Cd'a 1/23/09

[gotrice93]

k so im just learning on my new camera. im use to a point and shoot. i had taken mine off of auto focus messing around with it and forgot to put it back on. SO PLZ DONT CRITICIZE MY PHOTOS AND MY PHOTOGRAPHY. IF UR GONNA SAY ANYTHING BAD I WILL ASK A MODERATOR CLOSE THIS THREAD. I HOPE U GUYS CAN HELP ME WITH POINTERS INSTEAD OF SHOOTING ME DOWN. tHANKS

SORRY DOMESTICATED AND BRANDON I DIDNT GET CLEAN SHOTS, HOPEFULLY I CAN GET BETTER ONES NEXT TIME
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[jon]

they came out pretty good...youll learn that camera soon enough...you got any good pics of just the cars?

[enhance]

Shooting at night can be rough. There just isn't enough light a lot of times. Starting out with a new dslr, that is just something you'll run into a lot in the beginning. Your day shots will look great, your night shots will look pretty bad. A tripod helps in some situations. Upping your ISO a bit helps in others. Sometimes, you just can't get the shot without more work (multiple flashes, etc). For now, just keep paying with it. Do not beat yourself up so much about whether the photos look great or not.

Pick up a tripod if you don't already have one. Even if it is just a cheap $30 one to fit a budget (I know after I bought my first dslr, I didn't feel like dropping a few hundred on a nice tripod right away. I still use a shitty tripod). Read any resources you can find to understand how aperture, shutter speed and ISO affect exposure. Read until it makes perfect sense. Read until you know how to adjust all of those settings without changing the exposure at all. For instance, a shot that is 1/4sec f/4 @ ISO 100 is the same exposure as 1/30sec f/4 @ ISO 800. While ISO 800 would introduce more noise, shooting at 1/30sec would likely produce much less blur from camera shake than shooting at 1/4sec.

Once you understand the way the numbers add up to the result, getting the result you want is much easier.

[enhance]

I just went and looked at the Exif data of the photos after posting that last post. Because you were shooting auto, it was auto changing your ISO as well, to allow for faster shutter times. Unfortunately you just had really crappy light (1/6" f/4.2 @ ISO 1600 is pretty low light).

The one tip I have for you is: When shooting in light that bad, with the equipment you currently have, try not to zoom at all. Instead of zooming with the lens, just move closer physically. The reason for that is that your kit lens has a varying max aperture of 3.5 - 5.6. When shooting on the wide end (18mm) it will get as large as f/3.5. When shooting at the zoomed end (55mm) it will only get as large as f/5.6 (bigger numbers = smaller size).

If you look at the photos and compare the exif data, you'll notice that the clearest ones are the wide angle shots and the blurriest ones are the zoomed shots.

[gotrice93]

enhance thanks for the pointers.

[silver_echo]

clarity came out really good for just learning... but remember, the only real difference between you and some truly professional photographers is experience... i have seen some pro phtogs with the same camera as you that could not shoot a picture to save their life... and they went to school for it...

[erik]

For that being the first time you really messed with your camera and it being night, i'm sure you were depressed at the outcome. Don't be alarmed.

When I first got mine, I figured it would take awesome night shots hand held. HAH! Wrong!

I quickly learned that the lower the ISO setting the better the clarity at night, you must also learn to control the white balance. Also, shooting in .NEF is a must if you want to manipulate the photos without losing quality. I also discovered the use of a tripod is a must at night unless you have a low f stop lens.

A dslr is much more complex then a point and shoot, however, some point and shoots allow you to change ISO settings and such.

For night shots I purchased the remote shutter release for the camera, it is really a life saver cause the slightest shake on the camera will cause the picture to blur, especially on the kit lens.

I suggest you read as much as you can at NikonCafe.com, Nikonians.org = FTL ;P No offense if anyone posts there, lol. NC all the way!

[gustav129]

With better quality, it would be easier to see the green bungee cord on Jons car. I really had to look for it.

Man, would I have stuck out like a sore thumb.

[jon]

i put a blue one on as we left haha

[gustav129]

How many do you have now?

[jon]

there are 2 on there lol...my hood latch works it just isnt perfect...so i use them as a back up

[gustav129]

Yeah, you explained it to me once before.

[pr3Lud3]

I would like these photo's 10x better if I was in them prelude instead of grant's eclipse...