Thinking about the New Year and decided I wanted to learn how to shoot better pics this year. First I guess i need to go into a little background. I have had a digital camera (Nikon D40) laying around for several years now and will pick it up from time to time and take a few snapshots (usually on motorcycle trips) but I like many beginning photographers will shoot a few pics and then when I get back home and download them i notice that there are more bad pics than good. Once back home the camera goes back in it's case and stays there until the next trip. Because of not using it regularly it seems I have to relearn the controls, how to use them and what they do on my camera every time I pick it up which is really frustrating and makes it even harder to get good quality pics.
So this year since I am not getting any younger and I have several m/c trips lined up later this year I am going to make a conscious effort to learn more about how to use my camera along with how to compose and shoot good pics that are worth keeping.
Since there seems to be quite a few accomplished photographers on this forum (from some of the pics I have seen posted) I thought I would start a photo thread where I can post pics which will force me to get out and take more pictures. Additionally, I was hoping to get some feedback from some of the folks here who shoot a lot more than I do. I am thinking this will be a good learning tool for me, force me to take more pics, and will help me learn more about what my camera can do, the mechanics of taking a pic, and learn more about composition.
For anyone who wants to follow the thread just know that I travel a lot for work and right now I don't know how often I will be posting pics but I am going to try to shoot pics every week and will post them as I get them.
With regards to equipment as I mentioned above I am shooting with a Nikon D40 with the kit lenses of 18-55 f3.5-5.6 and 55-200 f4.5-5.6vr and a few filters (polarizing, neutral density, and graduated neutral density) I don't have any post processing software other than what is on my I Mac so the pics will have very little touching up. Since I don't have any touch up software I will be shooting J-Pegs for the most part but will try shooting in RAW format for a few shots just to see what they look like.
To get started here are some shots I did this week. Comments are welcome. Stay tuned for more pics folks and remember I am just starting this journey.
So this year since I am not getting any younger and I have several m/c trips lined up later this year I am going to make a conscious effort to learn more about how to use my camera along with how to compose and shoot good pics that are worth keeping.
Since there seems to be quite a few accomplished photographers on this forum (from some of the pics I have seen posted) I thought I would start a photo thread where I can post pics which will force me to get out and take more pictures. Additionally, I was hoping to get some feedback from some of the folks here who shoot a lot more than I do. I am thinking this will be a good learning tool for me, force me to take more pics, and will help me learn more about what my camera can do, the mechanics of taking a pic, and learn more about composition.
For anyone who wants to follow the thread just know that I travel a lot for work and right now I don't know how often I will be posting pics but I am going to try to shoot pics every week and will post them as I get them.
With regards to equipment as I mentioned above I am shooting with a Nikon D40 with the kit lenses of 18-55 f3.5-5.6 and 55-200 f4.5-5.6vr and a few filters (polarizing, neutral density, and graduated neutral density) I don't have any post processing software other than what is on my I Mac so the pics will have very little touching up. Since I don't have any touch up software I will be shooting J-Pegs for the most part but will try shooting in RAW format for a few shots just to see what they look like.
To get started here are some shots I did this week. Comments are welcome. Stay tuned for more pics folks and remember I am just starting this journey.
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