Just bought D90&VR kit. Need some help with the basics.

[overkill-gb]

Hello,

I'm a student studying photography AS level.

Just purchased my first DSLR. Just wondered if theres any settings I need to choose before I get going aswell as a few questions.

Which setting should I be using as most common as in auto, p, a, s, portrait?

I'm most likely going to be taking photos of natural forms and man made subjects e.g plants, buildings, shape textures and patterns.

Do i need a tripod? because on auto I seem to be getting very low light readings and getting blur? And flash seems to burning out my images I much prefer natural light.

I'm a complete noob so please inform me with all I need to know to get started off

Thanks

Rob

 

[Yardbent]

Lucky you --- a top class D90 to start .......jealous.....:bang:

it's a very complex camera I believe - I bought an entry level D40 and was advised here to use it for 6-9 months before moving up....

I would start on auto to get the hang of the camera
then move to P where you can change the aperture/speed ratio yourself
then try A mode- picking an aperture to suit the DOF
eg f3.5 to blur background
then try S mode to set speed - say 1/500 for freezing movement

if you are getting "blur" your shutter speed is too low .....

good books from Amazon ..........

"Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson

"Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography" (Paperback)
by Brenda Tharp

good luck and read the Tutorials ?

 

[Chumpalot]

Welcome to the forum. Lucky you, a D90 to start with. Not a beginner's camera in most people's eyes but hey, I wouldn't complain.

As John said, stick on Auto to begin with and start practicing your actual picture taking techniques, stance, posture, breathing etc... Make sure you're correctly exposing your pictures by using the built-in exposure meter. After this you can move on to other settings like aperture and shutter speed to get different effects.

If you're getting blurred images, put it on S (shutter priority) and don't get any lower than say 1/60th sec shutter speed. If you're images are too dark then increase the ISO (sensitivity). Bear in mind that the higher the ISO the more noise you'll get from your pics (though the D90 does a very good job of handling this, something I wish my D40x did a little better )

Get out there and start taking pictures, it's the best way to learn

Good luck!

ps: if you find the D90 too hard to live with, I will gladly do a trade with my D40X

 

[Yardbent]

ps: if you find the D90 too hard to live with, I will gladly do a trade with my D40X..

me first !

if you do a lot of fiddling, changing settings etc it's probably a good idea to "reset the camera to the default settings" every time you use it at first

I read this somewhere...

say you were taking indoor shots and had changed the White Balance to "Flash" then next day are out in brilliant sunshine, the White Balance you had yesterday will be wrong
so "Reset" every day at first.............hopefully a D90 owner will jump in?

there is a D90 thread you could read through ....cheers.....

 

[Martyn...]

Have a look at Ken Rockwell's guide to setting up the D90 LINK ... just be aware Ken is fickle to say the least, take some of his comments with a pinch of salt, however his camera guides are written in plain English and easy to follow

 

[wibbly]

Google Dtowntv.com and have a look at the podcasts there, awesome stuff

 

[lofcuk]

I have had my D80 for a few years now.

I began in full auto, quickly moved to P, which still selects shutter and aperture for you, but you can select alternatives.

Aperture priority is your story telling mode, depth of field etc.

Shutter priority is your blurring or freezing movement mode.

It all depends on what you are shooting at the time.

http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2

Is a good site to see the relationships between apertures, shutter speeds and ISO.

 

[leaky5]

Rob

Don't fiddle with to many of the standard settings to start with, you might forget you have done it and wonder why something is not quite right later on.

Read up on aperture, shutter speed and ISO and effects they have on each other. Once you have done this you should be able to relate them to the different modes on the camera.
Pop this into Google and there are quite a few sites that will help 'shutter speed and aperture explained'

I am finding that I use A on my D90 most of the time, try this to start with and check that the shutter speed is not to low. Have a quick look at this, it explains shutter speed and focal length
http://markhancock.blogspot.com/2004/08/adjust-speed-for-focal-length.html