Coming in at third........

[Lilac Mess]

Hello there! I'm Victoria, a complete beginner in the DSLR world. I recently bought myself a Nikon D40 for Christmas, thinking it was a nice little starter camera, and then soon realized I had no idea what to do with it. I'm hoping that the community here will soon be able to tell me!

I'm currently based in Belfast, N. Ireland although I'm originally from Canada. I recently completed my Master's Degree in Creative Writing and am looking forward to....being creative?

[Paul R]

Hello Victoria,

Welcome.

Can I suggest, as a starting point that you read the "First Steps" post by Admin under Just Starting Out...........

That's as good a place as any. 

Keep its simple is my advice too.  All this technology can be distracting.  These moderns cameras Still have a Sunny/Cloudy setting.

Have fun

[admin]

Hi Victoria,

The D40 is a great camera. As you say, when new to photography, the vast array of menu choices can make it look like you are navigating the solar system. I started with Canon equipment and at the time felt very much the same way. My tip is to strip it all back. There are a couple of basic decisions (before getting into the creative options). I'd suggest that if you are capturing action, go with shutter priority to ensure you have control over a sharp or 'motion-blurred' image. If you are shooting landscapes or portraits, initially go with apperature priority to control your depth of field. But I digress, this is all about thanking you for joining our new little, hopefully growing community. Please make yourself comfortable, share your experiences and questions and post some of your images into any of the main categories, or create your own gallery and apply some of that hard-earned creative writing skill. Clearly, I need a few lessons.

Regards,
MJ - forum admin

[Analog6]

I'm putting this in all your intro posts - please go to your profile and add you location so it shows up under your name.  You can be as vague as the continent or as specific as your suburb, jsut so we all know how near/far we all are.  Pretty, pretty please.

[admin]

I think there is a plugin available for this board that places members locations on a little world map.
That would be cool. I'll follow up.