Nothing like a new camera to make you feel smart as a box of rocks!

[JLC]

I think your focus points are set to 3D. I think thats the default. There are other modes, but I cant remember them. It will say somewhere in your manual. 3d pretty much lets the camera pick the focus points. There is a way to change it I just cant remember how to get to it. Then you will be able to move the red square where you want it.

Sounds like it was set to automatically pick what the camera deems as the best AF point. If Nikon is set up anything like Canon then there will be a button near the mode select dial that will allow you to assign the AF to one of the 11 points that the D3000 has. Try and look up this feature in your manual or ask the seller where its located on that particular camera.

Yaayyyy! I found it! Turns out there are two different settings for focus mode. I'd found one and it hadn't fixed the multi-point issue for me. But after some more fiddling around and digging, I found the other! I'm sure once I get familiar with all this, it will seem more intuitive but boy there sure are a lot of mysterious ways on this thing!! I'm excited though, because each new thing I figure out is a step closer to my goal of taking beautiful pictures!

Ooooo...grayscale the last pic!

Here ya go!


I liked it better in color, but some folks really like the B&W, too.

Pics look good, you'll find it alot less hectic to have a second se of hands to set up & position the snakes while you shoot

That's a good idea. I'll be a bit more patient with myself to set up a good picture-taking place AND make sure my daughter is there to help wrangle snakes. And now that I finally got my focus issues worked out, I can't wait!!

Yeah it can get very confusing when you talk about ISO metering Exposure like shutter speed and f;stops and all that jazz. Just got to should and mess with all the different settings. Maybe pick a book a good one is called Understanding Exposure 3rd edition/revised and updated by Bryan Peterson, its a very good book. Enjoy your new book and best of luck!

It's definitely challenging. I totally get the concepts of it, but when I try to actually apply them to a real life situation with camera in hand...it's like trying to do complex long division in my head. The understanding is there, but the execution is ssslllooooooowwww!

I'll look into that book! Thanks!