TequilaMockingbird wrote:I have a Nikon D5100. I use the kit lens and this zoom lens:
http://www.amazon.com/Nikon-55-300mm-4- ... br%20/%3EHI'm shooting in .jpg. I'd shoot in raw if I knew what to do with it.
I'm not looking to do anything crazy, just something to make them look more professional. Most of the things I read go way above and beyond what I'm looking to do, especially considering I've never used photoshop before.
Here's an example of a photo I took. Not the best thing ever yet it was better than the professional who took the official photo right next to me.
https://scontent-dfw1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hp ... 1242_o.jpg
Just going with the photo you posted, I would like more space around the subjects. In other words, if you've cropped it this tight, I would try a wider crop. If this were in RAW, I would stick it in lightroom, play with the exposure, dial down the highlights, brighten up the shadows, and just because it's personal style, lower the saturation a bit. But, this is mostly just personal style/taste.
I rarely ever use photoshop, so I can't really speak to that part. I'm a photoshop dummy..lol. What I end up doing is, when I want to do something for a photo, I just google what I want to do, then read a few techniques, maybe watch a video, then I follow the steps I just read about and figure it out.
WMW- Oh, the raceway thing sounds fun!!
I went 2 weekends ago to an airshow thinking I would get some cool plane photos, paid $15 to get in, and there were like 6 planes in total. You couldn't even get within like 500 yards of them. It was awful, so I just left after taking like 10 photos. Apparently airshows today are not like the airshows of my youth. We used to go tons of them growing up since half of my family are pilots, but they were much different than this.
I wish our botanical garden wasn't so anti-photography. I love taking photos of flowers.
Canyon- For lower priced cameras, Panasonic and Sony have some great point and shoot type cameras, or save up a bit more and get one of the mirrorless cameras.