# Pictures from my new camera!



## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

So I've been playing around with my new Nikon D5100 and here are some pictures I took! Sorry, I never had to resize files before, so I am still figuring that out. I never had a "big" camera with a lense that needs to be attached before, so it is all new to me. I was pleasantly surprized at how well it takes pictures in low light, as my house tends to be dark and the picture of my boys was taken at dusk, and the lighting looks like it was taken in the middle of the day. The settings I used were auto, (boys) portrait, (violin) flower, (color select) and no flash, (Hanna). Poor Hanna, she had to wait until I figured out how to turn the flash off, but she was very good at blinking right when it went off so I'm not too concerned about her eyes.

The camera seems to be focused on some areas and blurry in others, depending on depth. Is there a way to make it focused on everything, or is that just the nature of the camera?

Thanks to everyone who has helped me!


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## Ruth4Havs (May 13, 2013)

nice camera! my brother is into photography and good patience, Hanna!


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

The lower the light level, the more the lens has to open up. The more the lens opens up, the shorter the depth of field gets. Photography is always a compromise of factors. At least cameras these days figure it out automatically for you. When I started back in the '60s, everything was manual, including focus, and the photographer had to decide on how to balance all the factors. The only way to get everything in focus on one plane is to use a view camera like Ansel Adams did.


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## atsilvers27 (Jul 5, 2011)

Tom King said:


> The lower the light level, the more the lens has to open up. The more the lens opens, the shorter the depth of field gets. Photography is always a compromise of facts. At least cameras these days figure it out automatically for you. When I started back in the '60s, everything was manual, including focus, and the photographer had to decide on how to balance all the factors. The only way to get everything in focus on one plane is to use a view camera like Ansel Adams did.


I remember learning about early photography in middle school. My teacher showed us some old black and whites, and I remember wondering what was so special about the photos and the "talented" photographer, they seemed normal. Then she explained that he had to manipulate the camera manually and nothing was auto, then carefully develop the pictures. Definitely have respect for early photography.


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## Suzi (Oct 27, 2010)

Those are very nice. I took three years of photography in college but I don't remember much. The new equipment makes taking a picture so much easier. It still would be fun to learn more about digital and try taking photos manually.Have you tried a video yet? For some reason mine stopped working. I'm thinking either I have used up to much memory on the card or my computer?


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## jabojenny (Sep 18, 2011)

The photos look great, there aren't any blowouts or under exposures. As Tom said photography is a compomise of factors. The larger the number of your aperture the smaller the lens opening thus a larger depth of field, and less light entering the lens. I'm not sure how Nikons work, I'm a Canon girl, but if you find yourself needing a larger depth of field and still want to shoot without a flash you could increase your ISO. In the beginning I did a lot of "study" work, same subjects but changes in aperture and ISO. Oh and then there's also shutter speed... There is a great site clickinmoms.com great forum and awesome online classes. You have to pay for membership but I think it's well worth it. Flickr also has some great groups for feedback on your shots and questions too. Check out dpreview.com too. Photography is so addicting and you have two beautiful boys and pretty Hannah to practice on! If you need non moving subjects flowers are always a good choice unless the wind is blowing!


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

atsilvers27 said:


> I remember learning about early photography in middle school. My teacher showed us some old black and whites, and I remember wondering what was so special about the photos and the "talented" photographer, they seemed normal. Then she explained that he had to manipulate the camera manually and nothing was auto, then carefully develop the pictures. Definitely have respect for early photography.


What Tom said about how wide the lens has to open in low light (the F-stop) is true. However, the newer dslr's do remarkably well at higher ISO's, and a higher ISO, will allow you to use a smaller aperture (F-stop) for a greater depth of field. When you are taking close up photos of something, though, like the violin and flower shots, it's really impossible to get focus throughout without blending multiple shots in special software. Ansel Adams was primarily a landscape photographer, and while he was a master, and used very specialized cameras, even he couldn't get back-to-front focus on that flower. 

I happen to like limited depth of field photos, as long as SOME part of the photo is sharp. For just getting started, these are great!


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