Introduce Yourself

[NathanBlack]

Hello all,

I am a beginning photographer trying to learn the fine details and become better informed so that when I make the jump to a DSLR I'll be able to make a good decision. In the mean time, I'm working on learning the rest of the pieces. You know, like how to take a good picture. I welcome any criticism and comments. Check out my flickr for how I'm doing now.

[Sime]

Nathan, Welcome aboard!... So, my wife loves your dog (been on your flickR) and I got a knuckle Tattoo!...

Get your own knuckles at the knuckle tattoo gun.

If you can't find anything you need, just ask... anyways, welcome..

Sime™

[Travisj]

Hey ya’ll. Well I wish I would have found this first but I guess I got a little excited and jumped into posting photos first, lol. Anyway the names Travis, I live about 30 miles north of Savannah Ga and been in the south for about 8 years now. Always had a love for photography but only started getting serious about it now for about 4 months. Finally made the jump to DSLR and getting away from auto modes. I look forward to sharing some shots from the coastal empire as well as learning from everyone on the site.

Thanks Travis

[Saralonde]

Hi Travis, welcome to DPS! Glad to see you're posting your shots already (nice panning job). You know you're making progress when you start moving from the auto modes .

[Travisj]

Thanks Saralonde, that day was a lot of fun. Shots aren't as crisp as I would have liked but that was my first time trying to get something moving at 100+ mph. Thanks for the welcome as well, already learning a lot from site.

[BuonRotto]

Hello all! My name is Joel. I found this site while "exploring" (read: bored at work) ways to improve my black and white conversion techniques. I've been a long-time lurker at other sites, and have pretty thoroughly explored the blog in the last week or so. I'm very interested in participating here to improve my skills. I used to be surrounded by like-minded photography enthusiasts, but they all live 400 miles aways now. So it's nice to find some means of getting feedback and hopefully pushing myself a bit more when I take my camera out.

As far as my photography background, I am a hobbyist strictly, but I love photography because it is a means of seeing more in the world around me, seeing it differently, and showing people how I see them sometimes. I got my first camera, a used Nikon FG with a 50mm (1.4f) manual focus lens on my high school graduation almost 15 years ago. I used that camera and prime lens all through college, including a semester in Italy, where I managed to get a few dozen great shots out of the thousands of film photos I took. Being an all-manual camera, I learned LOT about the technical basics of photography. After college, I got a zoom lens for that camera, then about 3 years ago, I went all digital. This was just before the first sub-$1000 dSLRs came out. I'm currently using a Minolta A1 (this was also just as Konica and Minolta were merging , to say nothing of the sale to Sony), which isn't ideal in some ways, but it is a nice camera overall.

I've not been consistent about getting out and photographing over the last few years, so in some ways I've regressed from my days in Rome. I'm getting more fluent again though, learning a lot about post-processing, brining my camera along for the right occasions, getting out at the right times of day, and starting to get my old eye for composition again.

Lately, I've been lugging my camera along on hikes, but I'm also looking for ideas on new subjects.

I'm hoping to contribute a bit to the forums, help other users with composition if not technique here and there. I have to set up a real webpage for my photography, then i'll start submitting some items for critiques (something I'm entirely too used to from architecture school, so don't hold back), especially on those shots that either felt like they could have been great, or seem like they're almost great "but..."

Thanks for hosting this forum. I hope to participate regularly!

[Saralonde]

BuonRotto - Joel, nice to have you join us! I started with film years ago, too (Pentax). Some of it translates well to digital (it gives you a nice background on using manual settings), but there are a lot of new things to learn. We'll be interested to see your pictures.

[Gambel]

Hi.
I got a Fuji digital camera about 4 years ago and loved taking pictures ever since. I take pictures of things I like for my own amusement. If others like my pictures that's O.K. with me.

I entered a local photo contest and won 1st prize. I think there were about 10 entries. But I was happy about it anyway.

I just got a Nikon D80 in December. I have been trying to learn about all the bells and whistles having a great time in the process.

My nephew was on a strict budget when he had his wedding. He asked me if i would be his photographer. I stayed yes and the pictures came out nice. I learned that afternoon that I would not like to be a wedding photographer. (too many demands and not enough room for artistic expression)

Glad to be part of the group

Mike T.

[Saralonde]

Gambol- Mike - Glad to have you join us. Lots of Nikon users here to help you get the most out of your camera. Weddings are tough. If you can add some of your experience to help people here that are going to try it, that would be great. Did you use your Nikon for the wedding?

[magnuscanis]

I guess I should introduce myself here before I start posting in other threads.

I'm Magnus and I live in North Wales. Photography has been a more-or-less serious hobby of mine for about 7 years. Initially I used a film SLR and for a while I was able to get into a darkroom and do my own b&w processing. For the last few years I had a point & shoot digital camera, which was a lot more convenient but also much more limited.

A few months ago I got myself a Nikon D40 DSLR, after my brother Wulf (a regular on this forum) got one for Christmas and I saw how good it was. With the extra creative control afforded by the SLR format coupled with the far greater convenience of digital, I've found my interest in photography renewed and want to develop my skills.

Most of my reasonably decent photos (and perhaps a few less good ones) end up on my Flickr account, so you can have a look there if you want to see the sort of stuff I do.

- Magnus