FLOWERS IN WALES 025

Hi there,

I only have 4 months experience. I read a book about exposure last

month and have been playing with my Nikon D3100. I think I am grasping

manual settings and I had this on a wide aperture of 1.8 (I think),

and I used my Nikon 85 lens which was given to me for my birthday this

month. I decided on a whim that I would like to take up photography

and to be honest am having a lack of confidence, so any useful tips

and stuff most appreciated. kind regards, Nicola

Nicola - this photo shows you have a nice eye for a picture - so don't worry about lack of confidence; just keep taking pictures, and be your own critic and editor. Cartier-Bresson said something like 'your first 10,000 pictures are your worst'! 

I find this very beautiful. Good depth with the blurry background.

Sidsel

Very nicely done nicola........ soft light and colors. Looks great....

I'm a concert violinist, so believe me when I tell you that I never think I 'have it quite good enough'.  There is always room for improvement.  But that is a great philosophy to have as a photographer.  It's what will keep you learning and striving for greater heights.  From the looks of your portfolio, I think you have a natural gift for photography, so I hope you'll become a regular here on PN.  If you only have 4 months experience and you're already using manual settings, then I'd say you're doing something right for sure!  :-) 

As for this image, it's very soft and romantic with a nice DOF, and it's beautifully composed.  Because I always appreciate other ideas on my images, I'll offer another idea.....not better certainly, just different.  I simply reduced the highlights and adjusted levels a touch, then sharpened it a touch.  It offers a slightly different colored background but I think it preserves the softness of your image. 

Pardon the long post and the philosophizing on my part.  But you remind me so much of myself when I first started.  I still don't always have all that much confidence because I lack so many editing skills, but I'm so much better than when I started out, and that's thanks to all of the wonderful people in this community.  I've learned so much from them. 

You're definitely a natural---you have "the eye."  Keep it up!

--Lannie

Beautiful shot; I love the delicate nature of this one! Thank you for sharing. :)

Nicola, For a beginner you are doing exceptionally well.  I taught photography and I cannot remember a picture this nice until almost the end of the school year.  

  Since you say that you are not familiar with everything photographic let me tell you that you achieved a very pleasing result by setting your f/stop at a wide open setting which gave you a very narrow "depth of field."  If you want to get an intuitive feeling for that concept, find another subject, similar to this one, and take a series of the same pictures, using these f/stops: 2, 2.8, 4, 5.6, 8, 11, 16, 22.  For this, just set the camera to automatically pick the shutter speed.  If you have a tripod or some other way to keep the camera aimed at the subject, it would be convenient.  It would be best if you did not use automatic focus, as the wind blowing a flower might make it change the focus.

  Please feel free to email me if you would like to ask a question.  By the way I am adding this picture to my list of favorites.

Regards,

Jerry

JERRY !! WOW, thats so kind of you thank you so much :)) 

this image was shot in JPEG and i have since learnt to shoot in RAW, and its one of my few I havent mucked with. i am learning everyday, and with people like you (and all the other kind comments), I am encouraged even more to take this subject further.

thankyou xx