Getting known with the new camera. Photos included.

[Zargo_VI]

As some of you know, I've bought my first DSLR camera, Nikon D80. It's the first time I handle such advanced cameras but I'm getting the hang of how it works. I've made this topic to show my progress and I'm also hoping to receive feedback/comments on what I could improve.

 

I've added short comments on the photos and I hope you'll like them.

 

 

 

 

#1 - A close shot of stone bird sitting on a tomb stone.

 

#2 - Was testing out the shutter speeds on a fountain and this is how it can freeze the drops on very high speeds.

 

#3 - The same fountain as the previous one but with much lower speeds.

 

 

 

 

#4 - Same as the previous shots, just from an other angle

 

#5 - My try with B&W. The original didn't look nice so I added more contrast to get this effect.

 

#6 - An other B&W shot of my 5-stringed bass. A joy to play btw ;)

 

 

 

 

#7 - Found this beautiful building while walking in a park. The small path added a nice touch.

 

#8 - A simple shot of a sunset. Not much to say :)

 

#9 - Taking photos in the city is fun, especially if you can find good subjects to take photos of!

 

 

 

 

#10 - Playing at night with shutter speeds, focus lenghts, zoom levels and rotation combined can get you interesting and sometimes amazing results.

 

#11 - A typical summer photo. Would probably fit as a postcard.

 

#12 - A generic nature photo. Nothing more to add.

 

 

 

 

#13 - Close shots of some flowers. Again, nothing more to add.

 

#14 - Insects aren't really my thing, but on this occasion it managed to stay still for this shot.

 

#15 - A macro shot of a beautiful rose. Add some water drops and it's perfect. I love how it turned out so deep red.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, that's all the photos I have to show for now. I hope you likeed them and as I said, I appreciate it if you can post any feedback/comments.

 

Thanks! :D

[Brandon_7]

Wow, you're pretty good. Those are some great quality pictures you took. The picture of the fountain looks really nice. #3, #5, and #9 are all good. Great job. :thumbsup:

[greenslime89]

Have you got the 18-70mm kit lens or another one? Might I suggest a true macro lens? The Sigma 105mm F/2.8 EX DG Macro or the Tamron 90mm F/2.8 Di LD are good macro lenses - I've tried them in my local shop. They are both perfect for portraits too!

[Zargo_VI]

Have you got the 18-70mm kit lens or another one? Might I suggest a true macro lens? The Sigma 105mm F/2.8 EX DG Macro or the Tamron 90mm F/2.8 Di LD are good macro lenses - I've tried them in my local shop. They are both perfect for portraits too!

I bought mine with the 18-135mm lens kit. It's very good! Thanks for suggesting the macro lens.

 

I'm very interested in macro shots and I've considered to buy one since it doesn't work well with the current lens setup. I'm going to see if I can get any good offers from them.

 

 

 

Thanks again for the feedback :)

[jak722]

Still into photography I see! XD

 

 

 

Your flower shots are always nice. :

[Lunar_Drifter]

Great pictures I must say. I'm using #5 as a background, if you don't mind?

[Jopie211]

All very nice, I love #5. :

[Zargo_VI]

Great pictures I must say. I'm using #5 as a background, if you don't mind?

I don't mind at all!

 

And jak, it's not like I have stopped being into photography ;) I just haven't posted for some time.

[knittinqueen]

Your photography is awesome. Keep up the lovely work. :wink:

[greenslime89]

Sorry about the glib reply there only talking about lenses that you could get.

 

 

 

I like pretty much all of them, your panning technique with the car is very good - I've yet to master that.

 

Its a great idea to mess about with the settings to see what you can do. I've got a few things you might like to try to get some interesting effects.

 

1: Mount your camera on a tripod, manually focus your photo, compose your shot, select small aperture (F/16 or smaller) use slow-ish shutter speed (1/2s or slower) and press the shutter and steadily zoom in to create a zoom blur.

 

2: Mirror lock-up is a good feature for long shutter speeds. With mirror lock-up enabled, press the shutter button once to open the shutter and again to close it. (you must use a small aperture to stop overexposure and must be using bulb exposure mode)

 

3: Shoot RAW. RAW files are unprocessed files from your camera so you can adjust the levels, contrast, white balance and many other things without losing any detail. You can then convert it to JPEG. The files are bigger but the control you get is invaluable. I'm not sure if Nikon bundle their CaptureNX software with D80 kits. I don't think they do and it costs about ÃÆââ¬Å¡Ãâã129 to buy it. You can get a great free RAW converter that I use and is pretty simple to use. You can download it from here.

 

 

 

Nice shots and hopefully you can expand your lens collection to have a dedicated macro lens. I've heard great things about this lens though using a Canon camera I have no experience with it.