Older newbie
Dec 14, 2011 07:49:26 #
Patriot66
Loc: Minnesota
I have been shooting pictures for a long time without really knowing what I was doing - started off with an old Polaroid foldup in the mid 60's. Pretty much a point and shoot kind of person. But now I own a pretty good camera (D7000) so I am trying to learn. Being recently retired will, hopefully, give me the time to devote to this fun activity. I am amazed at how well the people here do with photography and am hoping to learn a little so that I can become better at it and use this camera to its full potential. I enjoy the comments and tips and the great pictures people post.
Dec 14, 2011 08:01:33 #
Dec 15, 2011 10:32:27 #
Welcome, this is the place to learn. One of the first things you will hear is read the manual, read the manual, read the manual, and then read it again. Get to know your equipment inside and out. Watch what light does or doesn't do. Get rid of the ones you don't like, and shoot some more.
You'll do fine.
You'll do fine.
Dec 15, 2011 10:59:09 #
Dec 15, 2011 11:03:37 #
Patriot66
Loc: Minnesota
Thank you for the advice but do have one question though - I shot a lot of pics of birds about 30 yards away with my zoom lens and way too many times it focses on a small branch instead of the subject which most often is birds. How can I get this to stop? Through the eye viewer I see it trying to focus with the small box but too many times it missess. Set it athletic mode, same. Tried to go AC and use manual focus but gets overridden - I am as dumb as a board apparently.
Dec 15, 2011 11:54:52 #
I'm not real familiar with the D7000, but can you set the focus to "Spot"? Maybe a Nikon shooter can help with this one.
Dec 15, 2011 13:26:12 #
Spot focus is a good plan, but sometimes you might have to take if AF and focus in manuel, That way the focus is on the main subject and not thrown off by closley associated materials such as branches, leaves or even other birds.
Dec 15, 2011 14:03:19 #
Patriot66
Loc: Minnesota
So take it off auto focus for both the camera and the lens? I will try it now and thank you for the suggestion.
Dec 15, 2011 14:17:26 #
During my career I have worked on creating depth in my pics by using what I call foreground/background interest. With that AF does not work well. If AF uses the foreground, the backgrounds tends to be out of focus, so virtually everything I do is manual focus. Sometimes the spot where I focus is in between fore and aft. In teaching my grandson, I use an exercise of using a cup and saucer, placing it in different positions, some where it is in the foreground and some where it is far back in the pic. That way he can build a sense of where the focus should be.
Dec 15, 2011 14:19:59 #
Patriot66
Loc: Minnesota
I am overwelmed but the intelligence and compasssion that I see on this site. Thank you for helping me !
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