I am new to this site as of last night. I decided to join up while participating in the Grand Experiment known as the live "radio" broadcast. As far as photography goes, I originally got interested back in high school when I would take pictures of my Rugby team when the 'A' squad would compete in tournaments. I would go to support, since I was 'B' squad, and take pictures. Later in college, I got the opportunity to get one photo published when I stood in for a friend's regular photographer while he was covering the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Men's Soccer Championship. It pretty much ended there until I went to WDW last September. I went armed with my Canon Powershot S70 and really wasn't happy with the photos I got. So, for Christmas last year, my wife got me the Nikon D80. I'm still trying to get the hang of it and am still not happy with the pictures I'm getting. I'm really trying to get comfortable with the proper setting to handle variable lighting conditions where the flash won't suffice. That's why I'm glad I found a site like this. My primary goal is to use my camera to take pictures at Disney. My first experimental run will be at Disneyland during the last week of June. Hopefully, I'll be able to learn from my mistakes before I take the big trip to WDW in September of this year.
Hi, Harra! This link will give you an idea how to set up your camera and then you can adjust to your liking. Enjoy! I love my D70. Online D80 User Guide
Thanks Scott! This is a perfect example of what I meant when I said that I'm glad I found this site. I have bookmarked the site you gave me
Another reason I'm glad I found this site... For the first time after reading posts and articles on this site, I'm starting to understand the correlation between shutter speed and F-Stops. So, I went to the construction site known as my future how, and for the first time was able to get some halfway decent shots of the inside of the house even when an open window was in the background. Before, all i'd get was a giant block of bright light where the window was and everything else was dark. Thanks!
the instruction manual is your best friend, i'm still reviewing mine, and don't be afraid to experiment, that's the best thing about digital, by methodically experimenting with iso, shutter speeds and aperture you can really speed up your learning curve, to the point where after enough photos in enough different conditions you start to get an intuitive feel for where to at least start the settings
And with the link Scott posted I quickly found how to quickly "reset" the Nikon D80 to help me recover from my experimentation.
