The Noob

Good afternoon everyone, my name is Jack. I was strolling around the net looking around at photography sites and so on till I found this little jewel of a board. So I would like to say hello and absorb a lot of the information that is welling up in here.

To give you some background, I have always had a goal or ambition to make photography a hobby. However due to my crazy lifestyle and work schedules, it just wasn't possible to act on such a desire. As of lately though I have become more stressed and worn out, so I have cut back on other things to get into this and thus far it has changed my life very much. Now, I am not very good but the practice and getting to know my camera has gotten me out to the mountains and beach more often and really winds me down. Recently I bought a Nikon D5000 and am looking to take some classes at the local community college to expand my new hobby and get me going. Also I was looking at getting an upgrades lens more noted the AF-S DX NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II, (any other or better ideas?).

Anyway, I will cut this short and say that I am glad I found you all and am looking forward to sticking around a while.

Jack

Welcome, Jack!
Whether the 18-200 is a good choice depends on so much.
Many of us Nikon shooters have it because it is such a good all around lens.
What do you shoot mostly? I suspect landscapes and it is ok for that but not the sharpest lens in the Nikon lineup. Best part about it is that one can shoot with it at slower shutter speeds than would be possible without the VR but if you are doing landscapes, you need a good tripod anyway.
Hope to be seeing some of your stuff soon.

Good afternoon sir, my preference is landscapes and I have a curiosity about abandoned structures, roads, and the like. Something about mans objects being absorbed by nature just strikes me as beautiful. I will post a couple images from my past trip to the mountains, last monday to give you an idea. Just have to resize em.

So I took these 3 up in the san bernardino mountains last monday. No post processing other than resize.

i like the 1st photo best.. It just need a little lighting :D here, let me try, hope you dont mind :D

Hey, it looks good, thanks for the ideas.

Welcome to the site, Griever! You might want to check out the Photo Critique forum if you're looking for help with your photos. It's one of the best places on the Web to get serious artistic and technical help with your photos.

So where do you live? Those photos remind me of the canyon that goes up Mt Baldy. I used to live in Claremont (20 years ago) and spent a lot of time playing around and taking pictures in that canyon.

Hah small world John, that is precisely where I was. I live in ontario.

Welcome to the boards! Nice to see someone from my home area (I grew up in Rancho). Looking forward to seeing more of your photos, as well as pieces of home! :]

Thanks for the welcome, I am waiting on authorization from work to take a couple shots of our south entrance. The dew and such off the trucks in the early morning would be great but were high security so need auth. hah.

Where do you work? Did the authorization come through for you?

They said I have to edit all images to hide our surveillance cameras and stuff. That is fine and all but I am just waiting for the right day. It has been overcast a lot so once I get a clean shot available I will grab it. The other day would have been perfect, we had 46 doors with trailers on em in the morning and it was rather moist that morning. If the sun had come out for just a little bit it would have been awesome.

Oh and I am a forklift operator for an air freight company at LAX.

Listen to PJ hanging out and posting in the critique forum is the best classroom to be in. You will learn fast. Welcome aboard.

Thank you very much Greg, glad to be here.