[brie_91]

Hi everyone.. I'm Brie, mom to 15 month old Sadie..

I've had a Nikon D70 for almost a year, and have mostly shot on Auto, but I feel like I am able to get the same pics with my point & shoot, so I decided to learn how to shoot manually to get better pictures. But its not going so well. My pictures are turning out waaaay overexposed, even though I have ISO set to 200, the -/+ (not sure what thats called) is at 0.0, and the WB is on auto .. When shooting in any of the manual modes, the flash is super bright, and I'm not sure how to tone it down a bit. Its a lot brighter than when its in auto

Here is a picture I took in natural light with out flash in manual



What am I doing wrong?!!!

Thanks

[Mod-Urchin]

Have you adjusted your aperature and/or shutter speeds? It looks like maybe your aperature is set too open.

[IansMom]

Here is some information on Shutter Speed and Aperture:

Shutter Bee, The Animated Online Camera Tutorial
You can also browse your camera's manual on how to meter (there is a built in light meter in your camera... then you just adjust the f-stop or aperture to make the dots line up)

have fun!

[MrsLMB]

Your shutter speed is set at 1/25 which is too slow. If you change it to 1/160 or anything faster you wont get the blown out images. Your camera is just letting in too much light. By making the shutter faster you will allow less light in and it wont be so bright.

[brie_91]

Awesome! Thanks guys! My aperture was set to 4.5, so I moved it to 10 and it was waaay better! As far as shutter speed, it goes from 1/60 to 30" .. so where should I have it set on? I dont have 1/160

here's a picture I took after adjusting the aperture.. I know there could still be improvements, but its soo much better

[adi&co.]

glad you figured it out! second looks much better

[mom2baylee&levi]

there should be a bunch of steps in your shutter speed between 1/60 and 30"

I am sure one of the Nikon girls can help you out there...You will get better results (better focus....sharper pics) if you raise your shutter speed rather than close your aperature up more....4.5 -6 ish is usually a good range for just snap shotty pics of kids....

[.H.e.a.t.h.e.r.]

your shutter speed is way too slow for a moving subject.
your ISO was also too high
your aperture was probably fine for that shot. Your flash also fired. It wasn't off.