First day with first DSLR - Nikon D80

[ravenmore]

Hey all. Finally got my Nikon D80 and thought I'd share my first days results with it. I actually took the day off because I was such a goober about getting it. I edited these pics on my janky ol' laptop that doesn't have the best screen in the world, so if exposure or contrast is a little off that's my excuse. Can't be the photographer's fault now can it? I also edited the pics down to 800x600. Hope thats not still too big.

Heh, first thing I do is snap a photo of my stairwell right outside my door. (I said I was a goober)



Then I walk across the street. There's a little park with a pond and a running trail around it. The pond is man made and designed to filter pollution from road runoff before it enters the creeks/lakes. Someone stocked it with some koi, and over the years some of them have gotten massive. Like over 3 feet long! For some reason they were all congregating by the colvert were the water enters the pond.



There must have been 50 to 80 fish there!



I thought it was pretty interesting so I slapped on my 70-300mm lens and I proceed to start taking goldfish pictures.




Man, wish this one had been sharper. Zoomed out with a 300mm lens - really needed a tripod.



Went for a bike ride after that (cyclist here), then grabbed some dinner before heading down to Antones that night. My friend Jason was playing there with a band he's in called Meagan Tubbs and the Shady Bunch. Antone's is a famous club in Austin. A lot of big time musicians got their start there. When I say big time I'm talking about people like Stevie Ray Vaughn. Its a pretty big deal to play at Antones and Meagan was headlining there! Things are really taking off for them. They also just got signed to Willie Nelson's label. (www.meagantubb.com if you want to check out their music). Anyway, photographing live music is one of the reasons I wanted to get a DSLR. Handle low light situations better.








some more. ;) Meagan is an insanely good musician, song writer, and singer. It also doesn't hurt that she's very attractive. ;) lol. Her songwriting is interesting (often involves unusual perspectives) and is mature way beyond her years.







My buddy Jason wailing away on his guitar. Man I want that Les Paul