Location-Eastern Kentucky
Nikon D3000 using 18x55mm AF-S lens and tripod
Feel free to tear it apart and point out anything you see I can improve on. These are among my favorite shots I have every taken, but I am here to learn.1.


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A DSLR could do muchhhh better, if you didn't mention it I'd think they were taken with a compact. Did you have it on full auto? Seems like the iso was way too high because there's a lot of noise in most of them.

Try to have it on 'aperture priority' first. Then you can set the iso and aperture manually and the exposure will still be estimated by your camera. If that fails (can happen in high contrast places like that tunnel) go full manual.

Also, it's a bit more work, but try to shoot RAW in stead of JPEG so you can do post-processing without compromising quality.

I would agree that your ISO appears to be too high, because there is a lot of noise, although this could also have been introduced in editing. Keep in mind, reducing the file sizes for the web has the side effect of hiding a LOT of the noise. If we can still see the noise at all at web resolution, then it's going to almost unusable for any kind of print media.

#1. The lines created by the contrete wall are nice, but then there's all these other lines and other distracting elements that clutter it up. Also, trees in the background are overexposed.

#2. Underexposed. Of course, this arguably could be deliberate, but it looks accidental to me.

#3. Probably my favorite in the set. It would look better if it had more perspective though. The two lines from the two things hanging down are perfectly parallel, indicating the subject of the picture is far away, which makes the viewer feel detached. I love all the texture in the concrete though.

#4. You never want to light a picture with one pure color, especially from an LED. It confuses the hell of the sensor and leads to an incredibly narrow dynamic range, giving pictures this extremely high contrast look. A hint of white light or some other color from a different angle could have made this picture dramatically better.

#5. This one is cool! Underexposed around the edges, but that's not necessarily bad in this case - it looks deliberate. Nice composition. Subject is a little cliche. (But then, what exploring photo ISN'T cliche?)

#6. So much potential, but the noise is killing it. It's especially visible in the black areas at the top. Also, I wish the white area at the bottom was either completely blown out, or completely visible. The random lines through the pure white areas take away from it.

#7. Good DOF work! Love it!

Sorry, hope none of that was too harsh! You're off to a good start here, keep playing around!

Thanks for the replies and no worries...this was also the first time I shot in low light. Since this shoot I have done some more studying and shots in low light using manual settings learning little things here and there. In the upload process for post does it by chance resize the images for the forum? Sirpsy, yes it was in full auto at that time i knew what iso was but not how to use it. DJ in post process I am quite heavy handed in adjusting levels. I do not know why but I like my shots to be on the dark/under exposed side.

Posted by ZombieHunter_EKY Thanks for the replies and no worries...this was also the first time I shot in low light. Since this shoot I have done some more studying and shots in low light using manual settings learning little things here and there. In the upload process for post does it by chance resize the images for the forum? Sirpsy, yes it was in full auto at that time i knew what iso was but not how to use it. DJ in post process I am quite heavy handed in adjusting levels. I do not know why but I like my shots to be on the dark/under exposed side.

I dont know if it's been covered and I'm not a professional when it comes to Nikon, but there is a setting in your Camera menu that automatically sets the camera ISO depending on the shot. The best piece of advice I can give is find a Youtube video that specifically goes through what each menu option does, not only do you learn a little about what you can do in camera but you will optimize your stock settings (including the automatic iso metering).

Other than that, play around with your camera try different things and watch some Youtube videos. I highly recommend the following series,you can skip all over if you wish but it covers all the bases and the best part is it's free!

https://www.youtub...98B85DA47B&index=1

Get yourself a Somali version of lightroom and photoshop, sign up for Flickr and you will be well on your way.

Oh and don't forget to have fun! Keep it up and I look forward to seeing more stuff.

Yeah, my first outing with a DSLR was pretty much the same too. I was thinking that the cam would correct all of my beginner mistakes. After a lot of studying, I figured out some tricks to help me improve. I agree with what everyone says here. Keep taking shots, and don't be afraid to toss out the crappy ones. I shoot tons of shots, only to end up with maybe ten that I will keep and work with.

Also, tripods are pretty much required for low light stuff if you wanna keep the ISO low. Don't forget the shutter delay too! That's a big one for me.

@ azuro1125
Of course it's one way to take a shitload of photos and dump the crappy ones, I did it in the early days too mostly because of being overly enthusiastic, but after years of photographing I figured that it's not ideal for me. It takes a lot of time to select at home, and in my case also disk space because I can never get it down to a sane number

Now it goes somewhat like this:

1. I have a good look around (assuming that I'm standing in a room somewhere) and ask myself 'what do I want to capture?'. I really want to spend a couple of minutes on this to figure out what the interesting features are.

2. Think out a composition, set up the camera and take a good look at the lines and the little bubble level on my tripod to have everything as straight as possible right away. Again a bunch of minutes go by to get this just right, it saves a lot of hassle at home.

3. Take shots (bracket), evaluate on LCD screen, when it's not good enough I dump it, adjust and retake. Sometimes when I'm not really sure if I did good or bad I keep it just in case, but generally I don't hesitate to dump and adjust a couple of times.

This works for me but of course everyone has their own style. It's a huge difference from back when I was happy snapping from the hip throughout an entire building and ending up with 600 photos to go through at home. On the other hand, don't be too sparing, you don't want to regret that one shot you didn't take.

Yeah When I go out I end up coming back with like 300-400 pictures but I walk everywhere so I stop and take shots of anything that interests me and looks good. I have started shooting in Raw and that makes me be more selective with my shots that I do take. I have some better ones from that day I took in an abandoned industrial/workshop area and later today I will upload them.