Hello.
I'm new here. My name is Justin and in March I got my first DSLR, the K-x.
I was moving up from a 5MP Canon Elph camera and a bunch of camera phones, so even though the K-x may not be the best camera available, it was a huge leap over anything I had used before.
I figured the K-x would be a good place to start, especially after see all of the great reviews and endless supply of videos on Youtube and Vimeo.
I honestly got it because I thought it would be a relatively cheap way to get more cinematic looking videos. I've been learning how to use After Effects and wanted a better camera than the Flip HD I was using.
However, once getting the camera and taking some pictures, I realized that I had a blast doing that, and the video part of it fell into the background.
My brother has a fancy Canon camera of some sorta and gave me some tips about exposure. Most of it went right over my head until I had time to live with the camera for a while. I'm somebody that doesn't read manuals or ask for help usually. I generally just figure things out, even if it takes a while. My brother told me I needed to get a prime lens as soon as possible. I didn't really understand what that meant, but I do now. I got a fully manual 50mm f/2 lens for $25 on Ebay and it seems like every picture it takes is amazing, and surely far beyond anything I could have taken with past equipment. I also bought a cheap fisheye conversion lens, which unscrews to become a macro lens, so I've been having fun with that. I figure I'll upgrade to some multi-hundred dollar lens once I really know why I need it. Right now, I've got the kit lens (18-55) and a zoom lens (50-200, I think) and the 50mm f/2 prime lens.
I'm a musician and a bit of sketcher, so I've got an artist in me somewhere, but I don't really know how to take artistic pictures. I don't know if my natural sense of composition is good. I hope it will get better as I practice. I've been using Photoshop for years, so I've got a lot of experience there, which is helpful for fixing minor problems.
I got the K-x right before I went to Hawaii for a week, so the resort I was staying at (Paid for by my company. I'm not rich) was my training ground. Those pictures can be found here if anybody cares about a brand new photographer's [lame] pictures:
Collection: Kauai 2011
Sorry, if this is long or not how things are done.
Thanks for reading. I hope to have some better pictures to share in the future.