Grain Silos long deserted, a city built around them.

1.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

2. Obligatory foot dangle picture. I know how much everyone hates these photos but I just had to, at-least it is kind of unique.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

3.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

4.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

5. This one just turned out cool, it's the ladder to the roof.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

6.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

7.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

8. One of my favorites, looks like a couple bullets whizzed through this window.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

9. Here's a door you do not want to open because it is a 100 ft. drop.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

10. Middle level hallway.
Vinton Elevators by dombrock, on Flickr

Love grain silos, and this one looks massive! Very cool.

Posted by Esoterik Love grain silos, and this one looks massive! Very cool.

Yep, they are very big, I read somewhere that at one time, this silo held the highest capacity of grain in the world.

I love old silos, we have a partially active and and inactive elevator in my town but I'm yet to find a POE

Great job.
I was just able to scale one yesterday.

Is that a cop car in #7?

Posted by skatchkins Great job. I was just able to scale one yesterday. Is that a cop car in #7?

Thanks, and yes, that is indeed a cop car, I noticed that later when I was going through my photos, haha.

nice photos. It sucks that they took the belt out though!

Posted by Cosmic nice photos. It sucks that they took the belt out though!

Yeah, it is too bad, that would have been pretty cool to see.

Awesome place!! I love the views from the roof a elevator! Unfortunately the ones near me have had all the stairs removed. I am still determined to get to the top of at least one though.

Posted by TheSwanStation Awesome place!! I love the views from the roof a elevator! Unfortunately the ones near me have had all the stairs removed. I am still determined to get to the top of at least one though.

Yeah, at this particular location there are no stairs either, luckily however, there are ladders. They are very sketchy, but worth it.

Does anyone have any suggestions/critique for my photos?
I just purchased a dSLR about a week or so ago and I'm only starting to get into photography.

Posted by Dominus Does anyone have any suggestions/critique for my photos? I just purchased a dSLR about a week or so ago and I'm only starting to get into photography.

Im not that much of a expert but your ISOs seem way too high for outdoors in daylight, 1600? in daylight should be no issue doing 200-400 with even higher shutter speeds.
Also if your not already, shoot in raw and use a program like lightroom, gimp, etc so you can go in and tone down some the highlights, and reduce noise, etc.
and also f/20 aperture seems too small for some of the shots, opening up that aperture allow you have more light for faster shutter speeds and lower iso. Also prevents light diffraction, unless you really need that depth of field, which I dont think so for some of the photos.

Just what I think, you really just have to go out and play around learn more over time, also the D3200 pretty nice starting out camera. I would highly advise get yourself a prime lens like a 50mm 1.8/g, just make sure any lens you get is AF-S unless you want to manual focus.

Great shots tho! I havent gotton into a grain elevator myself yet but I want to.

Posted by FrostyExchange Im not that much of a expert but your ISOs seem way too high for outdoors in daylight, 1600? in daylight should be no issue doing 200-400 with even higher shutter speeds. Also if your not already, shoot in raw and use a program like lightroom, gimp, etc so you can go in and tone down some the highlights, and reduce noise, etc. and also f/20 aperture seems too small for some of the shots, opening up that aperture allow you have more light for faster shutter speeds and lower iso. Also prevents light diffraction, unless you really need that depth of field, which I dont think so for some of the photos. Just what I think, you really just have to go out and play around learn more over time, also the D3200 pretty nice starting out camera. I would highly advise get yourself a prime lens like a 50mm 1.8/g, just make sure any lens you get is AF-S unless you want to manual focus. Great shots tho! I havent gotton into a grain elevator myself yet but I want to.

Thanks for the advice, I'm getting better already. I had just purchased my d3200 when I shot most of the photos.

Neat spot, I've always admired those silos while driving past on I-80.

Posted by Quarantine Neat spot, I've always admired those silos while driving past on I-80.

They looked a thousand times better with the artwork hanging from them

Hello fellow D3200 noob, I got mine about a month ago!

First of all, I saw someone recommended the 50mm f/1.8. It's not a bad recommendation, but in my experience (especially considering the crop factor on the d3200's not full frame sensor) 50mm is much too narrow for most UE purposes. Even in these shots you seem to stick to the lower focal lengths on the kit lens. From all of my research and now my happy use, I found that the 35mm f/1.8 is a much better choice for UE. Amazing low light performance with a view wide enough for most shots (although I'm looking for something even wider now myself). It's only a little bit more expensive than the 50mm, and they're both very inexpensive lenses as far as lenses go.

Second of all, I want to try to give some advice on your camera settings here based on my limited experience but decent amount of reading.

As someone else already said, your ISO's are pretty up there and they don't need to be. They never really need to be for UE if you have a tripod and the patience to use it. I try to keep mine as low as possible.

Also as someone else already said, your aperture is tiny, but your shutter speed is only 1/50. Depending on your steadiness (and VR or lack thereof), a shutter speed of 1/50 on a handheld camera may limit the quality you can get out of a shot. Plus there's no real reason to not drop that number down some. Doing so would allow you to open up your aperture more, which is good. Every lens has a range of aperture widths that will allow for the best quality pictures, and it's usually only a few stops above minimum. So unless you're using the f/20something artistically, there's no reason to not widen your aperture and lower shutter speed.

Also, compositionally, the rule of thirds should be obeyed.

Hopefully I used all my terms right, but either way there you have it. The advice of someone fully unqualified to give it.