New camera and some pics plus a question

I recently decided to get into photography to kill time in the off season. I picked up a nikon d3400 and so far I love it but I'm not that great at adjusting things for different conditions yet. I have multiple photo and video editing programs so it helps but I'd love some pointers on how to set it for various situations like overcast skies, moving targets(ducks, turkey, etc.), moving water. I have searched online and most sites require a subscription.

I've been watching this series of videos including a slew of them on the 3400.
He's knowledgeable and keeps it simple enough to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnuVNirnOG601yJw1k64e_w

WayneB said:

I've been watching this series of videos including a slew of them on the 3400.
He's knowledgeable and keeps it simple enough to understand.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnuVNirnOG601yJw1k64e_w

Click to expand...

Thank you!

Nice shots,,,,

Looking good. Study your manual. Set something on a fence post and then spend time turning knobs and pushing buttons while you snap shots with different settings. You'll figure it out through experience. Keep on posting your shots so we can all enjoy the world thru your lens! Thanks.
Dennis

I'm liking the back button focus takes a bit of getting used to, but it can come in handy.
One tip from the youtube channel I referenced above.

I'm still green at this; but I've followed most of his tips and they work. I have a few bookmarked so I can revisit before going out to find something to shoot.

Welcome to the gang!
Great images! love the bird dog!
I had to get John Greengo's on line tutorial for both of my cameras. He does a great job with lots of power point illustrations. He covers everything.
Looking forward to seeing more of your images.

Looks like you are getting things figured out.

There are really only 3 things that you can adjust in the camera - shutter speed, aperture/f-stop, and ISO. Then of course you can adjust lens length, perspective, composition, etc. But as far as camera mechanics, the first 3 are what you can readily change. For a given exposure, if you want the amount light hitting the sensor to stay the same, if you adjust one setting up, then you have to adjust some combination of the other two down the same amount. Once you get the shutter speed/aperture/ISO relationship down, then it's pretty simple to adjust the camera to give the image the "look" you want (as long as you have enough available light).

Try going to a couple of Georgia Nature Photographers Association meetings/outings. There are some really helpful folks in that organization - and it can really help to see how other folks do things.

I'll try to give you my take on your specific questions...

Overcast skies - lots of folks don't like them, but as long as I've got enough light, I really, really like them for birds, flowers, etc. It lets you get lots of detail without having shadows that are too dark or highlights that are overexposed. The clouds are just like a giant diffuser.

Moving critters - you want a fast shutter speed. That generally means a fairly open aperture (f/4 or so depending on the light). If you are handholding, you pretty much always want your shutter speed to be 1/lens length (so for a 200 mm lens, you want at least 1/200th of a second). To freeze a birds wings, you generally need a shutter speed of about 1/1000th of a second (sometimes a tad more, sometimes a tad less). Note that the D3400 is a crop factor body, so the effective lens lengths are 1.5x the actual lens lengths (unless you have DX lenses) - so a 200 mm lens on a crop factor body acts like a 300 mm lens, so you need 1/300th second...

Moving water - I'm assuming that you want to make moving water "silky" and smooth (you can use the same technique to blur moving birds wings). You want a SLOW shutter speed, which pretty much means a tight aperture (f/16 or smaller). You'll also want your ISO to be low (ISO 200 or 250), so turn your Auto ISO to "OFF" and set the ISO low. Depending on what you are looking for, the shutter speed you want might be 1/2 second or it might be 10 seconds. That might me lower light (early morning or late evening or light reducing filter for the lens).

Lots of options, but once you get the basics down, the rest will come.

Good luck!