New to Photography

Josh · 21 Jan 2014 at 10:47

Morning snappers,

I was given a DSLR Nikon D80 on the weekend as my dad got a new camera, having never used anything other than a Compact I'll be honest I have no idea what to do...

It has an AF-S Nikkor 24-85mm lens on it and a huge multitude of settings that means gibberish to me, I was playing around with it and used the manual focus which seemed to be ok, here is a test shot of what I was doing

If anyone could give me a couple of basic pointers as to which settings to use, mainly will be taking photos of the kids, dogs and just general holiday snaps.

Ta

Josh

a1ex2001 · 21 Jan 2014 at 11:14

I'd avoid manual focus for anything thats moving! The AF on modern DSLR's is amazing and won't often let you down.

As for settings that is a BIG question! Even on full auto it will take great pictures but I think your first port of call should be a little light reading so you can get upto speed with the basics of exposure and the language of photography. The most common recommendation is Bryan Pattersons Understanding exposure which really is a great book for the beginner.

Good luck and the dog photo is a great start!

Josh · 21 Jan 2014 at 11:16

Thanks I'm pretty happy with it although it took about 15 shots before he stood still.

I'll try find the book you mentioned and start reading. Thanks for the help.

Columbo · 21 Jan 2014 at 11:58

I don't often recommend anything by Uncle Ken but he has a D80 user guide that might be ok to start with until you get Understanding Exposure

Kevin Clark · 21 Jan 2014 at 11:59

JOSH86 said:
Thanks I'm pretty happy with it although it took about 15 shots before he stood still.

You can get around that by using the shutter priority mode on the camera. That allows you to increase the speed of the shutter while it works out the aperture and ISO for you. That way you can make the camera fire off at, say, 1/500th of a second to grab the dog while it's moving and hopefully give you a decent shot.

Josh · 21 Jan 2014 at 15:35

Thanks for the link Columbo I will check it out.

Kevin I have no idea what that means as of right now but I will figure it out thanks.

D.P. · 21 Jan 2014 at 15:40

Beginners sometimes seem to get the idea that good photographer do things manually. The truth is that almost everyone will use the automatic modes almost all the time, and for things like manual focus there is no way you will ever be as good as the camera using a modern DSLR and focus screen.

Leave autofocus on. Learn about exposure, use the automatic exposure modes of Aperture and Shutter priority. You will find most people using aperture priority because that controls not only the amount of light, but the depth or focus so has a critical element in deciding the look of the final image.