vanzo1234

I have had my camera long enough for a trip to the Grand Canyon and Sedona. It turns out that I am not a natural. LOL. Here are a few picture for you to poke fun at.

I now want to get my first field guide. I have found three to chose from:
1. David Busch's Guide
2. Dennis Thomas' Digital Field Guide
3. D3300 for Dummies

Anyone have a favorite and why? I will mainly shoot pics of my travels.

Racin17 Loc: Western Pa

The more you shoot the better you will become. There is an exposure book on understanding exposure and how it works, that I hear is very good. Learning you camera and what it can do is also worth alot. I learned alot from my p510 that way. Also look at others shots and see what they do differently. And above all post away and ask for input.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

There are (in my opinion) 2 things that will really affect your pictures. Proper exposure (knowing your camera) and having the eye. Learning your camera is easier. Out of your 3 pictures, the middle one is the good one in my opinion. Study pictures that are popular. If you like landscape photography, I'd suggest 500pix.com and fred Miranda's landscape forum. Practice makes perfect and our first 10000 pictures suppose to suck. So you are doing good. Good luck and study composition, and make sure your pictures are not cluttered.

Nikon_DonB Loc: Chicago

Thomas and Bush are both good. I have Thomas' for my D600 and had it for my D3100 when I had it.
Bryan Peterson's Understanding Exposure 3rd Edition is a very good book too. Your local library probably has it.

don4u Loc: Southern California

All is good that the guys have said. Bryan Petersen's get my vote. As one of the guys says. The more you shoot and learn your camera. The better you will become.

SonnyE Loc: Communist California, USA

My first choice was the D3300 for Dummies. Put it on my Smarter-than-me-phone.
Now I have added Brian Peterson's Understanding Exposure, and Exposure Solutions.
I refer to all three and my manual from time to time.
But rather than read them, I use them as references.
Bite off some and chew it good.
Electronic books also give you links to other sources that can help. So that is a real plus.
I spend about an hour a day cooped up in my truck waiting at one grandson's Jr. High. So I often browse my Ebooks at the time.

And there are some good things to be found on the web as well.
FroknowsPhoto.com - http://youtu.be/bFbatsu-o1Q
I set mine up following this guy. Got me where I was hoping to go with mine.
Recently I found this from Frank here on UHH - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ8ab8dt4OI
Michael the Mentor. Good stuff, Maynard!
And since I like to shoot anything my eyes and fancy find, I also am absorbing Macro information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9wcm1BMc0U

All encompassed with my D3300 I bought just last summer.
It's the best camera I have ever had in my hands for digital photography. And it is capable of more than I need.

You appear to be taking great photographs. Please, next time select the box to upload your photo so we can download them to really get a good look. ;)
I hope you enjoy your D3300 as much as I do mine! :-D

jfn007 Loc: Close to the middle of nowhere.

I personally like choices 1 and 3.

DavidPine Loc: Fredericksburg, TX

For someone new, I highly recommend Peterson's "Understanding Exposure, 3rd. Edition." It is the very best book a new person can study. You will have many "ah-ha" moments as you go through it. No one here will poke fun at your photographs. I don't think many of us are naturals. I have spent thousands of hours trying to improve and I can tell you it is a worthwhile quest. Good luck.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Practice and analysis of the results takes time. The 2nd picture is a challenge with the relative darkness of the canyon against the extreme brightness of the sky. This is a challenge for most every camera, entry to pro. This shot was also an opportunity for the human to override the computer inside the DSLR. But, having the knowledge to take control does take time and experience and knowledge that hopefully one of these books can provide. The 3rd picture has the issue of the wire having the best focus, probably not the intended composition. It also appears the shutter speed was too slow, likely due to a low light situation and maybe autoISO or too low an ISO. In an all auto situation in less than bright light, a camera will tend to default to a lower ISO and slower shutter than most humans can successfully hand hold. A VR enabled lens will help, but not always. Experience with the camera's behavior and knowledge of good shooting practices will help you recognize when you need to override the camera's default settings.

The D3300 will serve you well. The rich colors of the 3rd should give you a sense of what this camera can do even if the focus is soft. The foreground bushes on both sides of the frame in the 1st are distracting, but again the colors are rich if this is straight from the camera. I find the 2nd to be the best composition of this example and some work in PP could liven up the colors in this picture a lot.

mymike Loc: Tucson, AZ

I would also like to add that you keep looking at this forum. I look at kit daily and pick the topics that interest me. I also have bought an online course on Photography Fundamentals through The Great Courses. It was $39 for about 26 sessions and I got a Landscape Photography course (another 13 sessions) for free. Learning how to use the skills to make better pictures is not a race, but rather a process of learning and enjoying the art of photography thru a lifetme.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

John Greengo is very good.

http://www.creativelive.com/courses/nikon-d3100-dslr-fast-start

lsimpkins Loc: SE Pennsylvania

I second that. Great instructor @ Creative Live.

Brayyd Loc: Biloxi, MS

I've had my Nikon D3300 for a few months now and love the camera. With the help of some folks from a local Photo Club, I keep learning new stuff. Stay with it! That said, the D3300 for Dummies was very, very helpful for learning the camera.

As for your photos, I don't know what your settings were, but I can tell you what I discovered. I started out in Auto. I just needed to see what happened. But I quickly discovered that the camera changed things so dramatically, I wasn't learning how to do things. In Auto, the camera might up the ISO very high in one pic, low in the next. Of course, aperture and shutter speeds were all over the place. The first best thing I did was just put the camera in aperture mode. Did that for a while. Then set the ISO to 100 and left it there. It made the move to manual pretty easy. Once you do that, pay attention to the exposure scale meter. Usually, if it's right in the middle, you get your best exposure. I've learned that I still have to pay attention to the light. I often get better photos if I underexpose a mark or two on that scale. But it really depends! Try shooting some in aperture mode with the ISO set to 100. The camera will set the shutter speed. You'll get to see what it does, and you get to see depth of field. Once you get used to that, you can move other things around. The D3300, IMHO, is a great little camera. Like most things, just learn your way around it.

vanzo1234

thanks to everyone for your thoughtful suggestions

I feel I still have a jump ball on which field manual to buy but how wrong can I go?

mymike Loc: Tucson, AZ

Do you live in AZ? I am I. Tucson.