Critique me...

[IndiReloaded]

That's a good photo of the glasses, RK. I like. Very studious.

[1averagejoe]

The nikon D40 is a great DSLR to start on. Learn it inside and out, shoot everything in sight and you'll gradually see what makes a good photo a good photo. Don't upgrade to just upgrade, upgrade because something on your camera is limiting your ability. You'll know when you're due for an upgrade.

I have a Canon Rebel XT with a 17-40mm f/4L and 70-200 f/4L. Both of them are very sharp lenses. Here's an awesome example, just look at the detail of the fingers and cake.

One of my favorite pictures. It's my niece's 6 month birthday.
[url]http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a288/bag3lbit3s/7372758-lg.jpg[/url]

So now that you've got a camera, learn on it, then look forward to getting some nicer lenses to compliment it.

[RSK]

hey thx indi, now for those books!!! aahH!

joe, amazing shot, i can't get enough of macro shots, love the detail on the cake, and your neice is very cute. i hope to grow as older with this camera, and do exactly as you said...upgrade when the camera is limiting me. thanks again for the advice...the guy at the store said i can't go wrong with nikon.

i think later, i will grab a nikon d40 guide, the manual is way too technical... thx again!

[IndiReloaded]

That's a brilliant shot, 1aj, thanks for posting that. So cute! Brought back memories of my son eating his first chocolate doughnut.

[1averagejoe]

I'll give you a crash course of how basically all cameras work.

There are three things you need to know by heart and how changing affects your photos.

1. Shutter speed, it's pretty straight forward. The faster the shutter speed the less likely there will be motion blur. In low light conditions you will need to have a slower shutter speed.

2. Aperture (also know as the f-stop), the aperature is basically this:
[url]http://web.uvic.ca/ail/techniques/aperture.gif[/url]
Inside the lens there are those blade like things that can be adjusted to allow more or less light in the lens. The larger the number the less the light. But the larger the number (smaller the hole, called the aperture) the larger the depth of field is. Here's a great photo explaining this:
[url]http://www.photography101.org/images/depthoffield.jpg[/url]
Depth of field is basically the distance from the object focused on that will still be in focus. A smaller depth of field means that the background and foreground will blur quicker. The larger the depth of field, the background and foreground will start to blur much further from the object. Higher end expensive lenses usually have a larger f-stop (smaller number) and allow more light, which is good in low light conditions. But also all lenses can have the f-stop dropped to a larger number to change depth of field.

3. ISO. In film cameras you may have heard it called the speed of the film. This exists in the digital world as well. The lower the iso, the more light is required to properly exposed a picture. The higher the iso, the less light is required to expose one. But, the higher you go, unless you have a very expensive camera, the more noticeable the grain in the photos will get. So you need to learn when to properly choose the right iso depending on your lighting conditions. But whenever possible you want to use the slowest iso possible to the point where you won't get blur, this will yield the best quality.

I won't go into detail about how these all relate, it will just confuse you. But just get out there and use your camera. Also I recommend staying out of the auto modes, try staying in either Aperture priority mode or shutter priority mode. Or even manual to learn. I personally almost 90% of the time stay in aperture priority mode. Basically this allows you to set the aperture to the desired setting, and it will automatically adjust the shutter speed depending on the lighting conditions. Shutter priority will do the complete opposite, you select the shutter speed, and it adjusts the aperture according to the lighting. Which can be handy sometimes, but not often, especially in low light conditions. On nikon's the aperture priority is the A on the dial, and the shutter priority is the S on the dial.

Ask questions if you need any help with it.

[IndiReloaded]

But the larger the number (smaller the hole, called the aperture) the larger the depth of field is. Here's a great photo explaining this:
[url]http://www.photography101.org/images/depthoffield.jpg[/url]

Does the depth of field have to do w/the angle of the light rays that are coming in? I'm imagining that a smaller aperture will only admit light rays that are _more_ parallel than a wider one, which I can see why that might blur the emulsion at closer distance (the wider field, that is).

Or am I just confused? Been a while for me, lenses & such but interested. Link?

[1averagejoe]

This is a great page about the stuff I previously explained:
[url]http://www.ted.photographer.org.uk/photoscience_control.htm[/url]

For indireloaded, here's some stuff regarding the actual science behind it, it's pretty damn complicated stuff though, that I don't fully understand to be honest:
[url]http://www.normankoren.com/Tutorials/MTF6.html[/url]

[RSK]

hey thx joe, appreciate your help. i have been studying exactly those three over the past few weeks, and how they all contribute to exposure, i'm getting the theoretical stuff down slowly...did get a little confused with large f numbers, means small aperture, and small aperture means high DOF, i understand most of it now, but i think now is a matter of putting it into practice...only problem is, that i should and will be studying now, so camera stuff will probably be on hold until about late october

but i'll still keep readng, and studying from time to time. thanks again boss!

i do have one question...when i look through the viewfinder, and zoom in, using a high small f number (to achieve lower DOF), i will press the button half way to get it into focus as much as i can (normally i hear a beep, and then that's the signal to click all the way)...but sometimes, i hear nothing, and when i press the button all the way, it doesn't do anything...is that because the camera is out of range or something? just wondering...happy shooting!

[lesa]

Wow you guys are amazing! Now I know where to go for photo advice.

[1averagejoe]

It could also be that you're too close to the subject, lenses have a minimum focusing distance, so you may just be out of the lenses range. I don't know what lens you have, but read the markings on the lens and it should say something like 2ft - infinity(it should be the symbol infinity). 2ft refers to the minimum focusing distance. If it doesn't say on the lens, the little measuring gauge on the top of the lens that spins when you focus, turn it to the opposite side from infinity, it will have usually feet and meters, the last number is usually the minimum focusing distance.

Are you in poor lighting? In poor lighting most camera's will struggle with focusing without an assist flash from the popup flash or an infrared assist beam that a lot of external flashes have on them.

Try doing it outside in good lighting just to see if it's ok. Also sometimes the camera may not focus if there is zero contrast on a subject. For example, focusin on a plain empty wall that is entirely flat, with no lines, and all the same color. Even high end cameras will struggle with a situation like that sometimes, although not as bad.

[vashti]

I'm not such a critic, RSK, but I laughed when I saw your photo of Raynaud's... my nephew has that.

[1averagejoe]

Wow...I'm impressed. I wasn't expecting much to be honest but those were pretty darn good. The colors and contrast are all spot on. The slight vignetting is a nice touch as well. I'm also a big fan of selective saturation. Props on the nice photos.

*edit*
did you delete your last post with the link of the photos?