Beginner photographers tips and techniques?

Amateur photographer looking for some help. I have a D3100 Nikon camera to work with. ANy good websites I can look through?

I think that you should be looking at two kinds of sites: those which teach and those which inspire.

If you're an absolute beginner, then any good site which offers "the basics of photography" will get you off on the right foot.

If you are more than a beginner, then for learning, I'd definitely recommend visiting and bookmarking this place

http://blog.mingthein.com/

I say "bookmarking" for two reasons. Firstly, there's an absolute ton of material on there which will take weeks to months to read. Secondly, because even if you're above "absolute beginner" status, quite a lot of the stuff he writes about will still be over your head at first - he doesn't write for absolute beginners. But as you learn more, you'll find more and more stuff on there. Think of it as a long term learning project. I've been shooting seriously for about 7 years and I still find all kinds of useful and interesting stuff on his site. He also produces instructional videos (as downloadable content), and while you may not be ready for them yet, they are definitely worth a look when you advance a bit in your photographic journey.

For pure inspiration, go here:

http://studio.jaymaisel.com/collections/portfolio#gridview

and here

http://www.jaymaisel.com/recent-work/

- to see how it's done by the best of the best.

Excellent advice from Mark as always.

I had a look at your photostream via your other Q and I think you have a good eye for an image. The execution of it lets you down a bit though. You really need to start with the basics of exposure (how the exposure triangle works - ISO, aperture & shutter speed) and composition (you have a tendency to place your subjects dead centre, which leads to a very 'static' image).

You rely too heavily on post processing, rather than getting it right in camera.

I looked through the EXIF data on a lot of your shots (admittedly not all) and you seem to shoot only on Auto. You have a good DSLR there, capable of full manual control - learn to use it to its best advantage, otherwise you might as well have bought a point & shoot.

I recommend joining a local camera/photography club. You can meet people withthe same interest, learn about photography (sometimes its easier to learn from a person, where you can go back over it if you didn't get it first time), get MEANINGFUL feedback on your work (family/friends are likely to say 'great photo' when, perhaps it isn't). You can also learn new techniques & branch out.

Feel free to Flickrmail me if you want more info.

Well, if you're new to photography it would always be good to learn about the rule of thirds, I would recommend taking a photography course however in the meantime. Shoot in automatic mode until you feel confident enough on how to use manual. Purchasing a 50mm lens is great if you want to do portraits however the standard 55mm is a good all rounder. Could you specify what type of photography you want to do so I can provide websites?

This is an excellent package on digital photography. http://www.123di.com/
Take a lot of pictures of anything, then look and see what you like about them. Professionals know certain tricks but take a ton of pictures and choose the ones they like. Sometimes things look either better or worse in a 2D picture than they do in real life. The great thing about digital is you can take all the pictures you like and get instant feedback. In the film days you had to wait for developing and were hampered by budget as you had to pay for developing.