Nikon d40 question?

i just bought my nikon d40 and am reading the manual(s) and i just wanted to know what would be the best setting to use as i am going to a flower show tomorrow and i will be taking photos there? The flower show is in an arena and there will be some harsh light im assuming(never been to a flower show before) any help would be greatly appreciated!!!
Nikon d40 question?
All the guys above know what they're talking about. So their suggestions would all work.



So, just to confuse you further, here's my two cents worth.



You just got the camera. You don't have time before the flower show to understand the more esoteric modes.



Set the camera to P (program mode);

Use Auto Focus;

Set the ISO to 400;

Use Auto White Balance;

Shoot in the highest jpg setting (Large, Super fine) ...

And pop up your damn flash!



Get to between 3 and 8 feet from the subject, and shoot, shoot shoot away.



That'll get you through tomorrow. You can read the manual and practice other settings next week.
Reply:Good answers above...



To me, the biggest potential problem will bethe lighting. There might be daylight streaming in through windows in some places or you might have huge mercury vapor lamps in others.



Look over page 71 in your manual on "Measuring a value for preset white balance." Try to figure this out at home before you go to the show.



If you see weird colors on your LCD monitor after you take a picture, try setting a custom white balance using a plain sheet of paper. It doesn't have to be any bigger than 3-4" square, so you can probably find that much of a blank page in the program or just stick a piece of paper in your pocket for this purpose. You'll have to use P,A,S, or M, for this, so follow V2's suggestion about using "S" and 1/125 if you need to also change the white balance. Auto ISO is a good idea. (Page 37) Also, if you are not using a long telephoto length, you can use slower than 1/125, too. If you are using the stock 18-55 lens, you shouldn't have any trouble at all using 1/60 as far as getting image blur from shaking.
Reply:I would switch the little button on top of the camera to the little picture of the flower (I'm not being a smart @ss) it really helps! Also, there is a menu option on lighting. If you are going to be under flourescnets, use that setting...
Reply:You may get several ideas on this, and they may all be correct, so I will just say what *I* would do.



Since you probably are going to want good depth of field, I would put the camera in A aperture priority mode, and set the f stop to f5.6. This will give reasonable DOF but still with some artistic blur behind the subject.



The camera will select the shutter speed needed, but watch that it does not drop below about 1/60. If it does, raise the ISO to get the shutter speed to come up.



Also, look carefully at the lighting used at the show, and set your white balance accordingly.



steve
Reply:I'm assuming you aren't using flash (probably a good idea).



Indoors, hand held, without flash, your biggest challenge is blur from camera shake.



Set S mode (shutter priority) and a speed of 1/125 or faster.



Then turn on AUTO ISO and the camera will boost signal as necessary.



Your other challenge will be depth of field as the aperture will likely be wide.



If possible use a tripod or monopod, which allows slower shutter speeds.



Also watch the white balance because of mixed lighting. Shoot RAW if you can and sort it out later.



HTH

V2K1
Reply:put it on manual focus and switch the lens to manual , auto is garbage and after that you need to learn shutter speeds

blush brush