Newbie Beach shooting questions.

Hello all!

New here and New to the DSLR scene, Picked myself up a D3100 + 18-55 VR Lens Kit and have been playing around with manual settings, It's going to take a while for me to properly understand how to use Aperture/Shutter Speed/ISO together, Let alone all the other tweaks I keep reading about! Lot's of learning and practicing to do!
Now, Ive had this camera less than a week, So i barely know how to shoot even half decent photos, and I am off to the Maldives this weekend with the other half, I would like some suggestions on settings for getting good beach landscape shots/portrait, And anything you can recommend!
I read online somewhere that it's a good thing to use Polarizing Filter at the beach to enhance colors, So I have these also:
Zeikos ZE-FLK52 52mm Professional MULTI-COATED Glass: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

Thanks!

Hi and welcome Tom...You can shoot in aperture priority F5.6 to F9 and let the camera choose the shutter speed..

Can be difficult on the beach because of the glare from the sun on the water and beach...

Use the beach scene setting, or aperture setting, shot pictures, many pictures. A lot won't be good, a few might be OK, one or two exceptional. Then start over again. It takes many many takes to understand and work with light and exposure and the only way to really learn is with mistakes. So, for now, the more pictures you take, the more you'll learn.

Have fun in the Maldives and enjoy your Nikon!

Thanks for the replies!
For the last two days I have been shooting manual, But I have been stuck in badly lit places (England ) So I haven't had a chance to play with the Manual settings in the light, Could anyone estimate some good Shutter/aperture/iso combinations for really sunny conditions? I know theres more to it than that, but its a base to start on!
Also, another question about shooting in badly lit area's, From the messing around I have done, the only way I can get a Nice-ish photo is roughly ISO 800+, Shutter speed quite low 1/4 with an aperture of f3.5, But with a slow shutter speed people/pets/any movement is blurry, How do you get a faster sharper shutter speed in low light conditions without using the Flash?

Tom Lewis said:

Thanks for the replies!
For the last two days I have been shooting manual, But I have been stuck in badly lit places (England ) So I haven't had a chance to play with the Manual settings in the light, Could anyone estimate some good Shutter/aperture/iso combinations for really sunny conditions? I know theres more to it than that, but its a base to start on!
Also, another question about shooting in badly lit area's, From the messing around I have done, the only way I can get a Nice-ish photo is roughly ISO 800+, Shutter speed quite low 1/4 with an aperture of f3.5, But with a slow shutter speed people/pets/any movement is blurry, How do you get a faster sharper shutter speed in low light conditions without using the Flash?

Click to expand...

Read your manual. In manual shooting, the camera's light meter works and you just have to adjust speed and aperture to put the light to the correct setting...