I hope you all had a great start to your year! Mine is peachy. I’m spending lots of time with my new camera, taking lots of shots that vary between awful, tolerable and the few nice ones. The rest of my time I spend reading either The Lord of the Rings (again), my camera manual, or some online tutorial. Life is good in this corner of the world :).
I’m enjoying Freedom as much as I thought I would – it’s like discovering a new world hidden within the one I thought I’d already discovered. These are some of the “nice” shots I’ve taken in the past couple of days, learning my way around through a mixture of practice and theory. I’m having trouble getting warm colors, even though I’ve figured out how to adjust my WB settings, so if anyone has any tips, they’ll be more than welcome. Enjoy!
artismysanity 
January 3, 2012 at 8:03 am
Glad to see you are actually reading the manual, not many people do that these days. Then they wonder “how do I do….” with some pretty basic features.
I think #2 is my favorite of the set, very nice.
To warm up your photos, try setting the “Cloudy” white balance, to warm them even further you could try the “Shade” setting. I usually have my Canon set to “Daylight,” only shooting RAW of course, and then fine tune it in Lightroom 3 to get the desired results.
Have fun learning you new camera in the New Year!
January 5, 2012 at 9:28 pm
I can’t imagine how someone could possibly start using a DSLR without reading the manual at least for the basics. How do you even start adjusting settings if you don’t know where everything is?
I had the WB set to “cloudy” but still the colors weren’t right, so I tried “shade” and it worked like a charm. I also figured out how to adjust the WB in ViewNX (which came with the camera), so that’s one more thing I know :). Thanks for the tip, Jeff!
January 3, 2012 at 9:02 am
I really like that last shot 🙂 Lovely!
January 5, 2012 at 9:29 pm
Thanks, Eden! I’m in love with bokeh, I could take hundreds of pictures of the little rounded lights :).
January 3, 2012 at 11:14 am
I like the all! Great bokeh!
January 5, 2012 at 9:30 pm
Thanks, Sandy! I love the bokeh I can get with this lense, glad you like it too :).
January 3, 2012 at 11:21 am
These are very lovely 🙂 I have a d90 and to get warmer colors I adjust the saturation manually in the camera, and then use the needed white balance. Hope that it work for you 🙂
January 5, 2012 at 9:41 pm
Thanks for the tip, Alli! I’ll try that next time I can’t get the colors right. Glad you like the photos :).
January 3, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Beautiful!
January 5, 2012 at 9:42 pm
Thank you, Cee!
January 3, 2012 at 1:08 pm
I see you are having great fun with your new camera. Great shots and like the 3rd one the best!!!
January 5, 2012 at 9:42 pm
I am! There are so many things to shoot… Glad you like the photos :).
January 3, 2012 at 2:17 pm
They are beautiful! I have never seen them so pretty. Great job. A few days back, I too captured these flowers but they were not in a good condition. And bokeh is great too! 🙂
January 5, 2012 at 9:45 pm
Thanks, Nandini! This particular plant is in one of the best photography spots in the whole yard, so I’m lucky. I love the bokeh, too :).
January 3, 2012 at 6:55 pm
These are beautiful shots, I like the light effects in the background, very beautiful ! Oh ! how I envy you, I can’t wait to have my new camera too !
I can’t give you tips on white balance, I’m just a beginner…
Happy new year !
January 5, 2012 at 9:48 pm
Until a week ago I was just like you, looking at other people’s photos and wishing I had a DSLR myself. So you see, things can change for you anytime, and then you’ll be the one enjoying your new camera :). In the meantime, take lots of pictures with whatever camera you have and have fun!
January 3, 2012 at 9:36 pm
You are right … fun to see what “bokeh” you can evoke from the lens and light.
January 5, 2012 at 9:49 pm
Bokeh is one of the things I’m enjoying the most about my new camera, it can make anything look beautiful!
January 3, 2012 at 11:21 pm
I’ve got no tips for you, camera-wise…but I love your work, so please don’t stop playing with your new camera. 🙂
January 5, 2012 at 9:56 pm
Don’t worry, there’s no fear that I’ll stop taking pictures, I enjoy it way too much!
January 3, 2012 at 11:50 pm
They are all beautiful!! Enjoy your new baby! lol
January 5, 2012 at 10:06 pm
Thank you! I’m enjoying her as much as I can :).
January 4, 2012 at 5:54 am
Hi Belen,
Thanks for liking my latest blog post. I’m a working photographer based in Dubai and i can help you in some way when it comes to photography. If you have any questions about the craft just post it up my blog and i’ll take the time to reply and help you in anyway i can.
Here’s a good start http://www.nikondigitutor.com/index_eng.html it’s much interesting than reading the Manual.
Best Regards and Happy New Year!
January 5, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Thank you, Sam! I’ll take you up on your offer if I need anything. Thanks for the link, too!
January 4, 2012 at 8:20 am
Excellent pics, I use the aperature mode on my D80 mostly and make adjustments from there. The only advice it keep reading the manual and experiment with your camera and take tons of pics..:-))
January 5, 2012 at 10:34 pm
Thanks, Ed! The first thing I did when I got the D90 out of the box was set it to manual – I’ve had enough automatic mode with my P&S to last me a lifetime, LOL. Now I’m doing what you said, experimenting and reading the manual when the need to learn something comes up. And I’m loving the whole process :).
January 4, 2012 at 12:31 pm
Beautiful pictures! It’s true, you think you know it all until you look at things trough a camera 😀 Then suddenly world becomes different from the one we already know 🙂
January 5, 2012 at 10:36 pm
Thanks, Kristina! I though I’d discovered the world with my point-and-shoot, but now with the DSLR I realize there’s yet another world hidden inside that one. I’ll probably feel the same again when I get a macro lens. Gosh, it makes me dizzy to imagine how many hidden worlds we walk by each day without even thinking about it!
January 4, 2012 at 12:41 pm
I would agree with what @JeffSinon says about white balance. I also shoot with my white balance on shade (I only change it if I am photographing people). I adjust the white balance in Lightroom if it needs it. That is one of the many advantages of shooting RAW.
Keep those photos coming. Awesome bokeh!
January 5, 2012 at 10:41 pm
I’m with you there, Leigh. I set my WB to shade and the whole world changed – I love the colors it brings out in nature (haven’t gotten to portrait photography yet, I’m still learning how to shoot things that stand still.)
Glad you like the photos :).
January 4, 2012 at 8:41 pm
Lovely shots! When I lived in South Florida I would see lantana growing wild along the roadsides in the Everglades – always beautiful to see…big splashes of color
January 5, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Thank you, Nick! We have one big plant in the backyard and a lot of smaller ones in the garden. When you look at the flowers from close up they’re so pretty!
January 5, 2012 at 7:55 pm
Belen, I came across your blog because you liked a post on mine (thank you). What a treat your blog is. I instantly felt a sense of serenity and calm when I came across it. Could be all that water : ) but I sense that is how you are. If I’ve got this right I think you have only been shooting for a year now. I have to say you are very good and will only continue to get better. You have a keen sense for using colors in your photographs. Continue to do what you are doing. Read every book you can on photography, keep playing with your camera and keep fostering your own personal style. If you don’t mind I’d like to put you on my blog roll. Looking forward to seeing what you take in 2012!
Cheers!
ps You asked how you can a achieve a warmer effect in your pictures. Try going to the section where you can choose vivid, monochrome, portrait, etc. Try the option that says shade. Sometimes that works.
January 5, 2012 at 10:55 pm
Thank you for your beautiful comment, Nareen :). I’m glad you enjoyed my blog so much, and of course I’d love it if you added it to your blogroll.
I can be a hurricane in my daily life, but when I grab a camera I instantly calm down and find my happy place – perhaps that shows in my photography. Thanks for your kind words on my work, they’re encouraging to read. I’ll try your tip for warmer colors. Glad you stopped by!
January 6, 2012 at 1:29 am
You’re right and that is exactly what I’ll do !
Tonight I came upon a photography blog who has a post on how to take beautiful Bokeh Christmas photographs. They added links for tutorial and they also have tips. I thought you may want to see this post, maybe you already saw it but here it is :
http://kevinnicolephoto.wordpress.com/2011/12/16/how-to-take-beautiful-bokeh-christmas-photographs-with-31-stunning-examples-by-darren-rowse/
January 6, 2012 at 5:03 am
Thanks for the link! DPS (Digital Photography School) is a great site, they explain everything in a way that makes it easy for beginners to understand the basics of photography. I learnt a lot of things there, I even read this article when I got my D90 in time to shoot some Christmas bokeh.
January 6, 2012 at 11:57 am
These are really lovely, Belen. Looks like your new camera suits you quite well. 🙂
January 6, 2012 at 6:53 pm
Thanks, Robin! Glad you like the photos, I’m having a great time with my new baby :).