New to photography

LubaJ08 · May 31, 2011

Well...5 months ago my husband bought me a Nikon D50...I knew nothing about DSLR's at all. All I knew was that I liked taking photos.(Well at that time I had a 10 month old who didn't give me much time to take photos but now that she is almost 14 months old I am using my camera more often.)

Anyway, I have a few questions, I've been playing around and taking photos on Manual but honestly sometimes it confuses me and my photos are not as great as I wish they were...So I was wondering if anyone knows any good books that REALLY helped them with photography?

I want to feel more comfortable with my camera but it's so confusing some times.

These are a few of my photos...any advice is always welcomed

(My daughter...)

For example I think those are some okay photos I took...however some photos I take...when you look at the "Full" size they appear almost blurry...how do I fix that?

Like this photo I took...I wish it would look "Sharper" .

Thanks in advance! I hope I can learn alot from this site and get better in my photography

mc_hudd · May 31, 2011

Your daughter is ADORABLE!!! I think these are great photos, maybe a little over/underexposed...???? I'm NOT an expert though, so don't listen to me.

The only thing I would recommend is to get Photoshop & take your pictures in RAW. Good luck!

PS~ What lens are you using for the pics of your daughter?

LubaJ08 · May 31, 2011

mc_hudd said:
Your daughter is ADORABLE!!! I think these are great photos, maybe a little over/underexposed...???? I'm NOT an expert though, so don't listen to me. The only thing I would recommend is to get Photoshop & take your pictures in RAW. Good luck!

PS~ What lens are you using for the pics of your daughter?

Thank you

She's my little model. It's funny you say get Photoshop because in the past few months I had elements and am learning to use it! Today I got PS CS4! (So I am more then excited) I usually used to edit my photos with little free/cheap programs so obviously the exposure was probably not "Fabulous" haha. I'm not quite sure how to get my photos in RAW...one of my friends said D50 doesn't do RAW so I am not sure :/

As for the lens it's the 55-200mm one I believe...It's very handy for head shots/ portraits in my opinion...but i'm just a beginner so i'm not sure.

mc_hudd · May 31, 2011

This is what it says on the Nikon website for the D50 under Tech. Specs.: File Format: Compressed 12-bit NEF (RAW) or JPEG (Baseline Compliant) (D50 from Nikon) I'm not sure how you set your camera (I have a Canon), but I'd recommend thoroughly reading your manual.

You'll love CS4. I have CS5 & use it all the time. It's amazing what you can do w/ that program!

LubaJ08 · May 31, 2011

Oh my gosh I know!! I was looking at it today and looking at some tutorials and this is what I learned how to do

I know it's just basic "Burn"/"Saturate" pretty much but it was fun lol

messing_with_photoshop_2_by_loveshotsphotography-d3ho48q.jpg

clanthar · May 31, 2011

Blurry photos are usually the result of too slow a shutter speed when hand-holding the camera. Focus failure is another possible cause as is subject movement. Your zoom lens extends far into the telephoto range. As you increase magnification (zoom closer) movement is exaggerated and you need to raise the shutter speed to compensate.

Why are you using the camera on manual? You'd be better off using the camera's S or A modes.

Joe

mc_hudd · May 31, 2011

clanthar said:
Why are you using the camera on manual? You'd be better off using the camera's S or A modes.

Joe

Really? I've never heard anyone say this. Most ppl tell you to get into Manual mode ASAP. Very interesting.

LubaJ08 · May 31, 2011

clanthar said:
Blurry photos are usually the result of too slow a shutter speed when hand-holding the camera. Focus failure is another possible cause as is subject movement. Your zoom lens extends far into the telephoto range. As you increase magnification (zoom closer) movement is exaggerated and you need to raise the shutter speed to compensate.

Why are you using the camera on manual? You'd be better off using the camera's S or A modes.

Joe

Well I bought the camera off a friend here in Korea and this is why I need to get a book about it or even the manual. I was trying it on different modes and a few "Photographers" told me I should be doing everything in Manual for the first few months :meh:. Thus why I came onto here to actually hear from people that know a bit more about photography.

Thank you for your reply! That makes sense!

LubaJ08 · May 31, 2011

mc_hudd said:
clanthar said:

Why are you using the camera on manual? You'd be better off using the camera's S or A modes.

Joe

Click to expand...

Really? I've never heard anyone say this. Most ppl tell you to get into Manual mode ASAP. Very interesting.

This is what I keep being told...

subscuck · May 31, 2011

I'd recommend reading "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson, readily available on Amazon. It'll teach you everything you need to know to start taking control of your camera. It's geared towards beginners, so it's an easy read. In addition, I'd recommend reading some books for CS4. Scott Kelby has one called "The Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers". It'll teach you the fundamentals of editing. After that you can look at tuts on line for more advanced stuff. There are also some good books for working with ACR (Adobe Camera Raw) and I'd read one or two of those as well. There's nothing intuitive about photo editing software, and you'll get better results if you learn to walk before you try to run.

As for your pics, 1 and 2 are overexposed, 3 is ok exposure wise, but you missed focus. Blurriness can also be camera shake from too low of a shutter speed. There's no exif on your pics, so I don't know what you had for ss.

subscuck · May 31, 2011

LubaJ08 said:
mc_hudd said:

clanthar said:

Why are you using the camera on manual? You'd be better off using the camera's S or A modes.

Joe

Click to expand...

Really? I've never heard anyone say this. Most ppl tell you to get into Manual mode ASAP. Very interesting.

Click to expand...

This is what I keep being told...

I'd shoot in aperture priority for now. I believe thats "A" on Nikons.

clanthar · May 31, 2011

If you're using the camera's built-in meter, then manual mode is less efficient.

Manual is important when you are relying on an external meter or determining exposure with artificial lights (strobe) and not using the meter in the camera.

Given these photos I assume with the camera in manual you adjusted the shutter speed and lens f/stop to zero the meter. The camera will do that faster than you can and since it will use the same meter it will come to the same answer. For example: (ISO 100) In manual mode you set the shutter to 1/250 sec and then look through the viewfinder at the meter and start adjusting the f/stop until the meter zeros. Assume you zero the meter at f/11. So you exposure then is 1/250 sec at f/11. In "S" mode you set the shutter speed to 1/250 sec and the camera instantly sets the f/stop to f/11... duh, you'd rather do it yourself to get to the same place more slowly? Why?

Joe

clanthar · May 31, 2011

Petersen's Understanding Exposure is written for beginners and is more helpful than not, but you'll want to be able to double check what you read with an expert so as to avoid "learning" the serious factual errors in the book. This website isn't as accessible, but it doesn't contain glaring mistakes: Cambridge in Colour - Photography Tutorials & Learning Community

Joe

MommyOf4 · May 31, 2011

I am going to second the above suggestion of Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson. I just finished reading it and it really helped me understand a lot more about exposure. I still refer back to it all the time.