Who here is into Photography?

[philter4]

Wow, more great photos. I love the silhouette photos the best, especially the ducks on the tree!!! Thanks for posting them.

 

[dkvart1]

Mike, sorry, somehow missed your photos... beautiful!

 

[babyrnlc]

I need the advice from all you more experienced photographers. We are going on a cruise. We leave Monday from LA port, go to Catalina island where we will go on a dolphin watching excursion, then to Ensenada Mexico where we will see the Bufadora (a natural sea guiser)

Which lens should I bring/use. I have a Nikon 50mm/1.8 (my favorite for pictures of my kids etc) .I also have Nikon 18-200 3.5-5.6 vr. I have a Nikon 18-55 3.5-5.6 vr, and a nikon 55-200 4.5-5.6

I would prefer not to change lens, while we are out and about. I would actually like to just carry the camera and case, with the lens that is on and leave the other lens in the cabin.

I know I will need speed for the dolphins, but I may need the telephoto depending how close they get.

Also which setting do you think I need for the different situations? I just got my d90 and I am not solid on it yet. It seems to be a little different than my d50.

I am leaning to my 18-200, but wanted some pro advice

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

18-200

Iso 400

WB on Auto unless you shoot RAW then it doesnt matter much, or set to 5000K on either Nikon Body. Nikons auto WB works pretty well.

Shutter Priorty is fairly easy for folks to grasp and what I recommend to start out at. Adjust your shutter speed no lower then the focal length is a rule of thumb for average pictures. Just use exposure compensation to tweak what the meter and histogram tells you.

Use Continuous focus for things on the move, Single point for static stuff <----unless you are panning etc.

ADR on low

 

[Sebrightmom]

Here are some of my sky pictures. I took these 7/09 They are not editted.

 

[TomG]

Quote:
I agree with Two Creeks, bring the 18-200. I would also bring along the 50mm 1.8 to use inside the cruise ship. It isn't very big and you could leave it in the cabin during the day.

 

[babyrnlc]

Quote:
I agree with Two Creeks, bring the 18-200. I would also bring along the 50mm 1.8 to use inside the cruise ship. It isn't very big and you could leave it in the cabin during the day.

Thank you guys. That was what I was leaning towards. So you think I should just leave the others at home. I was going to bring them but keep them in the cabin, but I cant think of when I would use them anyway.

I dont shoot raw, not yet anyway. So if I set it to shutter priority, does the wb stay auto if you are in shutter priority? I have not changed any of the factory defalts for this camera. I am still trying to get used to it.

Sorry I am so clueless, my skill is not photography, it is editing pictures after the fact. I can take a bad photo and fix it lol, but it would be nice to not have to edit so much! (I am editing less and less)

 

[Two Creeks Farm]

If you like edit work, then get yourself shooting Raw or atleast RAW & Jpeg. I use 16gb cards at events and more then one time, having a RAW file has meant the difference between selling an image and not due to being able to save it.

Get your manual out....it is the single best thing you can do. I get asked so many questions when people see that i am a Professional and usually the first question I ask them if they have their manual or have read it! Ive been a shooter for over 20 years, and I still use my manuals! Your WB once set to auto will remain there regardless of what mode you shoot in. With RAW, no WB is assigned so you can set it in post workflow.

If it were me, I would have the 18-200 on pretty much the entire time. On the D50 and D90, your 50mm actually shoots more like an 85mm due to the cameras crop (1.4 or 1.6 on those models I believe) If you need an extra 2 stops of light, run the ISO up. They will shoot clean to well past 1600 ISO so having the 1.8 with you at all times isnt really going to benefit you UNLESS you want to do some very shallow DOF type stuff.

 

[babyrnlc]

Quote:
Thank you so much! I have been reading my manual, but nowhere near finished. I just got it in April. I love the DOF stuff, but not for vacation I think.

I am getting excited. I just dont want to miss some great shot of a dolphin jumping out of the water because I had my settings wrong!

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
Thank you so much! I have been reading my manual, but nowhere near finished. I just got it in April. I love the DOF stuff, but not for vacation I think.

I am getting excited. I just dont want to miss some great shot of a dolphin jumping out of the water because I had my settings wrong!

I really like the D?? for dummy's books. There is one on most nikon D cameras and it seems easier to understand then the manual.