Brand Spankin' New...

[ShutterMama]

so please bear with me!

I recently treated myself to a Nikon D60 kit and I am loving it. My motivation mostly is that my 3 year old has autism and we haven't had a fantabulous experience with a photographer since he was an infant. They always want him to "pose" and "look at them". Plus scheduling a time is hard since we never know what his mood and interactive abilities will be at that time. This way, I can get some decent shots of him when the time is right.

I can P&S fine, but I am exploring the more complex aspects of the camera now. I am getting the aperature/F-stop figured out a little, but not good with shutter speed.

Anyway, learning by doing is great, so here are some of my shots... some have minimal editing on PS7 and some are fresh off the camera:

 

[dak1b]

i like #1...good persoective...love the differnet color of eyes..the others aren't doin much for me...

 

[KmH]

When you want to use the on camera flash you can turn the power down so the light is a bit softer.

Push the menu button an the back of the camera.
Select the 3rd icon (Pencil) on the left side, scroll right.

Scroll down to item 14 (Flash menu) in the right hand menu, push the ok button:

• TTL (through the lens) This is full automatic for the flash.
• Manual (Select manual and you can choose the flash power level. Select manual and scroll down to 1/8 power and give it a try. Adjust the power level to taste.

Next, is a key setting for using flash with moving little boys:
1/2 press the shutter button to display the shooting menu on the LCD. When it displays push the + button there by the lower left corner of the LCD. That's the quick Settings menu.
You want to scroll over to the lower left corner, push the OK button when you get there and
set the Flash Mode to "Rear". You can read about 'Flash Mode' and 'Rear Curtain Sync on pages 65 & 66 of your manual.

When you can get a Nikon SB-400 hot shoe flash so you can bounce light off the ceiling. Better yet is an SB-600 because the head will move into more positions so you can bounce off the ceiling or walls. Even better is to mount the flash on a off camera cord in the hot shoe and hand hold the flash for side light.

 

[ShutterMama]

i like #1...good persoective...love the differnet color of eyes..the others aren't doin much for me...

Thanks. #1 is from today, the first set I took after really starting to "get" the aperature.

The others were mostly messing around and being totally clueless! Heck, some of those are from about an hour after I bought it.

When you want to use the on camera flash you can turn the power down so the light is a bit softer.

Push the menu button an the back of the camera.
Select the 3rd icon (Pencil) on the left side, scroll right.


Scroll down to item 14 (Flash menu) in the right hand menu, push the ok button:

• TTL (through the lens) This is full automatic for the flash.
• Manual (Select manual and you can choose the flash power level. Select manual and scroll down to 1/8 power and give it a try. Adjust the power level to taste.

Next, is a key setting for using flash with moving little boys:
1/2 press the shutter button to display the shooting menu on the LCD. When it displays push the + button there by the lower left corner of the LCD. That's the quick Settings menu.
You want to scroll over to the lower left corner, push the OK button when you get there and
set the Flash Mode to "Rear". You can read about 'Flash Mode' and 'Rear Curtain Sync on pages 65 & 66 of your manual.

When you can get a Nikon SB-400 hot shoe flash so you can bounce light off the ceiling. Better yet is an SB-600 because the head will move into more positions so you can bounce off the ceiling or walls. Even better is to mount the flash on a off camera cord in the hot shoe and hand hold the flash for side light.

Thanks!!! I was messing around with rear flash this afternoon, but hadn't tried it on anything besides stuff around the house (the kind of photos you delete after you are done messing with the feature). I will try it on the boys tomorrow. I did get a chance to mess around with the flash power level a bit ago, but will mess with it more.

* Is this related to placing a tissue over the flash? I got that tip and did some photos of a few of the kids (I run a small daycare) and loved that lighting. If I can set the power level to mimic that, it would rock, but messing with the tissue isn't the end of the world.

I will look into those flashes. I am hoping to be able to afford a new lens and a flash in a month or so.

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

(the kind of photos you delete after you are done messing with the feature

Heh...most people post those here for C&C. :thumbup:

 

[ShutterMama]

Haha! They were of things like one of my kids' cups, a candle on the end table, etc. More or less just taking shot after shot while adjusting just one setting over and over so I can see the difference it makes.

But, I see your point... totally taking that into consideration as I get into this further. Can't wait to try the new flash settings today on the kiddos.

 

[choudhrysaab]

2nd picture is a bit over exposed but def. the best for me =)
happy shooting!

 

[ShutterMama]

Here, let me find the original of that 2nd shot. That is one that I did play around with on photoshop and was going for that kind of effect.

*The story with this one is that we were at a local baseball game to celebrate his brother's birthday and he would clap along with the crowd, but you can tell he was wondering WHAT we were clapping at exactly*

 

[Misfitlimp]

I like the original of the second shot better then the PP one. The others are overexposed/underexposed and whatnot. U have a lot of noise in some of those shots aswell so play around with ISOs