Unexpected new daugther & first time using DSLR
Hello ^^
I bought this sweet custom DDH-01 head by artist D&Z on Yahoo JP Auctions about a month ago and finally just received her today. I put her on a body and got her dressed up for some "welcome" pictures! I didn't choose a name for her yet though, does she look like a Haru or Mikoto to you maybe? Or perhaps a Nanoha? (guess what anime I have been watching lately? ^^) I'm not sure yet hehe.
It's also the first time I get to use my boyfriend's new camera, a Nikon D40. DSLR is pretty complicated to use the first time, but I hope to learn and get better at it. DSLR cameras are very VERY heavy, I realized it's near impossible to take steady shots without a tripod. I never needed a tripod with my regular digital camera. Anybody can recommend a good tripod model for a heavy DSLR?
Edit : Well actually I have a Nikon D40x, not sure what the difference is besides some more megapixels? lol. The manual says D40 which is what got me confused, but the camera is a D40x ^^"
Here she is in person. She is so sweet and beautiful. The sanding work is extremely well made and perfectly smooth, I am very impressed and pleased with artist D&Z's work. Looks like airbrush was used for smaller details of the faceup like painting the cute mouth.
This was the artist's sample picture of the custom head. It was my first time buying a custom head so I was a bit worried how it would look like in person. I'm now happy to say she looks just like the sample picture if not even better!
Here you can see the custom resin eyes from the inside. They are surprisingly very very thin, I can see light pass through them when the headcap is not on. The pupils are hand painted on then covered with clear resin. It's very cute how the artist identified which one is right and which one is left ^^
The 2 pics above were actually taken by my bf, now here are some of my first DSLR pics ever. Please bear with me, I am just starting to learn this advanced photography stuff today. The pics are very repetitive since I was testing the cam and trying to get "something" (as in something half decent and not too blurry ^^)
It would have helped if I waited for some nice daylight but I was too excited to take pics of her as soon as possible XD. Isn't she adorable in this Volks dress? She's on a MDD body for now, but I might put her on a taller body next time.
Peeping through the little hole to focus before taking the pics really hurt my eye after a while O_=. Does it hurt your eye too? I feel tension from squinting too hard or something.
This pic turned out too yellowish (looks like she is watching a sunset maybe?), but I think I got some "bokeh" effect kinda sorta going on (or maybe not?) ^^"
It's really kawaii Chibi!
About Photography stuff, recently got a DSRL camera too, a nikon D5000. Mine is not as heavy as my brothers (D300) was glad about that because when you put on a 200-300 lens then it gets heavy! I'm also learning, what I did is to read several photography tutorials with tips, to learn how to do the "artistic blurry" pictures, and how to adjust the f and shutter speed, it'a about practicing, just go out and take 400 shots until you find the trick xD.
Ha! You got a D5k too?
yes!! I'm very happy with it xD
nice ! as for the yellowy colour it might be uir camera's white balance =/
Yes, I thought it can be something like that (that or there was just not much light which is also possible ^^). I will search in the manual for white balance, thanks for the tip!
What kind of lens are you using? If this is your first DSLR I suppose you're using the classical 18-55 f3.5/4.5 lens, nota bad lens however if you want to spend a little money I suggest you to buy as soon as you can a 17-80 f2.8/4.5 in order to shoot with faster times even in low light condition.
By now you can compensate with higher ISO settings (800 or even above, it depends on your camera).
White balance is one of the first things to learn since I never find satisfying AWB settings.
You should learn to do "manual" WB by shooting first on a white sheet of paper, you instruction manual sure can teach you how to do so.
If you want a lens dedicated to the close-ups please buy as soon as you can a 35mm f/2.0 it's simply amazing the result you can get with that lens even if you loose the zoom, however I find 35mm a lenght you can use almost everywhere if you adapt yourself a little.
BTW I own a Canon 40D
Wow that sure sounds like tons of good advice here, thanks a bunch! Will look all this stuff up! ^^
You're welcome, I'm a beginner too but if you surf the internet you will find a bunch of great infos.
Last advice: the first thing you have to understand is the relationship between aperture-depth of field-exposition time, Wiki should be able to help you at least to understand the basics.
Once you understand this the rest is up to you!
And don't forget to read the RAW-shooting chapter!
So I found out this camera doesn't come with it's default lense, it's equipped with a Sigma DC 18-200mm 1:3.5-6.3 (whatever this means? I still have lots to learn). I would certainly like a good lense for close-ups, will look into the 35mm f/2.0. Thanks.
Yeah, I know your pain! lol
My eyes start to water after a while, with the squinting of one eye and straining of the other. Then for some reason the tears sting my eyes, then my eyes water more because of the stinging, then more stinging, water, stinging, ARRH cycle of fail.
(I hope to get a 7D with Live View to eradicate all this XD) Though I suppose having 6 hour photo sessions doesn't help anything anyway.
Very cute girl~~~
she is so cute! her little cat mouth is sweet ^^ thanks for showing the inside of the head, I was curious what the resin eyes were looking like. yes squinting and focusing makes it hard when taking pics. I am still learning too so if mine turn yellow I try to use the photo tool to balance it. exposure, temperature, etc. best I can do until I learn more ^^;
Thats one really cute Custom Chibi! Congrats.. yeah DSLR are definately heavy.. there again... Any SLR is a pretty heavy contraption.
As far as a tripod.. I use a cheap one, for my regular digital camera.. I can't keep steady to save my life.
You can try the Gorillapod, it's pretty cheap and should suffice your DD photography needs.
If you want to spend more look the Manfrotto tripods; Manfrotto has a good range from basic to pro.
Sweet girl!
try a higher shutter speed but not to high or you wont let any light and picture will be to dark. this way you dont need a tripod for now.
love the colour of her eyes
I had to go to sleep last night XD but very sweet U-D!
The Nikon D40 should be a nice entry level DSLR to get started. I don't proclaim to have expertise in digital photography and I still have a lot of learn myself. As you already know, I wasn't happy with the ambient lighting condition in my photo space and acquired a light umbrella set for my appetite in Dollfie Dream Photography, one of the best $100 I ever spent! I am totally happy with the result. I tried to avoid using flash nowadays since I have found the f stop and shutter speed that I am comfortable with.
I try to keep my ISO setting to 200 because higher ISO tends to make the picture grainy, but doing so will almost certainly force me to either use a tripod depending on the lighting condition. I have at time been successful at take a few shots free handed but doesn't happen all the time.
White Balance and Color Temperature makes all the difference, especially indoor. The yellow tint on your pictures suggested your color temperature may be too warm.
Actually its a D40x ^^" I feel silly now. But I think they are almost the same but the "x" as a few better stuff? Like 10 megapixel instead of 6 XD.
I experimented with the white balance settings a bit and thing I'm starting to get how it works.. slowly :D
cute! I don't like looking thru the peeping hole (LOL) most of the time I find the photos blurry only after I upload into the computer =_= LOL so I take many shots of a similar pose just to be sure I at least get one XD
Aw, she is cute! Looks like they adjusted the eye openings a little to get rid of that "droopy" effect the 01 head has. I think she does seem like a Mikoto, personally.
Cute! I think it is interesting how they made the eyes. I wonder if I should try something similar ^^
Adorable she is. Congratulations!
I know it's not the same but when I look through my telescope I just leave both eyes open.
Using my most dominant eye to focus in on the subject, sometimes up to half an hour.
But in brighter environments the eye tries to lock on to objects and focus in on them. So in
that case I pull the bill of my baseball cap over the non dominant eye, Or something similar.
Works for me until the muscle memory kicks in for the O_= thing.
congratz Chibi , sweet sweet gal ><b
She's very cute! ^ ^
i have a NIKON D5000, which is the current equivalent
of the D90, which was from the same series as your D40.
you made a fantastic choice, Chibi!
NIKON DSLRs are some of the best cameras available!
i noticed that Danny has a D5000 as well, so i'll link
to his shot of it;
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll310/shaorin-chan/NIKON%20D-5000/3653187533_9648de7f5a_o.jpg
and here is one of my very first shots with the D5000;
http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll310/shaorin-chan/Nikon%20D5000%20MacGyver%209-29-09/SweetShao.jpg