As we’re on the final stretch towards the birth, we’ve been playing with our Nikon D7000 and figuring out how to get decent photos out of it. Opting to spend money for a newborn photo shoot, we decided to go it alone and take a few maternity photos of Bethany. Below are some of our favorite ones:
I’m having a lot of fun playing with the various settings, figuring out what makes a good photo, then figuring out how I can best enhance it in post-processing. While I’ll never be a photographer, I’ve been learning a lot over these last few weeks.
Now that the little one is on the horizon, we’re going through our shopping list of “things for/before the baby”. This is a combination of some necessities (like a crib and a changing table), to a few luxury items in the “let’s get them before we can’t afford them for the next 18 years” (like a new bed) – to items things we’ve wanted for a long time, that we’re writing off “for the good of the baby”. Enter: our new camera.
A DSLR has been on my wish list for a while, and after getting the chance to play with one during Christmas, I began to daydream about the great pictures that we could take. I don’t want to become a photographer, but I definitely would like to make sure we beautifully capture the special moments of our family, but didn’t want to break the bank. After seeking some advice from my sister’s boyfriend, who is a fantastic photographer, I narrowed the camera down to two choices: the Sony NEX-5 and the Nikon D7000. The Sony was definitely a tempting camera, but ultimately the ability to have more options with lenses down the road put the Nikon over the top.
After unboxing the camera, it became pretty apparent that I have a lot to learn about photography. The Nikon is helpful because the camera will take some pretty good pictures on its own, but I definitely want to get out of auto and do some playing around. There are tons of great videos and tutorials out there, and I’ve started building a playlist with ones that I’ve found particularly useful. Jared Polin’s videos have been particularly helpful, as he did a great walk-through of all of my camera’s controls, and has some awesome walkthroughs for beginning photographers.
In order to become decent by the time the baby comes, both my wife and my cat have been patient subjects. Below you’ll find some of the better beginner shots that I’ve taken, and would definitely appreciate any feedback and tips.
