First DSLR Camera

lightningfront

New member
We recieved our first DSLR camera today and I got to play wih it for a few minutes. Havent really got much time to figure things out yet these are all taken on auto mode. It's a Nikon D90 with a 16-85mm VR lense and also have a Tokina 100mm macro.

My son.

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The dogs.
Stitch-Malteese
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Pookie-Malteese
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Buster-Malti-Poo
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Now for the Full Tank Shot
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The rest of these were taken with the macro lense. I'm still trying to figure out how to get nice sharp non blurry pics. Think I need to set the timer on the camera so i don't bump it hitting the shutter button when it's on the tripod. Also, do people turn the powerheads off when taking coral pics of softies or LPS cause it seems the movement screws things up?

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Congrats on the new toy! Keep playing around with it, someone once said "The first 10,000 pictures you take are the worst!" and there is definately truth to that. Good luck
 
Good pics! on the last few pics, you might be too close to the subject/glass when taking those photos that's why you can't focus correctly. Try moving back a few inches and do a manual focus. Also looking at the EXIF, I'd suggest a few things:

-the last few pictures you took were in SPORTS mode. For fast moving fish, I'd use "S" for shutter priority and aim for about 1/1000. The D90 tends to overexpose when it's set on Auto ISO because it oftentimes tries to use the highest ISO that you set it to. I would disable Auto ISO and set it manually to 200 and go from there.

-There is a meter on top of your D90. Try to have the needle on the center of the meter as you adjust your shutter speed so your shots don't over expose.

-Auto WB is fine but you might want to play around with other WB options (like shade, incandescent, etc) Press the WB button and move the back dial to choose the type of WB and the front dial to fine tune WB.

-I would also try these settings: Set your JPG quality to "fine" if you're not shooting NEF. Set NR to ON, and finally set Sharpening to max.

-I've never used the Tokina 100mm, but if you're using the 16-85 Nikkor, you have to turn off VR when using it on a tripod.

-I suggest you get the ML-L3 ... a nice cheap wireless shutter remote that you can use to minimize camera shake. It's very convenient to have!
 
Nice job so far. For the coral photos, definitely turn off all water circulation. Using your macro lens, put your camera in Aperture Priority mode and stop the aperture back a few steps, say to F11 and use ISO 200. Move the camera back at least 1-2 feet from the tank and use the timer to take the photo. Using F11, you'll likely have a slow shutter speed, which is why you need to use the timer and a tripod to avoid camera shake. With the circulation off, your coral won't be moving (unless it's xenia), so long exposures usually work fine.

The reason you want to stop the aperture back is to get more of the coral in focus. With it wide open (F2.8 on your Tokina) you have very narrow depth of field, which means only a small portion of your subject will be in focus. This becomes even more apparent with the lens placed very close to the subject. Part of the coral will be in sharp focus, and yet part that's only 1/8" away will be blurry. You can see this in your coral photos above. Stopping the aperture back to F11 or so will give you much more depth of field, as will moving the lens farther away from the subject.

As someone else mentioned, get the wireless remote (ML-L3). It's cheap and awesome. To use it, set your camera in wireless mode. On my D50 the timer button cycles through to this. Click once and it's in timer mode, twice and it's in timed remote mode, three times and it's in wireless remote mode. I'm not sure if the D90 is the same or similar.
 
One other thing that someone else mentioned. The bowfront of your tank is going to fight against you. Always make sure the front of your camera is parallel with the glass. In other words, don't shoot at an angle through the glass. It will badly warp your images.
 
Yeah, I'd definitely stop the lens down to get more depth of focus. I didn't go snooping into your EXIF, but don't be afraid to bump the ISO up. A tripod is worth the time it takes to setup.

For kids and dogs, a speedlight is well worth the $$$. Nothing makes a good camera shoot cheap camera pictures like an onboard flash.
 
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