well, here's my first attempts with my d200

[bigsarg7]

As the title says, these are my first attempts with my new d200 - thanks again jenno-. I've had it for 2 weeks, but with work, kids and christmas its been too busy to really take some time out, but i got an hour free this morning and here are my shots, i have made them black and white but thats pretty much all the work i did, although i adjusted the brightness and contrast a little, not much.

As this camera has no auto settings, i have loved having to think about my shots, eg lighting etc. But i forgot to really selct the focus settings, and as such these shots are a bit blurry....but i am pretty happy all up for my first shots!! lol

Thanks for looking,

here is my daughter gabby (5)



Here is my son nathan (just turned 3)

[Raskill]

I am more impressed you got a 3 year old to pose. I would have to use my paslode nailgun to keep mine still...

Your right about the focus, which detracts, more so in the second image. The first has an almost soft feel to it instead. Really try to shoot in manual mode. I know it may seem daunting, but it costs nothing, and you will learn so much more and be creative. I'm glad I found this site a few years ago and have learned to shoot almost exclusively in manual now (unless I'm feeling lazy).

Keep up the work, you should be happy with these. It's great to have the memories, not just of the kids, abut the fact you took the shots!

[Jenno]

Kristen
Try using the camera in Program mode until you get familiar with the camera - this mode selects the appropriate shutter and aperture for you allowing you to concentrate on getting used to positioning the focus point

[Marvin]

They are cute shots. They are a little dark on my monitor, particularly the second one. I would try to lighten it a bit. Do you have PS?

[aim54x]

They are cute shots. They are a little dark on my monitor

Glad your enjoying the D200

[bigsarg7]

Yeah i agree i think they are a tad dark too, i was on my laptop when i quickly touched up to send off to family......so yeah i will have a fiddle in photoshop and see what i can come up with.

I did use P but found the shutter to slow and each shot was really quite blurry (shakey hands) so i went to shutterspeed and thats what they turned out, but next time i will go to M for sure, then i can control the aperture as well.

I think the hardest part for me is adjusting to having more focus points, i got so used to 3 points on my old olympus, and now 11, too many choices, glad i didn't go for the newer cameras with 50 odd points!! lol

loving this camera!! and lens!!

[gstark]

While they are a tad dark, I would also be looking at how you've processed these. I think they could really do with a different contrast setting.

Right now they look a little as if the negs have been fogged. You didn't open the card slot door while it was loaded did you?

[Wink]

I'll start by saying i know very little in the scheme of things...
But i find shooting on either Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority to work well.
If your just starting out i suggest getting a copy of Understand Exposure by Bryan Peterson. It's a good book and it explains all about aperture settings, shutter settings and ISO settings and how they all relate to each other.