First month of dSLR with D7000

[aergrimm]

Only a few hours after the unpacking I went to a small concert, where in the break my girlfriend was bodypainted. This was my first hands-on experience with a dSLR.

Lucky Shot | Nikon D7000 ISO 2800 @ 1.8f 1/30s - 50mm​

This is the photo i'm most proud of! The other good photo's can be found: https://picasaweb.google.com/101769086893815354661/20121006CafeDeV

After a week of dry practising at home, i went to the pony stables:

The ladies | Nikon D7000 ISO 1250 @ 1.8f 1/640s - 50mm​

The highlight of the day! With full shoot @ https://picasaweb.google.com/101769086893815354661/20121013Forty

None of the photo's are post-processed (don't have the time or computer to do that), this is how they come out of the camera (only made smaller to fit the interweb).
I think I got me some lucky good shots, but I don't know what the success factors were, and how to repeat it.
And some other comments, tips are always welcome.

 

[Derrel]

KEEP on shooting photos with the new camera!!! LEARN how it works. Learn how to use the AUTO ISO feature, and your shooting can be much more fluid and automatic than when adjusting the ISO manually. The D7000 is of a generation where the image quality is NOT severely affected by using ISO values of 2,000 or so...so...the AUTO ISO feature it has is now something that can really be used!!!! Fully! Enjoy the d-slr experience. In the very poorest of lighting, try using the 50mm 1.8 lens.

 

[fjrabon]

KEEP on shooting photos with the new camera!!! LEARN how it works. Learn how to use the AUTO ISO feature, and your shooting can be much more fluid and automatic than when adjusting the ISO manually. The D7000 is of a generation where the image quality is NOT severely affected by using ISO values of 2,000 or so...so...the AUTO ISO feature it has is now something that can really be used!!!! Fully! Enjoy the d-slr experience. In the very poorest of lighting, try using the 50mm 1.8 lens.

I still hate auto-ISO, but I suspect that's just because I'm so in the habit of the way I shoot that I'd never use it, and when I wasn't, it'd be a recipe for noisy pictures at ISO 3200 in a bad situation for ISO 3200. But I agree that the feature is now usable for beginners, so that they can focus on shutter speed and aperture more as they learn, which have a lot more to do with composition and artistry than ISO does.

I'd still never personally use auto-ISO, but if people get good results with it, who cares? The only thing that matters is the delivered products quality, whether you got there shooting manual, with little post processing, or you got there shooting P mode and photoshopped the bejesus out of them, doesn't matter if the end result is good.

 

[aergrimm]

When in a hurry (ex. our bunny is doing something funny) i tend to use the P with auto ISO (max. 6400). If i have time depending on the situation i try to use the A or S mode to take the pictures.