First picture with my SLR.

Hey, I just bought my first dslr yesterday (Canon Rebel Xt with 18-55mm kit lens) Here is the first picture I took. Just thought I would share it with everyone.

not a bad start. try to find a less distracting background and or foreground for your subjects and you will have good shots. try to use a wide aperature to put the background out of focus too, that will help. I would also crop down a bit from the upper left in this shot so the bike isnt leaning so much to the side of the frame.

Welcome to POTN and enjoy your new gear...use it lots and keep posting. Its fun to share and also helps us all get better at our 'craft'. Nice bike BTW.

I put my camera on Av and turned the aperture down to 4.0, I have the 18-55mm kit lens, is that the lowest F/number there is or am I missing something?

edit: I didnt have the camera on Av with the f/number at 4.0 for this picture, I just had it on Auto.

scratch that, it was actually on 40, I was going the wrong way

A shallower DOF would make this look alot nicer. You can get this by using a longer focal length. 55mm is as long as you can go with that lens, and the widest apt you can get with that lens at 55mm is f/5.6. If you were shooting it at somewhere around 100mm or more with an fstop of 5.6 your DOF would shallow out alot more than at 55mm.

What was actually on 40? If you mean the f#...that is imposible. The smallest you can get with that lens is f/22.
The largest you can go with that lens is f/3.5 at 18mm. Its a limit of the lens, not the camera.

Honestly im not really sure. I put my Camera on Av and use the little scroll wheel to scroll through the aperture I can adjust it from 3.5 to 36 when the lens is at 18 and 55mm respectivly. Does that make sense to anyone?

It makes sense to me...but that lens has an fstop range of 3.5 - 22. It should not be able to reduce to f/36 or anything smaller than f/22. I dont have an XT so im not sure how its menu and controls are laid out...but even if the camera says f/36 I dont belive the lens is capable of this. Somebody correct me if im wrong.

You have the same problem I do -- too many expensive hobbies! I also like motorcycles. Some of the great "L" lenses that Canon makes cost more than your bike.

Anyway, good start. Welcome.

I'm not really sure, it will go to those two different extremes though. So the lower the F/number the larger the aperture opening will be, in turn making the background blurrier correct? Just trying to get a grasp on everything.

Yeah, Im the king of expensive hobbies. hahah I dont think I'll be buying a $6500 lens anytime in the near future

Very nice start sublimejoe. The 18-55mm is not as bad as other people say.

When you compose photo like this, leave more room to the right of the bike since the bike was facing right.
As mentioned before, try to separate the subject from its bg. Zoom to 55mm, open the aperture to the widest (smallest f/ number). Or, move the bike another 50m away from the house.

Thanks for all the input guys, keep it coming. I think I am heading out to Georgetown today to take some pics.