There were narrowboats at the wharf outside Bar 10 and Walsall Art Gallery a few years ago and so they made for a good photo shoot. It’s great when you can chat with people and do a few portraits as well as landscape shots. Narrowboats always make good subjects too. It was a sunny summer’s day and so there were few concerns about the light. My only concern was trying not to shoot into the sun. For this shot, I managed to shoot with the sun behind the hotel.
Nikon D3200
I was shooting with my Nikon D3200 that day which is a good entry-level camera and great on a sunny day. I shoot with a D750 now which has better in-camera image processing and is much better in low light. The Nikon D750 is a full-frame camera so the sensor is twice the size of the D3200. Bridge cameras are good when there is lots of light but a DSLR is much better and has lots of settings to cope with low light.
This shot of a trio of pigeons was taken during the lockdown when I was stuck at home and bored. There is always something to point your camera at though! I shot this with my Nikon D750 with a 28 – 300 mm lens on it. Both of my cameras shoot images that are 6000 px x 4000 px so quite large images. I resize them down to 800 pixels across for social media and this website. Straight from the camera, they are large enough that I can crop lots of an image without changing the quality.
Using a Nikon
When you use a Nikon DSLR you want to explore all the settings and get the best out of the camera. I always use the viewfinder, having the camera close rather than holding it out to view the rear screen helps to reduce camera shake and so helps get a sharp image. Setting the right aperture and shutter speed help get a sharp image too. I tend to shoot with a fast shutter speed. If the light is poor, on a DSLR you can increase the ISO to make the sensor more sensitive to light. Shooting on aperture priority, you can select the aperture and the camera will select the ideal shutter speed to give just the right amount of exposure. You can have a selection of lenses you can use with a DSLR too. I only have 2 lenses to use with my D750 but the 28 – 300mm lens is very versatile. I also have a prime lens that I must get around to using more. For the D3200, I have an 18 – 105mm, a 35 mm prime which shoots great pictures and a 55 – 300mm which is great at events for those closeups of people. Photography is a great skill to learn if you’re a writer and allows you to express yourself visually as well as in words.
A Zillion Ideas 
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