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Old 03-18-2015, 05:39 PM
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Icho Icho is offline
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Getting into manual mode for the first time.

Hello everyone. My wife has been wanting a better camera for a while and considering getting into photography so since Target Canada is going out of business they had 30% off of all cameras so I figured this was a good time to go for it. I couldn't say no since getting a good camera is her idea, it would be a bonus for me (taking pics of Knives) and I have some expensive hobbies. Well anyway we picked up a Nikon D3200 and so far I am happy with it. This is my first time getting out auto mode other than going into macro on my cell phone. I watched some YouTube videos and did some reading online and am very slowly starting to get some of the photography lingo but I am still for the most part lost. I was messing with settings just to get an idea of what happens if I do this and that. I got everything from a black picture with a slight reflection of the top of the bolster to the picture below. I have one of those fold away photo studio light boxes and for light I was using a 1600 lumen incandescent bulb. So far my pics are better with my cell phone in macro mode but my guess is that my overall settings and set up are about 90% wrong so any tips or pointers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.


Photo Specs

Nikon D3200
Lense: VR 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G
Focal Length:45mm
Focus Mode: manual
Aperture:f/7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/20s
ISO 400
White Balance: auto


Last edited by Icho; 03-18-2015 at 05:58 PM.
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Old 10-08-2015, 10:10 PM
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Buddy Thomason Buddy Thomason is offline
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Location: Colorado
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That's not bad at all. You accurately captured the knife and the only real flaw is the unwanted reflection across the top.
With shiny objects you'll always have to figure out where such reflections are coming from and adjust the knife and/or the lights and placement of your diffusion layer so that nothing but that bright white diffuse light is reflected back at you. So 'messing around' is exactly the way to figure it out.
Shooting in manual is a great goal because in order to do it quickly and easily you have to have learned how 3 main variables interact with each other. Those are lens aperture (f number), shutter speed (in fractions of a second), and ISO (amps up the digital sensor to gather in more light in darker situations).
Manual mode gives you more control so you can adjust those 3 parameters and make the camera produce the image you see and want to capture.
Modern cameras can easily take great pictures in full auto "I don't care how it works" mode. However, manual gives you much more creative control and will allow you to get a usable picture in lousy light or weather or distracting chaos that can conspire to exceed the auto parameters. For example, wedding photographers, photojournalists and sports photographers all put a premium on being able to 'get the shot' under pressure. You would think auto would be better but in reality photographers who are shooting a lot quickly learn that you can't always trust a camera's auto mode to give you a usable image - especially in rapidly changing light or other dynamic situations. I think I'm repeating myself now.
Anyway, you'll be a whiz at it in no time if you keep a camera close every day and make yourself use it.


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Old 07-05-2016, 01:50 PM
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Icho Icho is offline
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Hey Buddy. Sorry I didn't get back sooner. I haven't been around as much as I'd like. Thanks for the tips. I've been using a small light box that I picked up on amazon. The lights are not very good and it is hard to keep the reflections of the corners of the light box, camera and the walls out of the picture all at the same time. I am planning to hang a white sheet and get some better lighting so I have lots of room to move the object/knife around without having to worry so much about the unwanted reflections. I will even post a picture of the setup when I get to it but honestly it will probably be a while before I get to it. The good thing is I may be making a photography room in the basement since my wife is interested in photography and that is a great "gift for her". For now I will keep messing around with the settings. Thanks again Buddy
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