Advice for beginner w/new camera

[matpoh]

First off, I know basically nothing about photography. I allowed someone to talk me into being a yearbook sponsor for our local high school and I really wanted to learn more about InDesign CS2 and agreed. Students take the pictures and I sort/organize them and help lay out the book. Now that all the pictures are rolling in, I have found its hard to get good pics with some of the cameras they are using (basic point and shoot digital Canon A530's) The only pics that always look good are those shot by our local newspaper guy with his work camera. Even at times, I went to shoot some photos basically football games at night or basketball games indoors and I still got pics that were average at best. Either way too dark or blurry.

Anyway, I go to a local university surplus sale today and found a camera that looked pretty nice and had a lens so I picked it up and carry it around for a while trying to decide if I should get it and in the meantime, I had at least 6-7 people ask where I found it and if there were others. I figured with all these strangers asking me about it that it may be a good model. (Nikon D70 and the lens says AF-S Nikor 18-70mm) Again, I know nothing about photography. Its priced at $200 so I buy it and suddenly everything is way over my head.

Long story short is what are some good web-sites or books that will help me through all this confusion and explain it in simple terms. I know nothing about exposure, focal length, iso, apeture, etc.

Any help is much appreciated.

 

[PS-RagE]

You want this book and this ebook. You may also want to poke about at www.Nikonians.org

 

[bashPenguin]

First, I must say that is a steal for that camera, I paid $1200 for my D70 with the same lens two years ago.

Second, I second PS-RagE's recommendations. I have Peterson's Understanding Exposure book, and it is nifty. The first book I read about photography, though, was John Shaw's Nature Photography book.

 

[ShimmyT]

First off great camera, and a steal on the price! Thom Hogan's book is great (I'm reading the D200 one right now). Best piece of advice though, take lots of pictures! Everywhere you go take pictures! See what comes out good and what doesn't, then work from there. One of the nice things about the D70 it does have the auto settings that you can always fall back on while learning.

 

[matpoh]

I have been doing a bunch of reading on the web.

I was messing with the shutter speed last night and got some great pictures of our daughter jumping and taking the picture while she is in "mid-air"

If I understand correctly, is it apeture that is changed to make a subject in focus and the background blurred? Do I want that to be a higher or lower number?

 

[bashPenguin]

I have been doing a bunch of reading on the web.

I was messing with the shutter speed last night and got some great pictures of our daughter jumping and taking the picture while she is in "mid-air"

If I understand correctly, is it apeture that is changed to make a subject in focus and the background blurred? Do I want that to be a higher or lower number?

The primary purpose of aperture is to determine how much light can pass through the lens to the sensor/film. Aperture also controls depth of field. Depth of field means the distance in front of and behind a subject that is in focus.

Fast apertures are lower numbers. An aperture of 1.4 allows twice as much light through as an aperture of 2.0. Also, the lower the aperture number (the larger the aperture), the shallower the depth of field you can obtain. So if you want to make everything else appear out of focus except for basically the subject, you use a faster aperture.

Also, aperture and shutter speed share a relationship. If ISO is unchanged, and you increase aperture (decrease available light to the sensor), you have to decrease shutter speed to get the same exposure (light level). If you shot a picture at 1/500 shutter speed at F/2.8, that's the same light exposure as 1/250 shutter speed at F/4.0.

Fast apertures are obviously useful in lowlight conditions, where you have to maximize the shutter speed you can shoot at. Lenses like the 80-200/2.8 are expensive because they can provide a constant F/2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range of the lens.

Also...your choice of aperture is a creative decision. There's no 'right' aperture or shutter speed, unless you unintentionally end up with overexposed or underexposed pictures.

 

[Kevlarman]

Great post penguin!

The primary purpose of aperture is to determine how much light can pass through the lens to the sensor/film. Aperture also controls depth of field. Depth of field means the distance in front of and behind a subject that is in focus.

Fast apertures are lower numbers. An aperture of 1.4 allows twice as much light through as an aperture of 2.0. Also, the lower the aperture number (the larger the aperture), the shallower the depth of field you can obtain. So if you want to make everything else appear out of focus except for basically the subject, you use a faster aperture.

Also, aperture and shutter speed share a relationship. If ISO is unchanged, and you increase aperture (decrease available light to the sensor), you have to decrease shutter speed to get the same exposure (light level). If you shot a picture at 1/500 shutter speed at F/2.8, that's the same light exposure as 1/250 shutter speed at F/4.0.

Fast apertures are obviously useful in lowlight conditions, where you have to maximize the shutter speed you can shoot at. Lenses like the 80-200/2.8 are expensive because they can provide a constant F/2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range of the lens.

Also...your choice of aperture is a creative decision. There's no 'right' aperture or shutter speed, unless you unintentionally end up with overexposed or underexposed pictures.

 

[Joves]

You got one halluave deal on that. First you need to use the A mode, which is Apature priority. You can change the apaturue with the command dial on the right backside of the camera. Remeber hig nubers more depth of field. If it is action the it is high ISO fast shutter speed to stop action.The ISO can be found in the menu and shutter spped is adjustale in the S mode on the dial. The thing is with photography is expeimentation. You can try and see what works and what doesnt. Ols school is to use a notebook and write down your settings and, try it out. If it is no good then avoid it, if it looks great note it and, use it for that situation. That is how I learned.

 

[Zepher]

That is a helluva price for that camera. Why was it so cheap?

here are 2 example shots I took in the past::
Low F/stop number, 50mm @ f/1.4

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS 10D
Image Date: 2007:03:16 19:46:52
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 50.0mm
Exposure Time: 0.077 s (1/13)
Aperture: f/1.4
ISO equiv: 800
Metering Mode: Center Weight
Exposure: Manual


and here is one of fast moving action without actually stopping the motion (too fast of a shutter will make the car look like it's sitting still)

Camera Make: Canon
Camera Model: Canon EOS D60
Image Date: 2006:05:20 12:49:39
Flash Used: No
Focal Length: 91.0mm
CCD Width: 5.90mm
Exposure Time: 0.0080 s (1/125)
Aperture: f/16.0
ISO equiv: 100
Exposure Bias: 0.50
White Balance: Auto

Oh, and don't dis the Point and Shoot cameras since you can get great shots with them as well.
These 2 were taken with my old Kodak DC260&290 that came out in 97 & 99 I believe.

 

[matpoh]

I have been tinkering with the camera and found a couple modes where the camera chooses the apeture and exposure but lets me set the shutter speed etc. I am going to take some pictures this afternoon at a local golf tournament. I will try and post some sample pics later.

I got the camera cheap at a university sale. They have a sale every week and there is a huge variety of items they have for sale. They set a price on the items and first person to tear off the price tag claims the item. There is about 75-100 people each week waiting in line for them to open. Problem is they have so much stuff and few employees so they dont spend a lot of time deciding what the price should be. If an item doesn't sell one week, they cut the price in half and hope it sells the following week. We usually look at just the computer and video stuff. Last week, I bought a Mitsubishi 2000 lumen projector (no bulb) for $20. A friend bought four G4 Titanium Mac laptops for $20 each. He is getting about $350 each off ebay.