question on my D90 and taking pictures :)

lance70

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Hello, I wanted to thank everyone for helping me on my first question on here about buying a camera. My wife and I are heading to a feeding zoo this weekend. I had a question on the camera, should I keep the camera on auto or use one of the preset settings? We are not familiar with setting the aperture or shutter speed so I hate to screw up the pictures doing that ourself. I'm sure some of the animals will be in cages and others will be out in the open. This will really sound like a dumb question to most of you I'm sure.


Lance
 
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Use "P" mode, that way you can determine which ISO you want to use (In daylight I'd go with 100 or 200).
 
I started on Auto until I learned the functions of the camera and how to adjust exposure. I suggest (as everyone did to me) reading "Understanding Exposure" and your camera manual back to back.

Program mode let's you decide white balance, ISO and whether to use your flash or not, but if you don't understand those features (I didn't) then I would say you would be ok with Auto too.

It is important that if you bought that nice piece of equipment, to learn every function of it so that you can fully take use it as soon as possible and get off the Auto button ;) I wish I could just remove it now :)

Good luck :)

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Exposure-Photographs-Digital-Updated/dp/0817463003/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1225217250&sr=8-1[/ame]
 
Thanks, yeah that makes sense, I really need to learn how to use the features.
 
I'm sure some of the animals will be in cages
If that's the case, you may have to focus manually since the camera might focus on the bars instead of the animals when in autofocus mode.
 
If that's the case, you may have to focus manually since the camera might focus on the bars instead of the animals when in autofocus mode.
Thanks, yeah that makes sense, otherwise the cage would be real clear but not in focus on what I really want, great point!
 
Lance,
I recently bought the same camera and also didn't understand a thing about the different settings, terminology etc.
Do yourself a favor...buy the book. Its a goodie.
 
While you're there, no harm in trying another shooting mode. I would try Aperture Priority first (Av). If the bars/cages are right in front of you, set the aperture wide open. Depending on your lens, this may eliminate the bars all together. But first, have a read in your manual and practise it before you leave. If it's a bright sunny day, you may also want to adjust your exposure control down to -0.7EV.

Have fun with it and experiment a bit. If you're really unsure, just take the photos you want first in the P mode, then adventure out of it.

Just my 2¢.
 
Thanks for the help, I like the idea about the aperture setting, that would be great, I do need to practice on this, thanks for the input!
 

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