Photog help!

[settles]

[Ok I thought we had a photography section but don't see it ]

I have a question if anyone could help me I would love you for ever

I am a very very new photographer and really only taking pictures for fun right now.
I have taken one class with a local photographer and still plan to take atleast one more. (The first class was the basics, getting to know my camera. Btw I have a Nikon D90)

Ok my question is:

Can anyone give me pointers or suggestion on using my aperture setting, I feel great when I use the setting on a low number when shooting landscape, the pic comes out just like I want. (Focus on one area, more of a blur on another)

I have noticed however when I am taking a picture of a person(s) it is very hard for me to get that same affect.

Am I do something wrong or is there a trick anyone can share with me

(I hope I have used the right terms and explained this well, like I said I am very new!)

[settles]

[Carrielh]

I'm not familiar with Nikons, but the lower your aperture which is how you get more blur or bokeh is because of the shallower DOF (depth of field). That also makes it harder for beginners because you need to be spot on with your focus on your subject. Can you toggle focus points on a D90?

I probably just totally confused you even more. I would bump your aperture up a bit more to work on focus and then ease back down. Can you post a pic of an example that would help me/us know exactly where the problem is.

[eghamilt]

what kind of lens do you have?

Here is a pretty decent article with easy to understand tips to help you out!

http://digital-photography-school.co...digital-photos

[ArtsyBelle]

Originally Posted by Carrielh I'm not familiar with Nikons, but the lower your aperture which is how you get more blur or bokeh is because of the shallower DOF (depth of field). That also makes it harder for beginners because you need to be spot on with your focus on your subject. Can you toggle focus points on a D90? I probably just totally confused you even more. I would bump your aperture up a bit more to work on focus and then ease back down. Can you post a pic of an example that would help me/us know exactly where the problem is.

What she said. And yes to the bolded. You can do that on all Nikon SLRs.

For portraits, I always use the widest aperture possible (smallest number) to get the shallowest depth of field. It blurs the background nicely to really define the subject. Depending on what lens you have, your widest aperture should be somewhere between f-2.8 and f-4. Also, using longer focal lengths (if you have a zoom lens, zooming it all the way in) and getting closer to your subject can also narrow the depth of field to give you more of the blur you want.

[settles]

Originally Posted by eghamilt what kind of lens do you have? Here is a pretty decent article with easy to understand tips to help you out! http://digital-photography-school.co...digital-photos

We have the lens that came with it: 18-105mm
That link looks great as soon as we eat dinner I am going to check it out, thanks!

Originally Posted by ArtsyBelle What she said. And yes to the bolded. You can do that on all Nikon SLRs. For portraits, I always use the widest aperture possible (smallest number) to get the shallowest depth of field. It blurs the background nicely to really define the subject. Depending on what lens you have, your widest aperture should be somewhere between f-2.8 and f-4. Also, using longer focal lengths (if you have a zoom lens, zooming it all the way in) and getting closer to your subject can also narrow the depth of field to give you more of the blur you want.

Ok so how do i toggle the focus point, im pretty sure I do know how to do this, but it seems like you can only do this when you have it on "live view" am i doing something wrong?

Carrie- My first lesson we did go over depth of field but like i said i have only used my camera a few times to actually practice!

Here are a few pics I have taken:

Practicing different aperture's...




Yesterday I took some pics of Raena (coloradokitkat) and tried changing up the apeture but wasn't about to the get the "blur".... her pictures are the only ones I have of a person and i don't want to post those w/out her permission.

[Carrielh]

YOu should be able to do it without live view. I have a canon, but the button is on the right upper corner of the back and it is a square with 5 dots making a cross i guess you would say. I push that and then with my dial look in the view finder and choose which focal point I want.

The DOF isn't as blurry/have as much bokeh in the first because of all the people being in different places in the frame but all being relatively close to each other depth wise. The other's look more like you want because because of how far the bush is in the background.

You said that you had the 18-105, which from googling looks like the smallest aperture you have is 3.5?? That will give you some bokeh, but if you want to really get some nice bokeh get a lens with an aperture that goes down to 1.8, like the "nifty fifty". Which both canon and nikon make for a little over $100 and a great addition to step away from kit lenses. I still use my 50 mm 1.8 quite a lot, great lens for the price!!!

A fun website for photography and a lot of other things is thepioneerwoman.com . She has a lot of great tutorials and how-to's for beginners and she really goes in depth and step by step with her instructions.

[coloradokitkat]

Originally Posted by settles Yesterday I took some pics of Raena (coloradokitkat) and tried changing up the apeture but wasn't about to the get the "blur".... her pictures are the only ones I have of a person and i don't want to post those w/out her permission.

you can post which ever ones you want to girly. I'm not completely naked in any of them so whatever. I'm going to post my edited ones later anyways

[ArtsyBelle]

From your example photos, it looks like you're doing all the right things. Just keep practicing. I'll have to get my camera out and look how to change the focus points. You could probably look it up on Nikon's website or something if you can't figure it out.

[settles]

Originally Posted by Carrielh YOu should be able to do it without live view. I have a canon, but the button is on the right upper corner of the back and it is a square with 5 dots making a cross i guess you would say. I push that and then with my dial look in the view finder and choose which focal point I want. The DOF isn't as blurry/have as much bokeh in the first because of all the people being in different places in the frame but all being relatively close to each other depth wise. The other's look more like you want because because of how far the bush is in the background. You said that you had the 18-105, which from googling looks like the smallest aperture you have is 3.5?? That will give you some bokeh, but if you want to really get some nice bokeh get a lens with an aperture that goes down to 1.8, like the "nifty fifty". Which both canon and nikon make for a little over $100 and a great addition to step away from kit lenses. I still use my 50 mm 1.8 quite a lot, great lens for the price!!! A fun website for photography and a lot of other things is thepioneerwoman.com . She has a lot of great tutorials and how-to's for beginners and she really goes in depth and step by step with her instructions.

Thanks Carrie, we are going to get another lens here soon! I wanted to make sure i could figure the camera out first
Thanks for the website, I will look into it also.
I looked in my book and I have a focus lock. When I am in live view I can take the focus lock off and can make the focus point (by moving the red square on the screen to what I want to focus) But I dont think I can do this (well not that i have figured out) when not using live view.
I dont have a stand yet for my camera so i am really not using live view at all b/c my hand is too shaky that way.

Originally Posted by coloradokitkat you can post which ever ones you want to girly. I'm not completely naked in any of them so whatever. I'm going to post my edited ones later anyways

thanks!

Originally Posted by ArtsyBelle From your example photos, it looks like you're doing all the right things. Just keep practicing. I'll have to get my camera out and look how to change the focus points. You could probably look it up on Nikon's website or something if you can't figure it out.

thanks.. practice practice practice!