Getting used to an dslr, got a long way to go, finding 'action' shots hard to compose.

C & C appreciated….

Neil

3rd from bottom(street picture) got some nice colours.

Been tempted getting a dslr. Just the bulky nature of them puts me off. Its so easy nowadays to improve colours etc of a compact with psp etc.

I like the bokeh on the first one, but the focus on the subject is a bit lost

SLR's are great. Enjoy!

Oh and the RObin on the handlebars is fab, I can never get animals of any kind to stay still for me

like a lot, what do you have? I'm inches away from taking a punt on the Panasonic GF1 although I'm hearing that I may be better off with a DSLR & Lens kit??

Neil – What a great start! Love the Robin and that Water shot. Seems like you'll pick this photography lark up quickly enough!

Mr Nutt – I'm guessing the Panasonic is a compact? I do like compacts due to the easy nature. However for flexibility, nothing beats a DSLR! You will spend alot of money and time on it though

it id a 2nd hand Nikon D40. I with a std' 18-55 lens, I want to get a 55-200 to go with it, lot of ££ tho.

I had a film slr back in the day, but never got to grips with it due to the cost of processing.

Mr Nutt – an slr is great as it takes a photo the moment you take the button, no delay. Means you catch the moment. Just got to learn how to use it. I am finding the priority settings the best.

I have a good compact (nikon coolpix) but this is much better to use, only downside is it's size.

the 50mm f/1.8 is an ace lens for Nikon for not much money. It won't autofocus on a D40 though

Get a tripod – top one is not in focus and you need to control your depth of field better. The colours need to be a touch warmer too but enjoy – it's a great hobby

Oh I'm used to fully manual SLR (old Russian kit, Zenit etc http://www.mrnutt.com) the gf1 has a viewfinder attachment effectively making it a DSLR and I could get an M4 adapter so I could use my old glass on it, It looks like it could be a peach but I'm keen to hear what other options I'd have for £650 or so 🙂 (sorry for hijack folks feel free to stick to the topic, great first pic, thats my favourite)

Hadge: when you say the colours need to be a bit warmer, got any tips?

neilforrow, you twunt! Wait till my SO sees that Robin! She's been trying since Xmas day to get a foto of a Robin in our garden with the G1 we bought for Crimbo. Every time it comes in the garden it **** off as soon as she points the camera at it! It's now know as 'that fooking Robin!'
Decent shots BTW.

neilfurrow – the 18-200mm VR nikon lens is great and very versatile for the D40

+1 for the Nikon 18-200 VR lens (with an old D70 body). Santa got me it for Xmas, and like you, I'm in the early stages (confusion!). The lens is expensive, but advice I was given that this lens (for my needs) would negate the need for several lenses, and helps a learner enormously.

I'm v plsd so far, realise the camera's heaps better than me, befuddled by all the capabilities, challenged by the snow, struggling but enjoying the challenge!

As far as making the colours warmer, i've got a D40 and find that it works best on the vivd setting. Can't remember exactly how to get to it but it's in the camera menu somewhere.

I got a new lens for Xmas, just been playing since

Nice last shots there ^^

What lens?

To make your shots warmer, you can just select a different white balance.

In wintery weather, the pics can start to look a bit 'blue' if you leave the camera in auto white balance. Change it to cloud or shade, will warm your pics up, if that's what you want to achieve. Sometimes though, you want your wintery pics to look 'cold' and the blue tinge helps achieve this so you need to think about what look you are going for before changing settings.

I like the robin pic. It's a bit of a shame that the sun is causing some haze/reduction in contrast but I am guessing that it was taken in some haste in case he flew away so you can't really get perfection in those circumstances.
With the pic of the bloke on the bike – if you'd have got lower down, you might have been able to get a shot of him without the branches in the way. I found that when I first started taking pics, I often used to take them from a standing viewpoint, whereas now I am much more inclined to be kneeling/leaning/lying etc. and it really helps to get some interesting shots.

Hello Neil, IMO the D40 is pretty much the perfect SLR for the outdoors – nice and light, but amazing quality.

Nikon manuals can be a bit confusing but stick with it – there's so much info in there , you just need to sit down with the manual and the camera, experiment and learn all its foibles.

Don't be surprised if your pictures don't look as sharp or punchy as those taken with your compact until you get used to everything – SLR's give you so many options that it's very easy to get a result you weren't expecting.

As you say you got your camera second hand, the 1st thing I'd do is reset everything to the standard settings – gives you a good base to experiment from. Keep asking questions on here BTW, this forum has some wonderful photographers and they seem to be much friendlier talking about cameras then they do about bikes. 🙂

RE, Stumpy, thanks for the encouragement. I have got the manual and a book to go with it, they are heavy going, but are the key to getting it right.

Will post a few more later on tonight.

One question: How do people set up for fast moving riders? I am finding it hard to hold focus, and rattle some pics off. ie rider in focus with a blurred background to give an indication of speed?

For the fast moving subject with background blurred you need to pan with the rider, or just in front to allow for shutter speed. A lot of trial and error required, I'd say.

On the subject of tripods, I was thinking about a gorillapod for the DSLR. Anybody got any opinions? I don;t fancy lugging around a big tripod when the gorilla can fit in my backpack.

Yep, shooting a moving object while getting the 'blur' to indicate speed is a tricky one.

I believe your camera has 3 focus points? If you are shooting something moving left to right, I would set either the left or the middle focus point (don't let the camera decide which point to use), set the AF to continuous and the shooting to continuous too (you'll need a decent memory card, or you won't get many shots before it starts slowing down).

You need to start panning before your subject gets to the point you want to take a pic and follow through with a smooth motion. Even when the subject has moved past, keep panning and you'll get a smoother result. Keep the AF point on the subject.

If the camera's AF can't keep up or gets confused then try putting it back to single AF & pre-focussing on something, then pan and start shooting as the subject gets into focus.

It's not easy! Well, I don't find it easy, anyway!!

off the back of the comments, ie subject focus and richer colours: Here are a few more!

I like and now have camera evny…

Fixed lens is good learning curve for me but doesn't quite cut it in some cases, sooo want a proper camera.

Enjoy!