Introduction 1 About This Book 1 How This Book Is Organized 2 Icons and Other Stuff to Note 3 Where to Go from Here 4 Part 1: Fast Track to Super Snaps 5 Chapter 1: Getting Up and Running 7 Preparing the Camera for Initial Use 7 Exploring Basic Camera Features 11 Checking out external controls 11 Ordering from camera menus 19 Switching to Live View mode 23 Viewing critical picture settings 26 Adjusting settings via the control strip 28 Displaying Help Screens 29 Familiarizing Yourself with the Lens 30 Working with Memory Cards 35 Taking a Few Final Setup Steps 37 Restoring Default Settings 40 Chapter 2: Reviewing Five Essential Picture-Taking Options 43 Choosing an Exposure Mode 44 Fully automatic exposure modes 44 Semiautomatic modes (P, S, and A) 45 Manual exposure mode (M) 46 Specialty modes (Effects and Guide modes) 46 Setting the Release Mode 47 Single Frame and Quiet Shutter Release modes 48 Continuous (burst mode) shooting 49 Self-timer shooting 50 Checking Image Size and Image Quality 52 Considering the Image Size setting (resolution) 52 Understanding Image Quality options (JPEG or Raw) 56 Setting Image Size and Image Quality 61 Adding Flash 64 Enabling and disabling flash 64 Choosing a Flash mode 65 Adjusting the flash output 71 Chapter 3: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 77 Shooting in Auto and Auto Flash Off Modes 77 Viewfinder photography in Auto and Auto Flash Off modes 78 Live View photography in Auto and Auto Flash off modes 81 Taking Advantage of Scene Modes 83 Portrait mode 85 Sports mode 86 Close Up mode 88 Night Portrait mode 89 Accessing a Few Hidden Scene Types 89 Part 2: Beyond the Basics 93 Chapter 4: Taking Charge of Exposure 95 Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 96 Aperture affects depth of field 98 Shutter speed affects motion blur 100 ISO affects image noise 101 Doing the exposure balancing act 103 Stepping Up to Advanced Exposure Modes (P, S, A, and M) 104 Checking the Exposure Meter 106 Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 109 Setting Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 112 Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 112 Controlling ISO 115 Solving Exposure Problems 119 Applying Exposure Compensation 119 Expanding tonal range with Active D-Lighting 124 Eliminating vignetting 127 Using autoexposure lock 129 Chapter 5: Controlling Focus and Depth of Field 131 Choosing Automatic or Manual Focusing 132 Exploring Standard Focusing Options (Viewfinder Photography) 134 Mastering the autofocusing system 134 Focusing manually 144 Focusing During Live View and Movie Shooting 147 Understanding Live View autofocusing 147 Manual focusing during Live View and movie shooting 155 Manipulating Depth of Field 156 Chapter 6: Mastering Color Controls 161 Understanding White Balance 161 Changing the White Balance setting 163 Fine-tuning White Balance settings 166 Creating white balance presets 168 Choosing a Color Space 171 Taking a Quick Look at Picture Controls 172 Chapter 7: Putting It All Together 179 Recapping Basic Picture Settings 179 Shooting Still Portraits 181 Capturing Action 187 Capturing Scenic Vistas 190 Capturing Dynamic Close-Ups 194 Chapter 8: Shooting, Viewing, and Trimming Movies 197 Shooting Movies Using Default Settings 198 Adjusting Video Settings 203 Controlling Audio 207 Choosing the Microphone setting (volume control) 208 Reducing wind noise 210 Exploring Other Recording Options 211 Manipulating Movie Exposure 213 Screening Your Movies 215 Trimming Movies 218 Saving a Movie Frame as a Still Image 220 Part 3: After the Shot 223 Chapter 9: Playback Mode: Viewing Your Photos 225 Picture Playback 101 226 Choosing Which Images to View 227 Adjusting Playback Timing 228 Enabling Automatic Picture Rotation 230 Shifting from Single-Image to Thumbnails Display 231 Displaying Photos in Calendar View 233 Magnifying Photos During Playback 234 Viewing Picture Data 236 File Information mode 237 Highlights ("blinkies") display mode 240 RGB Histogram mode 241 Shooting Data mode 244 Overview mode 245 Creating a Digital Slide Show 247 Viewing Your Photos on a Television 249 Chapter 10: Working with Picture and Movie Files 251 Rating Photos and Movies 252 Deleting Files 254 Deleting files one at a time 255 Deleting all files 255 Deleting a batch of selected files 256 Protecting Photos and Movies 258 Taking a Look at Nikon's Photo Software 259 Downloading Pictures to the Computer 262 Connecting via USB 264 Starting the file-transfer process 265 Downloading using Nikon ViewNX-i 266 Processing Raw (NEF) Files 270 Processing Raw images in the camera 271 Processing Raw files in Capture NX-D 274 Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 277 Prepping online photos using ViewNX-i 278 Resizing pictures from the Retouch menu 278 Part 4: The Part of Tens 281 Chapter 11: Ten Fun (And Practical) Ways to Manipulate Your Photos 283 Applying the Retouch Menu Filters 284 Removing Red-Eye 287 Straightening Tilting Horizon Lines 288 Removing (Or Creating) Lens Distortion 289 Correcting Perspective 291 Adjusting Exposure and Color 292 Cropping Your Photo 295 Applying Effects to Existing Photos 297 Shooting in Effects Mode 301 Combining Two Photos with Image Overlay 307 Chapter 12: Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 309 Adding Hidden Image Comments 310 Adding a Copyright Notice 311 Creating Custom Image Folders 313 Customizing Filenames 314 Turning Off the AF-Assist Illuminator 316 Adjusting Automatic Shutdown Timing 316 Changing the Look of the Information Display 317 Keeping the Information Display Hidden 319 Customizing the AE-L/AF-L Button 319 Using the Shutter Button to Lock Exposure and Focus (or Not) 320 Appendix: Intro to Nikon Snapbridge 323 Index 339
