Just got my first ever DSLR camera (Nikon D3400)

Peas

Now the hard part is to figure out how to learn to take good pictures
Can anyone give me advice on how to approach this? I have been using point and shoot my entire life thus far and while people say that I take "pretty" photos I feel like I can actually bring it up to another level.

Also I want to use the camera to learn more about light and composition so I can bring it into my digital art
Thanks everybody in advance!!!

bsjezz

go share some photos in the photo thread over in the artist's corner - not only will you get a lot of specific tips to improve your own photos, you'll have great examples from the skilled photographers over there and maybe find a style to emulate and ultimately develop in your own way. maybe also sign up for flickr - not only is it great for hosting, it has good photographic community features that can make for a very motivating network (eg, check out the D3400 group photo pool - or explore shots tagged with the camera's model - to see what others are doing with the same hardware - then join in!)

my own tips? think about the three golden rules: focus, light and composition.
-keep your subject in sharp focus. learning your camera's aperture priority mode might be a start to ensuring you always get the focus you want
-light the subject well and ensure you get the right exposure
-use your body actively when shooting to find beautiful compositions. i tend to favour the rule of thirds, but there are other ways to compose a shot.

some of these things can be tweaked (exposure and composition) after the fact, but post-production skills shouldn't be your concern as a new photographer. aim to take shots you'd be proud to show straight off the SD card

Lind

All the above are great advice, especially to try Aperture priority mode. If you dont already know how ISO, Aperture and Shutterspeed affects the camera I'd suggest finding a good and short youtube video on the subject. That said I hardly ever go full manual when I use my D3300 since aperture or shutter prio gives me what I want most of the time.