So... I'm starting to really get into it.

[TrollHunter]

Well, recently I've gotten into casually taking photos of scenery. Not people, they get in the way. I'm still new to it, and I haven't gotten into practicing the different techniques or gotten entirely used to my new cameras functions. I do it for simple fun, but I want to know if any of you like any of the pictures I've taken.
~Keep in mind there's not much in terms of variety yet, these have all been taken in the time of 2 months, and where I lived was covered in snow for most of the time.
~Also, a lot of these are blurrier than I would've wanted, I only recently got my own decent camera, and most of these were either taken with my IPod Touch, or someone elses less-than-stellar camera.
(SPOILER)
300461_124861074285932_100002861212858_110927_1727953974_n.jpg320770_124860620952644_100002861212858_110908_171606396_n.jpg374697_157450091027030_100002861212858_195646_1536402524_n.jpg
378772_163083310463708_100002861212858_212500_2002549220_n.jpg398082_157450471026992_100002861212858_195648_60816358_n.jpgBear creek forest.jpgView of colorado.jpg

Any criticism/help would be appreciated.

[chionos]

>_< I want to live in Colorado.

What camera are you using now?

You may already be doing it, but if not: as soon as possible learn to do everything manually (set the aperture, shutter speed, etc). Make sure you play with ISO too if your camera has it--can help with weird lighting situations. A lens hood is nice to have shooting outdoors if you're using an slr.

35423 is my favorite of the shots you shared. It has a dynamic composition--the tornado shaped patch of sky breaking up the middle, etc.

I love all shots of nature because I love nature, but some shots are better than others at translating what a person sees to other people. You can work at capturing your environment in ways that better capture the imaginations of other people. I think there's two parts to the process of becoming a good/better photographer (this includes people who just do it for fun too). It helps to know the basics, both of how the camera itself works, and of what makes a good picture. Practice the rule of thirds, perspective, stuff like that. The other thing is to do exactly what you're doing. Get out and take some pictures. Over time, you'll develop an instinct for how to compose shots without even thinking about it.

Keep up the good work, and keep sharing.

[TrollHunter]

I'll definitely take your advice.
The camera I'm currently using isn't anything special as it was a gift (and hell, it's just for casual use anyway) It's a FinePix AX300.
It get's the job done and has pretty good quality on it and that's all I need.

I'll search around for tutorials and whatnot so I understand how cameras work and what everything means because at least now it's quite overwhelming to me.

I'll definitely keep sharing though, I go hiking all the time and I always take a camera with me, there's always at least 1 or 2 winners in each batch.

But thanks again for the advice, it's very much appreciated.

EDIT: and yes, Colorado is pretty amazing.

[chionos]

Ok, you have a small aperture (number you'll see with 'F' in front of it) range so you definitely want to take advantage of the ISO setting. Hopefully I can give you a really simple aperture/iso tut here quickly: the aperture setting controls how wide or narrow the opening of the lens gets. Wide open means more light getting in. Other than light vs. dark the main difference between a high and low aperture setting is depth of field, which is the effect of having things close to the camera in focus and things further away out of focus, or vice versa. The smaller the aperture, the better (or simply deeper) the depth-of-field. The problem with a smaller aperture is less light getting into the camera, but that's where ISO comes in. ISO basically determines how sensitive the sensor in the camera is to light coming in. So if you want a better d-o-f you drop the aperture and raise the ISO to a higher setting b/c ISO doesn't effect d-o-f. So say you want to take a picture of a tree sitting by itself with mountains in the background and you want the tree in focus with the mountains a little out of focus so the tree pops. Drop the aperture (also called F-stop) to 3.5, raise the ISO to 800 (or 1200 or 1600), and take the shot.

Once you get the light control down, you can work on the shutter speed to really tweak things, and ISO comes into play then too. Most people can't hold a camera still enough to take a shot any slower than 1/100th of a second. You can sometimes get away with 1/80 or 1/60 with a good camera, but typically you don't want to go under 1/100. The problem is 1/100 and faster don't always let enough light in, but again you can tweak it with ISO.

I don't know what settings your camera has, but look for an aperture priority or shutter speed priority setting that'll let you work on specific areas. Again, you want to get to the point you're doing all the work manually. Nature isn't a person. It doesn't always behave the way you want it to and it rarely ever sits still and once you've missed a shot it's unlikely you'll be able to get it back.

[TrollHunter]

This is still getting confusing, but I'm definitely understanding it a lot more. I'll go and try it out a bit more tomorrow once it stops being pitch black. A bit of practice and testing will definitely help in that regard.
I can find everything I need in the menus except aperture/F-stop, I'm probably just missing something though.
Screwing around with the menus has definitely made this less overwhelming though.

[TrollHunter]

Well... I've forgotten to update.This camera is quite "eh" as it doesn't let me do much with it... but it's fine. Quality will improve as I slowly improve my camera.

It might be smart to point out, all of these were taken within 10-15minutes walking distance from my house.


422047_179804738791565_100002861212858_244011_586256501_n.jpg 403057_177604349011604_100002861212858_240683_1662109871_n.jpg 420362_177604382344934_100002861212858_240684_2029444025_n.jpg404422_171319022973470_100002861212858_228489_841012057_n.jpg
431598_177604589011580_100002861212858_240688_1787515051_n.jpg 397162_177604635678242_100002861212858_240689_945000684_n.jpg

[chionos]

Well... I've forgotten to update.This camera is quite "eh" as it doesn't let me do much with it... but it's fine. Quality will improve as I slowly improve my camera.

It might be smart to point out, all of these were taken within 10-15minutes walking distance from my house.

Smurf you buddy. I can't get my wife to move to CO to save my life. These are killing me.

Great shots. #1 and #4 are especially awesome. The flare on #4 is perfect, and the great collection of whites and grays in #1 is very eye-catching and interesting.

Curious, were you shooting manually for these or are you letting the camera do the work?

[Bunny]

I know next to nothing about photography but where in Colorado do you live? I'm about an hour north of Denver.

[TrollHunter]

I know next to nothing about photography but where in Colorado do you live? I'm about an hour north of Denver.

I live on the Air Force Academy slightly north of Colorado Springs. It's pretty awesome.

Well... I've forgotten to update.This camera is quite "eh" as it doesn't let me do much with it... but it's fine. Quality will improve as I slowly improve my camera.

It might be smart to point out, all of these were taken within 10-15minutes walking distance from my house.

Smurf you buddy. I can't get my wife to move to CO to save my life. These are killing me.

Great shots. #1 and #4 are especially awesome. The flare on #4 is perfect, and the great collection of whites and grays in #1 is very eye-catching and interesting.

Curious, were you shooting manually for these or are you letting the camera do the work?

I did as much work as my camera as it would let me do. Which isn't much sadly. I never really find myself using the pre-set settings anymore, and that's a start.
But thank you, #1 is definitely my favorite, I took like 5 pictures there and that one came out the best.
#4 was similar, but I only took like 2 there.

I took a lot over the past few days... but either it was snowing way too hard (blizzard) or it was way too bright. I wanted to get some decent light snow or overcast pictures with some snow to play around with, but I never really got what I wanted.
I may put a few of those up in a bit regardless though.

[Jiro]

Taking photos in snow is pretty hard because it reflects a lot of light.

[TrollHunter]

In an overcast or at night it looks amazing.
The problem I've been having is a lack of middle-ground, it's either a full-on blizzard, or bright and sunny which is blinding with all the snow.

[TrollHunter]

Note to self, photography is not a good way to relieve stress, because I take crappy pictures when I'm stressed.
Got a few decent pictures this time... nothing special though. Also, I refuse to touch a bike ever again for as long as I live in Colorado, I've never been so exhausted, and I jog a good few miles straight uphill every other day.
418437_182804068491632_100002861212858_250395_1295151065_n.jpg 398635_182804035158302_100002861212858_250394_2097856959_n.jpg 430045_182804025158303_100002861212858_250393_1943701118_n.jpg 427034_182803998491639_100002861212858_250392_1753520582_n.jpg 431230_182803971824975_100002861212858_250391_1150543069_n.jpg

[TrollHunter]

Triple post... Eh, oh well.We had the perfect amount of snow the other day, it was simply gorgeous.404935_184490734989632_100002861212858_253945_1655920112_n.jpg 425673_184490778322961_100002861212858_253946_1035923013_n.jpg 425078_184491471656225_100002861212858_253956_1999398438_n.jpg 428256_184491554989550_100002861212858_253958_2130004738_n.jpg 404874_184492091656163_100002861212858_253967_723382790_n.jpg 424978_184491824989523_100002861212858_253962_1762149918_n.jpgAlso, my phone is pretty bad at night. I messed around with everything I could, no dice.419277_185760848195954_100002861212858_256498_1366149976_n.jpg 419632_185760784862627_100002861212858_256496_2058644718_n.jpg

[Jiro]

That is a perfect amount of snow, isn't it. Wow. I saw some pretty hardcore fog the other day, I see you captured some of it. It would've been awesome if you could see the mountaintops cut off by the fog like I did. Next time!

[TrollHunter]

The mountains in CO springs were definitely cut off, hell, yesterday morning the mountains were cut in half by all the clouds.
It's back up in the 40's now, no more snow for a good while.
It's been realllly sunny though.
After getting used to clouds and a constant overcast, this almost made me blind.
419857_187451354693570_100002861212858_259739_1341648150_n.jpg 417201_187451384693567_100002861212858_259740_1959738887_n.jpg