My first shoot

mkoop · Feb 5, 2011

Figured I would put some photos up that I took today for anyone who wishes to or has time to give me some pointers or tips. This was my first shoot with the D200 and these lenses.

I must say however I am very disappointed to have bought this camera yesterday with a dirty sensor... taking it back in shortly to have them clean it properly.

All macro images taken with Tamron 90mm/2.8 macro lens.
Other images taken with:
Tamron SP 70-300
Nikon 18-55 vr

It was overcast all day in wonderful snowy Wisconsin. For the macro images I used 100-500 iso with f11-16. Everything else was 100-300 iso with f3-6. (Not sure if I'm doing this correctly or not, still just guess work and trying different combinations and jotting down what works under what conditions in my journal). I had an absolute blast doing this today.

Anyhow, enjoy:

EDIT:
The photos are formated to display but for some reason they are not displaying. My guess is an issue with flickr but for the time being here is a link to the photostream where they are located:http://www.flickr.com/photos/59124614@N05/

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l0ser · Feb 5, 2011

Dont know if its just me but none of the images seem to be loading

RauschPhotography · Feb 5, 2011

They aren't loading for me, either.

mkoop · Feb 5, 2011

Yeah I'm not sure why. I am trying to fix it, I uploaded them to flickr, copied the link and used the insert image button to do it so I really don't know why they are not showing up

They are all in my photo stream as well:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/59124614@N05/

mkoop · Feb 5, 2011

Fixed! Not sure what the issue with flickr is, I uploaded to photobucket and used those links and everything works fine. Flickr must be having maintenance or something causing this issue when I tried to link from them.

Also I did not mention, these photos are just RAW, I have aperture and CS3 but don't know how to use them yet so haven't had time to mess around with them.

Biggs88 · Feb 5, 2011

No offense but none of them are doing anything for me. Most seem under exposed. Some are way out of focus. And all of them lack composition. . . .

Again, no offense. I am new to photography aswell. I have 100's of photos like these on my hard drive too!

cnutco · Feb 5, 2011

snap shots...

MissCream · Feb 5, 2011

Biggs88 said:
No offense but none of them are doing anything for me. Most seem under exposed. Some are way out of focus. And all of them lack composition. . . .

Again, no offense. I am new to photography aswell. I have 100's of photos like these on my hard drive too!

Sorry but I'm going to have to agree... What exactly did you find interesting about these anyway?

quiddity · Feb 5, 2011

you have some serious sensor dust? #3, 7, 8, 9

mkoop · Feb 5, 2011

@ MissCream I just wanted to get out and start learning the camera. I just shot pictures of things that looked interesting to me.

@ quiddity - Yes there was some serious sensor dust. I bought the camera yesterday and when I saw these today I took it back into the shop and had them clean it for me. So should be much better now.

Now I was playing with the ISO and f stop to figure out what works best in what conditions but as I stated this is the first time I used this camera (or any DSLR really).

I realize I have a lot to learn but I'm not even sure how to fix things like over exposure and composition or depth. These are my first pictures, I probably shouldn't have posted anything until I know more what I'm doing.

oldmacman · Feb 5, 2011

mkoop said:
I probably shouldn't have posted anything until I know more what I'm doing.

As long as you can endure c&c it is valuable to post. You just need some comments on how to approach the subjects next time. Winter is a very dead time, so I find it is best to shoot when you have nice light play. Early morning and early evening provide long shadows and interesting patterns in the snow. Try to get out at a time when it is not so grey. Look for that play of light that will add visual interest to your compositions.

Your ice shots can be pretty cool. I find ice is best with an increased black level to bring out more contrast and make it look glassy. The edit has a black level adjustment and sharpening applied. While your exposure is probably correct, the tweak adds detail and interest to the ice.

Original

Edit

Biggs88 · Feb 5, 2011

mkoop said:
Now I was playing with the ISO and f stop to figure out what works best in what conditions but as I stated this is the first time I used this camera (or any DSLR really).

I realize I have a lot to learn but I'm not even sure how to fix things like over exposure and composition or depth. These are my first pictures, I probably shouldn't have posted anything until I know more what I'm doing.

Hey, keep shooting, keep posting!

In daylight, leave your ISO at 200. Set the camera to P mode and let the camera choose it's shutter speed and aperture. This way you can focus on composition. Look up photo composition on Google, go to the library and take out books about photography (books on PHOTOGRAPHY, not digital camera guides) and practice non stop! You will learn all about composition, backgrounds, rule of thirds, lighting, ect. . . .

Once you learn how to compose shots, you will start to ask questions on how you can get better shots. You will, by your own curiosity, find out about depth of field control from your f stop, shutter speed and blurring/freezing moving subjects, ways to get a correct exposure, ect. . .

You will learn how, when, and why to use S mode, A mode, M mode, and P mode.

Stick in there!!!

mkoop · Feb 5, 2011

Thanks for the incite, I will try these ice shots again in the morning when the lighting is better (if it doesn't snow again like it is supposed to).

I feel somewhat like a sponge right now so all C&C is very useful. I ordered a few books that were recommended here for beginners but aside from that and my camera manual I haven't found much (aside from scaps of knowledge here and there that I am able to find searching the web - but for the most part it is above my knowledge and I can't apply most of it - yet).

I've got thick skin so no worries about C&C

I did take about 6 shots of each of these photos using different ISO / f stop combinations as I really had no base of knowledge to start with, I just posted what I thought looked best.

@ oldmacman - thank you for the edit - I have aperture and CS3 but have not learned how to use them much yet so that is another hurdle I got heading my way. Thank you for all the great info as well.

@Biggs88 - I'll drive to the library monday and see what I can discover - or see if I can find any good ebooks. I'll see what I can find on google about composition and apply that to my shoot tomorrow morning.