just got a D40

[blkspeed]

i got a great deal on a nikon d40 kit from a family member. a big newb when it comes to these cameras. flash was on auto but i like how it hit the headlight lens.
advice to taking better pictures would help. yeah and my car is pretty boring, and very dirty do to this very dry summer. car will get dusty in just a day.

 

[Hank3]

The front is slammed!!! Looks like a bit of negative camber too. Congrats on getting the camera

 

[blkspeed]

thanks. the area i parked fools ya it makes the car look lower with the driveway boarders underneath. but the left front is a tad lower than the right side, havent looked to see whats the cause.

 

[oaklandopen]

The evilness quality is looking sweet

Are you a noob to all cameras or just dslr's? Your framing and focusing looks good even though the stock flash is hurting you

 

[LOL WUT]

If you don't have one already, a tripod is your best friend. Also I would pick up some lense filters to cut down on reflections.

 

[blkspeed]

im a noob to different settings and exposures with the dslr's cause its my first one.

i do have a tripod so i will use it for my next shoot.

thinking about washing the car and getting better pictures with a better background today

 

[oaklandopen]

Well if you've ever used a regular slr the controls are essentially the same, only now you get to review pictures among many other things

The more time with it the easier it will get. I was forced to use a 35mm slr for my high school photo class, but when I was all done I went digital and eventually got a d80. I've since dramatically slowed down my photo outings, but I will get into it again I'm sure

Id say set the iso wayyyyy down, whip that tripod out, and do some night shots. Don't forget to use the timer (unless you get a remote for the shutter release, also a well worth it accessory)

 

[batou079]

practice practice practice.... only way to learn.
grats on the new cam.

im a noob too, as of a few months now.
idk the d40, but i have d60... seems you are slightly having focus issues as the car has a slight blur.
not sure what mode you shot in... but if you it doesnt have auto focus, you'll have to get a good eye for focus.
its fun to figure out what works with what kind of lighting.

definitly invest in a tripod for low light picture taking, you need the cam steady steady steady!

 

[blkspeed]

yea it had auto focus but is messed up i have to do it manualy the mode was on auto. but i took some with the landscape mode?

 

[oaklandopen]

I'm bewildered as to how you get a blurred finger with a dslr camera, first off

And that landscape setting is giving you a tiny aperture setting, not great for a car as the subject unless your background is particularly nice looking or important to the entire picture. You'd be better off at a larger aperture if your background is close, or a medium one if your background is really far away, to give it a soft focus while the car stays sharp

Just take a look at a c&d or r&t magazine to get ideas

 

[blkspeed]

i dont have a clue how my finger got in the way. so what setting in the "wheel" would be the best one for the time being.

thanks for the input

cant wait to get a new lens. the auto focus broke so i have to manually do it. so it sucks

 

[J_Naoto]

nice

 

[blkspeed]

oh looking back at that picture i remember that i set the camera on that beam but it wasnt level with the shot so i had to angle the camera a weird way. i didnt want to get the tripod out i havent even washed the car yet

 

[oaklandopen]

i dont have a clue how my finger got in the way. so what setting in the "wheel" would be the best one for the time being.

well, your settings wheel should be the same as mine. im simply going to assume you havne't looked at the manual and you know nothing of photography as i write this (don't be offended)

you should have the letters M, P, A, and S. they stand for "manual", "program", "aperture priority", and "shutter priority"

manual will give you complete control over you shutter speed and aperture settings, and you'll have to pay attention to the light meter in the eyepiece. use this for fine tuning of exposures, especially when you can see that your subject is reflecting a completely differen't amount of light than the foreground or background

aperture priority essentially means you can set the focal point of the picture. f22 is gonna make pretty much everything in focus (infinite), and a low number like f1 is going to give you minimal focal distance. and everything in between. this one is probably one i use the most for subjects not in motion, because i use a tripod and shutter speed is not an issue

shutter priority is mostly for cases where subject motion is the most important part. in your case (taking pics of a parked car) you might use this if you forgot to bring a tripod. when you are on this setting without a tripod, set your shutter speed to, at slowest, 1/60. this is a general speed at which holding a camera with your bare hands will not show motion blur from either you shaking or simply pushing the shutter release button. anything slower and you're risking blur
of course, along with this, the faster you set it the larger the aperture is going to open to compensate for the light lost in taking a "fast" picture. generally, the faster you go with the shutter speed, more of the picture will be in focus. the slower the shutter speed, the less will be in focus

program has something to do with setting the user saved (i believe). i wouldn't bother with this one

honestly, i could go on and on about photography. but, like it's already been stated, practice is what makes you better

 

[oaklandopen]

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this one i did at night in a parking lot. i "painted" the front of the car (headlights, grill) with a flashlight while the shutter was openned during a long exposure

 

[oaklandopen]

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not from my d80, this was my old pentax zx-m 35mm SLR, but the same rules apply. i had a telephoto lens, and it was a contrast day, so light was equal all around. set the camera wayyyyy back (probably about 200ft), zoomed in, and set the aperture to soft focus everything except the bike.

the colors aren't really true (it was a bad type of film to use), but it ended up working just fine because there's an eerie kind of tint to it like the matrix movies or something

 

[808MP5]

just keep taking pictures....
do a lot of reading on shutter speed, aperture, lighting, white balance, focal length, etc... till you actually understand it...
and if you in the market for lenses do some research there also...
after you get an understanding on the functions of the camera go out and practice it...
take notes on the settings that you used to get "that" perfect photo...
also read up on the "art" aspect of photography such as composition, bokeh, etc...
explore other realms of photography such as night shots, dusk and dawn shots, fireworks, macro, etc... there's lots of fun that can be had here

but most importantly keep taking pictures...
i can honestly say i still kinda suck at it even though my exif data shows over 11,000 shutter actuations and that's the extent of my picture taking... which most would consider quite low