Welcome April. Classes and books for dummies can only take you so far. Get out and shoot some pictures. Shoot LOTS of them. What doesn't turn out can be deleted later.

When I started, I used Auto Mode exclusively, I then began to look at what the camera set everything to like ISO, Aperture and shutter speed. That gave me a good starting point, and Im now playing around in the manual modes. It's really getting to be fun.
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
Welcome to Nikonites, April. Congrats on the D3000. Nice camera. You're gonna love it. And like Mike said....get out there and take tons of pictures. You learn from taking pictures and see what works. Have fun while you're doing it, too. :)
 
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silvertip

Senior Member
Welcome to the "Nikonite" family. Lots of good people and advice here. Ask questions, don't think that it may be a stupid question. We have all been there. So keep those questions coming.
 
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Sakkasie

New member
Thank you everyone for the very warm welcome. I shot a bunch of stuff today and it's all CRAP. But that's pretty much what I expected. :)

Also, it's nice to see so many people here from my "home and native land"!
 
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fotojack

Senior Member
Sakkasie said:
Thank you everyone for the very warm welcome. I shot a bunch of stuff today and it's all CRAP. But that's pretty much what I expected. :)

Also, it's nice to see so many people here from my "home and native land"!
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LOL...all CRAP, eh? :) Hey, it's a start. :) Start shooting in Auto mode, but look in the view finder to see what the settings are. This will give you an idea of what to look for when you eventually start shooting in Aperture (A) mode.

By your reference to "home and native land"...am I to surmise that you're a transplanted Canuck living in California now? :)
 
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Mike150

Senior Member
fotojack said:
LOL...all CRAP, eh? :) Hey, it's a start. :) Start shooting in Auto mode, but look in the view finder to see what the settings are. This will give you an idea of what to look for when you eventually start shooting in Aperture (A) mode.


By your reference to "home and native land"...am I to surmise that you're a transplanted Canuck living in California now? :)
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Like Jack said. Start in auto and look at the settings, but don't ever forget that YOU are your own worst critic. What you say is Crap might look really nice to someone else.

Jack, Maybe his homeland is Mars like Pete...
 
bluenoser

bluenoser

Banned
Sakkasie said:
I shot a bunch of stuff today and it's all CRAP. But that's pretty much what I expected. :)
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Boy, I wish I shot "crap" like this when I first started out! (from your gallery)
6934195203_9bc681b91f_z.jpg

LINK
 
S

Sakkasie

New member
fotojack said:
By your reference to "home and native land"...am I to surmise that you're a transplanted Canuck living in California now? :)
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Jack,

I'm a born and bred Vancouver girl. I miss home a lot but I have to admit that California is a bit more conducive to outdoor photography. Except for when it's 100 degrees outside. That's when I start ranting and raving about how it's unnatural for Canadians to sweat. Or I suppose "perspire" would be a more polite way of putting it. Now if I could just get a bag of Ruffles All-Dressed potato chips, life wouldn't be so bad. :)
 
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Mike150

Senior Member
Sakkasie said:
Thank you everyone for the very warm welcome. I shot a bunch of stuff today and it's all CRAP. But that's pretty much what I expected. :)

Also, it's nice to see so many people here from my "home and native land"!
Click to expand...

If what you're shooting is "Mostly" Crap, perhaps it's time to move out of the cow pastures and into the city.
 
C

Carolina Photo Guy

Senior Member
Sakkasie said:
Thank you everyone for the very warm welcome. I shot a bunch of stuff today and it's all CRAP. But that's pretty much what I expected. :)

Also, it's nice to see so many people here from my "home and native land"!
Click to expand...

I would like to just point out that all of us have shot a lot of "crap". Just remember this. Without "crap", the seeds of your talent will NEVER grow.

One man's crap is another man's fertilizer. :)
 
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AxeMan - Rick S.

Senior Member
April, about 80% of what you're going to shoot are going to be "losers". You're not going to take a perfect photo every time. You took 50 photos and posted 5 in your gallery. I'm sure you like 5 other shots out of that group, but didn't want to post them for whatever reason.

A lot of us are chomping at the bit waiting for spring and warmer weather to get here. I'm tired of looking outside at a dead flat black and white world.

Tell you what... you send me your files then delete them from your computer. I'll be happy to put up with your crap.:p
 
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