the nice thing about photography is that you can take shots of ordinary objects or unpretty stuff and turn out to be nice, unique or appealing..

Ro ja what lens do you have, you have an xti right?

 

for xti id go with a 50mm 1.8 or 1.4 gives nice clear exposures in low light even

 

yeah prime lens are always best.. but I might just get a good zoom lens thats a 2.8

 

Yeah, I have an XTi. I just have the lens it came with (18-55mm). I'd get some more lenses, but I'm kinda broke after spending almost $800 on the camera and accessories. haha

 

I too have the stock lens kit.. its a decent lens, not so great but gets the job done

 

here are a few i shot with the 50mm 1.8 on the xt

 

here's some of my pics on my stock lens kit 18-55mm on xti

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ace83/

not bad for a cheap lens at all, but not all that great

 

the stock lens just doesnt make the images as crisp as i like its good for some stuff tho i use it for my ebay store selling body jewelry so i can zoom in

^^ i really like your pics alot looks awesome for the stock lens

 

Yeah, good pics Ace.

 

heres a pic i took =)
i take A LOT of pix and really best way to learn is read a couple things and try it out..

 

dope sti^^

 

Excellent advice to those who have posted prior...

I got into the DSLR hobby over a year ago and love it. I never delete any photos. I always learn from what I did after I get the photo onto my PC. A photo you may think looks good on a 2.5" screen may not look good on a PC monitor.

Also, look for a book that is written specifically about your camera so you can learn about different features and how to use them. I know that whenever I purchased a book on my camera published by Magic Lantern and learned an awful lot.

Also, a piece of software I can recommend for editing and proofing photos is Adobe Lightroom. It essentially builds a database of your photos and doesn't make any changes to the originals themselves. All changes are stored in the database.

Lastly, just get out there and shoot shoot shoot. It's truly the only way you're going to learn your camera and how to photograph in a bunch of environments.

Good luck!

EDIT: Oh yeah! I almost forgot... lens filters! Circular polarizer helps with doing scenic photos and outdoors. You'd be surprised how it changes the sky. A UV filter is nothing more than a lens protector, but still not a bad investment.

I use a a Rebel XTi (400D) with Canon 18-55 and 75-300 USM lenses. Also, Extreme III flash cards. The faster your camera buffer can be emptied to the flash cards the better.

 

 

Sorry for the bump, but...

 

nice shots roja!

edit: and to anyone that is lookign for some help heres a great guide..

http://web.canon.jp/imaging/enjoydslr/

 

Off cam lighting is awesome. =)

Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 17 mm


Exposure: 0.005 sec (1/200)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 200


Exposure: 0.02 sec (1/50)
Aperture: f/2.8
Focal Length: 21 mm
ISO Speed: 200

 

Nice photos! They're a little too dark for my liking, but I see the style you're aiming for and I like the thought behind it. It's tricky to shoot like that because you can over-expose or under-expose easily.

 

Thanks its not that hard as long as you’re metering and setting the flash correctly it’s not hard to achieve the level of exposure it just takes practice. We should do a photo shoot some time.

 

Yeah man, I'm down for a shoot. We need to get some of the locals in on it too.

 

for show. got a not so dark photo too

Exposure: 0.017 sec (83333/4999979)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 17 mm
ISO Speed: 100