[Blue Bomber]

Just got a Nikon D90 yesterday with the 18-105mm VR kit lens. Not much to take pics of right now, so I took a few of my bird and dog. Here are my favorites:

The rest of the album:
http://s262.photobucket.com/albums/ii87/BlueBomberGTS/Nikon D90 - 01-12-10/

These were processed with Nikon's RAW editing software (still haven't gotten the hang of customizable WB), then noise reduced (taken at ISO 1600), resized, and sharpened back up in PS.

I've been using digital cameras and cameras in general for about a decade now, some point and shoot, some with manual controls, but this is my first DSLR. I can't even begin to describe the difference in quality! It's beyond even what I was expecting after going through hundreds of reviews and sample photos. Not to mention the flexibility and exceptional speed of the camera's software and hardware. Even at ISO 1600, there was minimal noise, way less noise than ISO 100 on my previous camera (Panasonic DMC-TZ5). My days of being disappointed by grainy, muddled pics are over!

More pics to come!



UPDATE: Pics added 1/25/10:
http://newcelica.org/forums/showpost.php?p=4931697&postcount=13

 

[mrluilou]

D90 has a good rep with high iso performance. what format do you shoot in? jpeg?

 

[Blue Bomber]

NEF/RAW right now until I become confident enough to shoot straight to JPG.

 

[mrluilou]

well if you like customizing your WB then you should stay w/ Raw, that's what i do

 

[Blue Bomber]

Yup, I was messing with the presets and they were all pretty bad under CFL bulbs. Most pics came out too yellow, but that's better than the red that the other presets had. The D90 also has color temperature WB beyond the standard stuff, and you can go even further by manually tweaking any preset (blue/red, green/magenta), but I didn't have the patience to go into that tonight.

 

[garin]

go jpeag raw! i am a canon person, however i must say the nikons are not terrible at all.

 

[Jintei]

why is there a crack on its beak? poor bird.

 

[~02SpecelicaGT~]

great shots blue bomber...the bird looks sharp! If you have a yahoo email account, I suggest setting up a Flickr account where you can upload your pics for free I have one and its awesome.

 

[Ervino]

i like the third shot of the bird :thumbup:

 

[Zero]

You've got nice finger nails, Chris. :chuckles:
Nice shots.

 

[Blue Bomber]

Thanks for the comments, everyone!

why is there a crack on its beak? poor bird.

Don't worry, it's just molting. Birds' beaks are like our fingernails and hair, constantly growing. The front tip gets worn down by the bird cleaning and sharpening it against its perch, but the sides don't usually get that, so they just shed as they grow.

great shots blue bomber...the bird looks sharp! If you have a yahoo email account, I suggest setting up a Flickr account where you can upload your pics for free I have one and its awesome.

Yup, I'll be doing that soon. Been reading some forums there, too.

You've got nice finger nails, Chris. :chuckles:

:wiggle:

 

[kaminaricelica7]

wow, that third shot is really nice. very clear...expensive bird too haha

 

[Blue Bomber]

Some pics I took this weekend at my friend's shop:

D90, 18-105mm kit lens, ISO 200. They're all HDR, created from -2, 0, and +2 exposures, corrected in Nikon's RAW editor, merged in Photomatix (with Blend Exposures, not Generate HDR), and resized and sharpened in PS.

The only one that was altered from the original was the shot of the rear tail light. There were some water spots here and there, and the background was almost completely gray to start with, so I helped it along a bit.

 

[Zero]

Post some full shots!
I love bugs. My friend's got a clean silver one that I've been drooling over since high school. I heard he was looking to sell it too.

 

[Blue Bomber]

I've got some full exterior shots, but the backgrounds and angles are pretty bad considering the location (lotsa beat up/parts cars around).

 

[Zero]

but the backgrounds and angles are pretty bad considering the location (lotsa beat up/parts cars around)

I love walking around junk yards.
I guess if you feel it's not artsy enough, then you don't have to post them. :marky:
:chuckles:

I wonder if I can take my camera to a junkyard.

 

[Blue Bomber]

If it was a junkyard, it would be cool. It's just basically an alley with some misc cars that need work. I'll post pics from the reject pile tonight.

BTW, just got an SB-200 flash, and a 35mm 1.8 is in the mail. Both are extremely welcomed, since I took the pics of the bird with ambient lighting only. It'll be much easier now.

 

[Blue Bomber]

Here are the other two salvageable shots, also HDRs:

 

[Zero]

Very nice Beetle! :drool:
I'm fond of them with eyelids.
The first full shot was pretty good. I see a 1st gen and what looks to be an early 90's Camry.

BTW, just got an SB-200 flash, and a 35mm 1.8 is in the mail.

Nice! Can't wait to see the resulting shots.

 

[Blue Bomber]

Fiiiinaly got a chance to go to a meet here in FL. It was stupid hot, almost 100 degrees. Here are a few of my faves from the day:

About 80 more pics on my new photoblog:
http://chrisfiorephotography.wordpress.com/

Previously, I had been using Nikon's Capture NX2 RAW processing program, but I decided to try PS CS5's Adobe Camera Raw, and I can't believe how much more flexible it is. They both have similar features, but ACR definitely gets my pics the way I want them. I only use PS to resize and sharpen the final pics. Everything else I need, short of removing things from pics (like the person and foreground pole in the yellow Supra shot), can be done in ACR.