Ahhhhh, Carolina in the springtime
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Joined: Aug 2004
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From: Cary, NC
Thanks to everyone for the kind words.
Those shots were taken with a Nikon D70 with the "kit lens" (18-70mm f3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor). This lens gets good reviews in the many online write-ups I've read. My (limited) first-hand experience so far backs up these reviews. Great lens for the money (particularly at the lower "bundle price" and with the recent rebate offers).
I'm very pleased with this camera/lens combo so far. Other than some (very minor) exposure correction in Photoshop, those colors are straight out of the camera.
I was shooting in "aperture priority" mode. So, I set the aperture (and ISO) manually, set the zoom manually, and let the camera do everything else. The D70 lets you adjust most (if not all) settings manually, but I let it handle most things (such as exposure and white balance). I use aperture priority almost exclusively, because then I can completely control depth-of-field.
The gory details (if anyone is interested):
Tree:
shutter -- 1/320 sec
aperture -- f/10
zoom -- 18mm
ISO -- 200
Wide angle to emphasize the tree trunk (which had great lighting on it). Small aperture to increase depth-of-field so that everything is in focus.
Flowers:
shutter -- 1/2000 sec
aperture -- f/4.5
zoom -- 70mm
ISO -- 200
Max zoom and large aperture to emphasize the closest flowers and blur out everything else. The kit lens has a close focusing distance of 1.25 feet, so you can get pretty close to your subject and zoom all the way in to get good close-ups.
Bird:
shutter -- 1/320 sec
aperture -- f/4.5
zoom -- 70mm
ISO -- 200
The bird was actually not that close and I needed a more powerful zoom. So, I just did the best I could and then zoomed it in Photoshop. That is, the original pic has a lot more of the surrounding tree, which distracts your attention from the bird. Again, I used a large aperture to get shallow depth-of-field to emphasize the subject and de-emphasize the surrounding branches, leaves, etc.
Okay. I've babbled on long enough. Soon, you will learn not to encourage me.
Those shots were taken with a Nikon D70 with the "kit lens" (18-70mm f3.5-4.5G ED-IF AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor). This lens gets good reviews in the many online write-ups I've read. My (limited) first-hand experience so far backs up these reviews. Great lens for the money (particularly at the lower "bundle price" and with the recent rebate offers).
I'm very pleased with this camera/lens combo so far. Other than some (very minor) exposure correction in Photoshop, those colors are straight out of the camera.
I was shooting in "aperture priority" mode. So, I set the aperture (and ISO) manually, set the zoom manually, and let the camera do everything else. The D70 lets you adjust most (if not all) settings manually, but I let it handle most things (such as exposure and white balance). I use aperture priority almost exclusively, because then I can completely control depth-of-field.
The gory details (if anyone is interested):
Tree:
shutter -- 1/320 sec
aperture -- f/10
zoom -- 18mm
ISO -- 200
Wide angle to emphasize the tree trunk (which had great lighting on it). Small aperture to increase depth-of-field so that everything is in focus.
Flowers:
shutter -- 1/2000 sec
aperture -- f/4.5
zoom -- 70mm
ISO -- 200
Max zoom and large aperture to emphasize the closest flowers and blur out everything else. The kit lens has a close focusing distance of 1.25 feet, so you can get pretty close to your subject and zoom all the way in to get good close-ups.
Bird:
shutter -- 1/320 sec
aperture -- f/4.5
zoom -- 70mm
ISO -- 200
The bird was actually not that close and I needed a more powerful zoom. So, I just did the best I could and then zoomed it in Photoshop. That is, the original pic has a lot more of the surrounding tree, which distracts your attention from the bird. Again, I used a large aperture to get shallow depth-of-field to emphasize the subject and de-emphasize the surrounding branches, leaves, etc.
Okay. I've babbled on long enough. Soon, you will learn not to encourage me.