Thanks for taking the time to show a better exposure, Wheezer! Appreciate it. My lens is Nikon Micro 105 mm. I am experimenting with various apertures and ISOs. It's a challenge.

Yes, it sure is. One of the first images I have taken in RAW, and my Lightroom 4 did not recognize the image at all. I was afraid to mess with them until I got everything working. I did finally get Lightroom 4.1 (update) to recognize RAW, but then it wouldn't recognize my JPEGs! I think I now have it figured out. I need to spend some time with it, though.

Great shots! I am envious - will keep practicing!
Barb

Welcome, Denise! I recently joined UHH, too. I find it to be a great resource. Folks are very informative and friendly. BTW, my FIL lives in Lakeville, and many other relatives are in New Bedford. Nice area! Enjoyed your pond shot.
Barb

Adorable! Great pictures of a trip she will long remember!

Bugs can be frustrating! They just don't sit still long enough. That said, the dragonfly was shot in my backyard. (Shot about 30 images and this was the only one i liked!) The Owl Butterfly was in a conservatory. He was more cooperative and sat still longer.
I have appreciated reading UHH for a couple weeks now. A great start to the morning! Comments and critique are welcome!
Barb

Dragonfly near the pond


Owl Butterfly at LGBG

Went over to BB this weekend to "touch" the D7000. I brought a lens and a flash card so I could play a bit with the store demo. Wrong - the D7000 takes SD, not flash. A young blue shirt came over to see what I was doing, I guess, because he could not answer any questions. I told him I had been looking on-line, but obviously didn't get all the details since I brought the wrong memory card. He was most unhelpful.

I ordered the D7000 from B&H and, for the first time, they disappointed me by leaving out one item in my order - the memory card! (A quick phone call and it is on its way, with their sincere apology). So, back to BB to get a card so I could play. An older BB waited on me immediately, asked lots of questions about what I needed the card for, etc. He was most helpful - and disappointed to hear I had gotten the D7000 on-line. He said BB had it for the same price (no) or would probably have matched it (maybe).

Not saying I would have bought it from BB, but can see why they are struggling. What employees know about products, policy, and service is very inconsistent.

Barb

I sure hope so! I had the n8008 first, added the D70 in 2004, and added the D7000 YESTERDAY! (Sorry, quite excited.) So far, all the "old" lenses have worked as I have moved up (though have never tried newer lenses with the n8008).

Last night I charged the battery and set up menus the way I want them. Today is play day! I am expecting all the lenses used on D70 to work. Will let you know if I find otherwise. It was my understanding that all AF and AF-S lenses should work.

Barb

Have been using the Smith-Victor tripod mostly in a garden conservatory shooting butterflies and also outside in calm conditions. So, no wind. Very stable, no vibration. The center column will support weights, but I haven't needed to do that. With my old tripod, I frequently would leave it home because it was so heavy. Now I take one along most of the time. (A tripod in the closet does no one any good.)

I have been super happy with a Smith-Victor
CF300 61" Carbon Fiber Tripod with BH5 Ball Head, from B&H Photo for under $200. Light enough to be willing to carry it, will splay down to very close to the ground, feels very stable. Might not work if you are tall (maximum height is 64.5"), but I find it comfortable. Weighs just under 4 pounds. Supports just under 9 pounds.

Great sharpness, clarity, exposure... surely a winner! Thanks for sharing - this is beautiful.

Love it! Would frame and hang it in my office! Lovely colors and super background. Nice and sharp. Great job.
Barb

What super shots! I especially lik the "shoot through" shots, where the forefront is blurred and the lion is sharp. Don't think I want to be the one shooting the Angry Lion! Everyone loves the close-ups, but "Mufasa" was a tough shot due to the lighting and you handled it wonderfully, so I give extra points for that!
Thanks for sharing these wonderful shots of these magnificent creatures.

Welcome! I see you are new to this forum.

Your image shows there was a lovely moment. One you really wanted to capture. What went wrong? You had a bright sunny day, and you severely overexposed the image. Your ISO should probably have been set to 100, maybe 200 depending on your lens. 3200 is way too sensitive!

You said you were trying different settings. Good for you! Do you have a feel for where to begin experimenting?

Think about exposure this way: you have three variables. One is how fast your shutter is (very fast = not much time to collect light), one is how open your lens is (aperture, the wider open, ie smaller number, the more light can get in), and ISO (the sensitivity of what we used to call the film speed, the higher the number the less light is needed). All together, you want just the right amount of light.

On bright sunny days, you can usually use ISO 100 or 200. There is plenty of light available unless you are using a really long lens. Leave 3200 for night shots when there is little light available.

Unless your subject is moving very fast and you need to "stop action," (no blurring), set your aperture next. The smaller the number, the more open the lens is and the more light is collected, but also the less depth of field. If you want a lot of depth of field (lots in focus), use a bigger number (f/8 -f/16).

Select a shutter speed that will give you the right exposure. Tricky. Try a number of options. Especially at the moment in this photo, you have time to try a number of options. The more your practice, the more you will have a feel for which combination will work.

Even though we are now shooting "digital," the exposure is still about capturing the light.

Don't be discouraged! After you practice setting the aperture first, switch to setting the shutter speed first and bracketing using shutter speeds. But still use the lowest ISO possible for the time of day.

Have fun! (Ignore snarky comments - everyone starts somewhere, and I think it is important to enjoy the journey!)

Hope I have not misread your question.

Barb

Oh dear, that is certainly a disaster! I send my sympathies. How many out there have a double back-up system?