August 9, 2011: Just purchased my first DSLR, a previously-owned Nikon D90 with a Tamron 18-270mm lens from my friend Keith (Colorado/Pullman, WA). It arrived yesterday and I am feeling excited, anxious and frustrated all at the same time. This experience is going to be a huge learning curve. The one thing I've learned so far is that my previous [point-and-shoot] camera did all the work for me - all I had to contribute was my eye and timing. With this camera I am going to have to do all the work!! Not sure how much I like that - I am basically resistant to change and resistant to having to work too hard at something - but if I can eventually improve the quality of my photos, I guess it will all be worth it.
It took a while, but I finally figured out how to turn on the LCD screen (duh!) and then figure out that I can't use the LCD screen and the viewfinder at the same time (duh!) and then figure out that the viewfinder may actually be the better choice. And this enlightenment came to someone who has spent their entire digital experience using the LCD screen exclusively! Yikes!
And all this was in autofocus too - I can see it taking a very l-o-n-g time to figure out the various manual modes!!
I did switch it into manual mode at one point - the shot is too dark because I haven't a clue yet how to change ISO, aperture, etc.
However, all the autofocus shots I took (about 20 of them) came out way too light! That dark manual mode shot turned out to be the only salvageable shot I took this morning. Not that it's any good, but I felt I should keep ONE of my first attempts at least:
August 10, 2011: Did some reading last night and cleared up a couple of puzzlements. Took some more shots this morning:
To be continued! This saga will be on-going, for a very long time...
