Got the GF a D3100, tips?

[Sikh]

My gf is a photographer and is going into school for art/photography/graphic design/etc. I finally was able to get her a D3100 and I personally love the camera. I suck at taking photos but im learning a lot. What she has pulled off with her school provided film camera, she can easily do with the D3100 now and much more.

The reason im posting this is, from all you professionals, hobbyists, etc, What would you recommend for her to "start" working on? She got the default 18--55 lens with it and then a Nikon 55-200 Telephoto lens with it also. She loves doing stuff in macro, but she can also take beautiful scenery shots too. Over time she plans on buying more lens, I got her started she'll handle the rest, but as of now, what would you guys recommend for her to do? For example "I think she just needs to go out one day and shoot, learn the camera, get use to lighting, etc etc".

As for me, being a total n00b with a camera, where should I start to get better? She cant stand when I take pictures, so trying to teach me how to use a DSLR properly is like me trying to teach her how to repair a computer. It's not gonna happen patiently or quietly.

Thanks for reading and I await the replies!

[crazzy88ss]

Find a niche and get good with it. Then grow from there.

I guess I started out getting good doing sports photography (that won't work for her, since she has bottom of the barrel gear, and sports is very dependent upon gear; I joined the school paper and had access to pro gear.) and gained confidence in that. I carried my confidence over to other aspects of photography and slowly improving my other areas.

Also be active in communities. I can't speak about the education her schooling will give her, but I can for the internet. It's help fuel the explosion of photography in the last 10 years; I'm a part of that. I highly recommend flickr over things like photobucket or devientart. The latter two are either retarded or not geared toward photography.

I've outgrown it, but but DPS was pretty helpful. They have a very active forum and would recommend it for people starting out: www.digital-photography-school.com.

1.) Find a niche. Become good and confident in it.

2.) Be active in communities.

3.) ?????

4.) Profit!

[PT 13]

Find a niche and get good with it. Then grow from there.

Agreed ^^

I guess I started out getting good doing sports photography (that won't work for her, since she has bottom of the barrel gear, and sports is very dependent upon gear; I joined the school paper and had access to pro gear.) and gained confidence in that. I carried my confidence over to other aspects of photography and slowly improving my other areas.

I don't really agree there. I have a D3100 and although it's not the best camera in the world, it is very fast and capable of taking sports photography. I just went to a gymkhana competition yesterday and took some very nice shots with my D3100 :)

Btw, congratz on your girlfriend's new gear, Sikh :)

[Del-Funky Smelly Be.]

See Nikon D3100 for Dummies, as It has got ton of reviews.

[crazzy88ss]

I don't really agree there. I have a D3100 and although it's not the best camera in the world, it is very fast and capable of taking sports photography. I just went to a gymkhana competition yesterday and took some very nice shots with my D3100 :)

D3100 is slow and the lens is even slower. Trust me, I shoot sports for a living, literally. My D90 is slow and misfocuses a lot even with pro lenses (70-200 f2.8 and the $6,000 300mm f2.8 VR). I shot NASCAR with a D50 and a film-era Tamron 28-200mm f3.5-5.6 and did just fine because most types of motorsports are "slow" compared to athletes running on a field/court. Their behavior is extremely unpredictable compared to things racing on a track with predictable paths.

I'm not saying you CAN'T shoot sports with a D3100, but I'm saying don't expect great results. The gear's pretty limiting, especially if it's indoors/night game.

[Argote]

I think that the D3100 (and the lenses mentioned) CAN shoot sports, however you'd certainly have less trouble doing so with higher end gear.

[Roger H. Veteran]

Oh man, what a sweet bf you are! LOL - I've been trying to sweet talk my gf into getting me one as she always gives me her (crappy) camera to take pics of her and places whenever we go out. I'm like gee, give me a good camera and i can take some really awesome pics of you (well she thinks my pics are great aanyways, that's why i want a better one but then she thinks I do great with her current (crappy - did i say that before? LOL) one.

Oh well, i told her i'd take a super zoom (Nikon L110/120) for now too - gee anything would be better!

[crazzy88ss]

I think that the D3100 (and the lenses mentioned) CAN shoot sports, however you'd certainly have less trouble doing so with higher end gear.

Exactly. Anything CAN shoot sports. I was at photography competition, and the contest was a soccer game. There were about 75 photographers on the soccer pitch, and I saw 2-3 people out there with point&shoot cameras. Yea we all kinda laughed a bit, but I gave them credit for trying, and who knows, maybe they got a sweet shot? :p (It was a bight sunny field in the middle of the day, and some guy had his SB600 on his D40/D60, and was using the flash. We laughed A LOT at that haha).

[Argote]

Sometimes a flash during bright sunlight can help ease harsh shadows (it would have to be close though).

[crazzy88ss]

Yea, and it drops your FPS from (what ever it was before) to like... 1 frame every 5 seconds while the flash recharged, cuz you'll be shooting at 1/1 in full sun light. And you'll have a sync speed of 1/250... And most sporting events don't allow on-camera flash at field level.

[Zaic]

Best way to understand photography is to switch to full manual(optional is auto-focus).

I did it on day 1, and after 6000 shots I'm quite good at guessing the right settings for a photo that I want to make (shooting in raw will give you more room adjusting exposure in post-processing )

Remember, everyone can shoot photos, but good photos are made.

One more :)

A photographer is as good as his worst photo (don't be ashamed to use Photoshop or Lightroom for post-processing, most good photographers do it)

[Argote]

You can probably hook up the flash to an external battery. Though to go faster than X-Sync speed you'd have to use High Speed Sync and then it's no longer 1/1 effective power.

[Draconian Guppy]

Does she need private lessons? Perhaps we could negotiate nuddie pics :shifty: I kid, I kid...

Seriously:

If you don't shoot professionally and photography is a hobby, you don't need crazzy(:ninja:) ass expensive gear.

Get out and shoot! A couple of tips would be to master exposure, some simple shots would be trying to photograph a subject with bright lights behind or the sunset, unless she's shooting in auto (which she shouldn't) it will properly be over exposed. She needs to learn the basic mode and there differences. Ie. Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority, Program (which is basically auto but "smarter"), then auto which is useful for learning. Because, as pointed above, she need to know WHAT she can and cannot do with what she has and how to over come said limitations.

Also, for macro, there's extension tubes ( cheap) that would fit the 18-55 IIRC

[crazzy88ss]

If you don't shoot professionally and photography is a hobby, you don't need crazzy(:ninja:) ass expensive gear.

...

[Draconian Guppy]

...

Girl you know it's true :&:

Seriously though, most people wouldn't know what to do with a $6k lens. Grrr you know I mean no disrespect crazzy, but she does have to LEARN first how her equipment handles and what it's limits are.

[c.grz]

If she will be studying this in school she may want to consider investing on some nice glass. Also, a "pro-sumer" (Nikon D700) level camera should be something she should look at getting if she's to take this seriously. The D3100 is a great starter camera.

[crazzy88ss]

i don't actually own the 300mm f2.8 VR... was using it as an example that even top of the line glass missfocuses on my, *gasp*, cheap D90.

[Draconian Guppy]

Yeah I got that, butt, I was just pointing out how everyone rambles about getting better gear and the girl has barely used the D3100!

[crazzy88ss]

only to shoot sports for a living... :/

My ACTUAL advice wasn't dependent upon gear.

[Tzvi Friedman Veteran]

I got a d3100 as a starter camera (with the same two lenses), and I couldn't be happier. Any DSLR will blow your previous P&S/cellphone out of the water on full-auto, and learning the tricks of the trade is just icing on the cake at the beginning.

One thing I regret not purchasing at the beginning is an external flash. The popup flash on the D3100 just ruins shots unless you're shooting RAW and can tweak white balance in post-proc. It's not too bad when you're using an automatic setting, as the camera knows when and how intensely to flash, but it's hit or miss.

[crazzy88ss]

I highly recommend flickr over things like photobucket or devientart. The latter two are either retarded . . .

http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2011/5/4/

Saw this today. Just provin my point haha

[threetonesun]

I got a d3100 as a starter camera (with the same two lenses), and I couldn't be happier. Any DSLR will blow your previous P&S/cellphone out of the water on full-auto, and learning the tricks of the trade is just icing on the cake at the beginning.

One thing I regret not purchasing at the beginning is an external flash. The popup flash on the D3100 just ruins shots unless you're shooting RAW and can tweak white balance in post-proc. It's not too bad when you're using an automatic setting, as the camera knows when and how intensely to flash, but it's hit or miss.

I agree with this. If you're taking indoor pictures, you need to learn how to use a flash correctly. It's also a good idea to grab a prime lens (35 or 50mm) for learning on.

[lawtai]

Yea, the current lenses she has are a good start and she should get good using those lenses. Then I would add either a flash or something like the 50 f/1.8 lens which is cheap and can teach you a whole lot about photography if you're limited to a prime.