Hey guys and gals. ; I'm a longtime lurker who finally took the dslr plunge. ; A few good things come out of expecting your first child. ; The wife approved the purchase of the Nikon D40 and 18-135 kit lens. ; And I have a "Disney reluctant" wife on board for a trip hopefully in 2010. ; My last was in 2005...withdrawals! Here are a few pics from the first weekend. ; I have played with most of them in Photoshop Elements trying to get a feel for some of the things that it can do. ; I love the work that I've seen here and hope to keep learning from you all. Criticism welcome.
Welcome aboard Matt. I would recommend that you just keep experimenting & read as many posts as you can. Learn what lens works best with your camera as dictated by the image you are trying to capture. Tim has many Great Tips & Tutorials here on the site. There are also many others here that you can learn much from. This site is a Great place to be. ENJOY!
Congratulations, Matt! ; Please, take the time to read the manual and, when you do, have the camera nearby so you can see all the buttons, dials, and menus it's talking about along the way. ; Tim's got some great stuff here to get yourself beyond the Green box and into the Letter modes. Any questions, fire away and we'll all be glad to help! BTW, interesting tree you got there. ;
As the others have mentioned...congratulations for outing yourself as a lurker, and welcome! ; Congrats on the camera - you should have lots of fun learning all the things you can do with it, and definitely can do well to read the tutorials and tips here, as well as Q&A from other members. I'd recommend trying to get a good handle on all the controls and how they change the IQ with the camera first...worry about Photoshop later because you will take years to get a good handle on all the things Photoshop can do. ; Your second bottle shot has a nice shallow depth of field - that's a very good thing to learn how to control and use with a camera - those nice, out-of-focus backgrounds can really enhance a shot, or ruin it if unintended. And my god...get yourself back to Disney! ; As for the reluctant wife - maybe she's got remembrances of harried family trips, trying to make every ride, fighting the crowds, tired feet, etc. ; Feel free to ask Craig or myself how to have a relaxing, adult, full-absorption style Disney resort getaway at the parks and resorts...that should convert the wife to full-time Disney enthusiast! ; ;
