The Ultimate Guide To Learning How To Use Your First DSLR

The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your first DSLR
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The Ultimate Guide to

Learning how to use Your
first DSLR
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A Post By: Elliot Hook

If youve bought yourself a DSLR and, after unpacking
it from the box, you are intimidated by the number of
buttons and dials, and by the thickness of the manual,
it can be very tempting to put the manual down, ick
it onto Auto and start shooting. Whilst that is ne for
some, it may not be long until you crave the creative
control that inspired you to purchase a DSLR in the
rst place, but where do you begin?
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If you consider yourself a beginner who is unsure of

how to make the most of your camera, this post is
designed for you. Its intended to be a brief, a onestop shop to help you take your camera o auto, and
take control of your DSLR. It isnt intended to be a
replacement for your camera manual, so will not
explain every last setting in great depth, but will cover
enough of the basics to get you in control of your
Post Production
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camera, and give you the key topics to go back to your
Software Review:
AfterShot Pro 3 by
Corel
manual to read.
Steps for Learning How to

Use Your DSLR include:
How to Edit
Corporate
Headshots in
Lightroom
1. Mastering Shooting modes (including priority modes

and full manual)
2. Understanding ISO
3. Learning the exposure triangle
4. Mastering Metering including exposure compensation
5. Learning Focussing
6. Understanding le size/types
7. Grasping White balance
Theres lots to learn if you want to get the most from
Polls
How much time do you
spend post-processing
each of your images on
average?
None I don't do any
post-processing
0-1 Minutes
1-3 Minutes
your DSLR but lets start by digging into each of these
3-5 Minutes
topics.
5-10 Minutes
1. Shooting modes
The best place to start is with shooting modes. The
shooting modes will most likely be found on a dial
labelled with auto, Av, Tv, P, M and maybe more.
Selecting a shooting mode will determine how your
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camera behaves when you press the shutter, for

example, when auto is selected, the camera will
determine everything to do with the exposure,
Laughter
including the aperture and shutter speed. The other

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modes, Av, Tv, P, M, are there to give you control:
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
Join our creative

challenge!
Dont worry if your mode dial looks a little dierent;

dierent manufacturers use dierent abbreviations
for the shooting modes. Your mode dial may have the
letters A, S, P, M (instead of Av, Tv, P, M), yet they all
function in the same way. Below, I have given each
abbreviation for the given mode.
Aperture Priority (Av or A)

Aperture priority can be thought of as a semiautomatic shooting mode. When this is selected, you
as the photographer set the aperture and the camera
will automatically select the shutter speed. So what is
aperture and when would you want to control it?
The aperture is the size of the opening in the lens
through which light is allowed to pass whenever the
shutter is opened the larger the aperture, the more
light passes through.
The aperture is measured in f-stops and is usually
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displayed using an f-number, e.g. f/2.0, f/2.8, f/4.0,

f/5.6, f/8.0 etc, which is a ratio of focal length over
diameter of the opening. Therefore, a larger aperture
(a wider opening) has a smaller f-number (e.g. f/2.0)
and smaller aperture (a narrower opening) has a
larger f-number (e.g. f/22). Reducing the aperture by
one whole f-stop, e.g. f/2.0 to f2/8 or f/5.6 to f/8.0,
halves the amount of light entering the camera.
Aperture is one of the most important aspects of

photography as it directly inuences the depth of eld
that is, the amount of an image that is in focus. A
large depth of eld (achieved by using a small
aperture (large f-number)) would mean that a large
distance within the scene is in focus, such as the
foreground to the background of the landscape below.
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An aperture of f/13 was used here to give a

large depth of eld, ensuring that the whole
image, from the foreground grasses to the
background mountains. was sharp
Whereas a shallow depth of eld (achieved by using a
large aperture (small f-number)) would produce an
image where only the subject is in sharp focus, but the
background is soft and out of focus. This is often
used when shooting portraiture or wildlife, such as
the image below, to isolate the subject from the
background:
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A large aperture of f/4.5 was used to capture

this water vole, against a soft, out of focus
background
So when using aperture priority, you can get complete
control over your depth of eld, whilst the camera
takes care of the rest.
Shutter Priority (Tv or S)

Similarly to aperture priority, this is another semiautomatic shooting mode, though in this instance,
you as the photographer set the shutter speed and
the camera will take care of the aperture. The shutter
speed, measured in seconds (or more often fractions
of a second), is the amount of time the shutter stays
open when taking a photograph. The longer the
shutter stays open, the more light passes through to
the sensor to be captured.
You would select a short shutter speed if you wanted
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to freeze a fast moving subject, such as shooting

sports, action or wildlife, for example:
A very fast shutter speed of 1/4000th sec was

used to freeze the motion of this grouse in
ight
You would use a long shutter speed if you wanted to
blur a moving subject, for example water rushing over
a waterfall (slower shutter speeds will require you to
put the camera on a tripod to ensure the camera is
held steady whilst the shutter is open):
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To capture the motion of the waves, and

render the water with a soft, milky texture, a
shutter speed of 6 seconds was used here
So whilst you worry about what shutter speed you
need for a given photograph, the camera will
determine the appropriate aperture required to give
the correct exposure.
Aperture and shutter priority shooting modes may be
semi-automatic, meaning that some may deride their
use because theyre not fully manual, however they
are incredibly useful modes to shoot in that can give
you enough creative control to capture scenes as you
envisage them.
Program (P)
Program mode is almost a halfway house between the
semi automatic modes of aperture/shutter priority
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and full manual control. In program mode, you are

able to set either the aperture or shutter speed, and
the camera will maintain the correct exposure by
adjusting the other one accordingly, i.e. as you change
the aperture, the shutter speed will automatically
change, and vice versa. This gives you additional
freedom that using either aperture priority or shutter
priority cannot give without switching between
shooting modes.
Manual (M)
Manual mode is exactly what it sounds like, you are
given full control over the exposure determination,
setting both the aperture and shutter speed yourself.
There will be an exposure indicator either within the
viewnder or on the screen that will tell you how
under/over exposed the image will be, however, you
are left to change the shutter speed and aperture
yourself to ensure you achieve the correct exposure.
Practically Speaking: as a rst step to taking your

camera o auto, aperture priority and shutter priority
modes oer two very simple ways to start to
understand how the dierent setting impact your
images and are a perfect starting place for learning
how to use your camera more creatively.
2. ISO
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ISO is a measure of how sensitive the sensor of your

camera is to light. The term originated in lm
photography, where lm of dierent sensitivities
could be used depending on the shooting conditions,
and it is no dierent in digital photography. The ISO
sensitivity is represented numerically from ISO 100
(low sensitivity) up to ISO 6400 (high sensitivity) and
beyond, and controls the amount of light required by
the sensor to achieve a given exposure
At low sensitivities, more light is required to achieve a
given exposure compared to high sensitivities where
less light is required to achieve the same exposure. To
understand this, lets look at two dierent situations:
Low ISO numbers

If shooting outside, on a bright sunny day there is a lot
of available light that will hit the sensor during an
exposure, meaning that the sensor does not need to
be very sensitive in order to achieve a correct
exposure. Therefore, you could use a low ISO
number, such as ISO 100 or 200. This will give you
images of the highest quality, with very little grain (or
noise).
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Taken at ISO 100, the image does not show

signs of noise (even when looking at the 100%
crop (right)
High ISO numbers

If shooting in low light conditions, such as inside a
dark cathedral or museum for example, there is not
much light available for your camera sensor. A high
ISO number, such as ISO 3200, will increase the
sensitivity of the sensor, eectively multiplying the
small amount of available light to give you a correctly
exposed image. This multiplication eect comes with
a side eect of increased noise on the image, which
looks like a ne grain, reducing the overall image
quality. The noise will be most pronounced in the
darker/shadow regions.
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This image was taken as the sun was going

down, meaning there was not much ambient
light. Therefore, this was shot with ISO4000,
however you can see very obvious noise in the
100% crop (right)
Practically Speaking: you want to keep the ISO as low

as possible, as the lower the ISO, the less noise and
the higher the quality of the resulting image. Outside
on a sunny day, select ISO200 and see how it goes. If
it clouds over, maybe select an ISO between 400-800.
If you move indoors, consider an ISO of around 1600
or above (these are approximate starting points).
Most digital SLRs now have an auto-ISO function,
where the camera sets the ISO depending upon the
amount of light in which you are shooting, keeping it
as low as possible. Auto-ISO is a very useful tool when
starting out with your camera, as it is allows you to
dene an upper limit i.e. where the images become
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too noisy such as ISO1600 or 3200, and then forget

about it until situations where you specically want to
override the automatic setting, for example if taking
landscape images using a tripod, you can aord to
use the lowest ISO possible.
3. Completion of the Exposure

Triangle
Its important to note that aperture, shutter speed and
ISO are all part of the exposure triangle. They all
control either the amount of light entering the camera
(aperture, shutter speed) or the amount of light
required by the camera (ISO) for a given exposure.
Therefore, they are all linked, and understanding the
relationship between them is crucial to being able to
take control of your camera. A change in one of the
settings will impact the other two. For example,
considering a theoretical exposure of ISO400, f/8.0,
1/10th second. If you wanted to reduce the depth of
eld, and decided to use an aperture of f/4.0, you
would be increasing the size of the aperture by two
whole f/stops, therefore increasing the amount of
light entering the camera by a factor of 4 (i.e.
increasing by a factor of 2, twice). Therefore, to
balance the exposure, you could do the following:
Situation 1: Reduce the shutter speed by a factor of 4, i.e.
to 1/40th second.
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Situation 2: Reduce the ISO by a factor of 4, i.e. to ISO100

Situation 3: A combination of the above, shutter speed
by a factor of 2 (to 1/20th second) AND reduce the ISO bv
a factor of 2 (to ISO200).
Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are all facotrs

that inuence your exposure, and are all
linked. Its just a case of balancing the books!
They all have the net eect of reducing the amount of
light by a factor of 4, countering the change in
aperture. Its just a case of understanding that they
are all linked, and so changing one setting, will cause a
change in another.
Using a combination of the semi-automatic shooting
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modes and auto-ISO would mean you wont

necessarily need to think about adjusting your
exposure in such a way initially, however
understanding the relationship that ISO or aperture
has with shutter speed, and knowing the practical
implications is a big step in mastering your DSLR .
4. Metering
Through out all of the above discussion, I have said
that the camera calculates the exposure depending on
the amount of available light, but what is it actually
doing?
When taking a photograph, using any form of
automatic exposure calculation (e.g. aperture priority
mode, shutter priority mode, auto-ISO etc) the camera
always tries to calculate an average exposure. It will
asses the entire scene, both light and dark areas, and
determine the exposure so that all of the tones within
the entire image average to 18% grey called the
middle grey.
This is known as metering, and it is the reason that if
you point your camera at a bright white scene, such as
after it has snowed, and take a photograph the
resulting image will always appear darker than you or
I see it. Similarly, if you point your camera at a really
dark scene, such as a low-lit room, and take a
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photograph the resulting image will always be

brighter than you or I see it.
The scene is always being averaged by the camera
and most of the time that results in the image
appearing to be correctly exposed. However, you can
control what areas of the scene are being assessed by
the camera in order to inuence the way in which the
exposure is metered.
Generally, there are three metering modes that you
can choose from:
Average The camera will assess the tones across the
entire image form corner to corner, and expose the
scene to 18% grey from that assessment.
Centre-weighted The camera weights the exposure
reading for the area in the centre of the viewnder
that can total up to approximately 80% of the scene,
ignoring the extreme corners of the image.
Spot metering The camera will use a very small
area of the scene, typically a small circle in the centre
of the viewnder that totals approximately 5% of the
viewnder area. It will make the assessment of
dark/light tones in this area and expose the entire
scene to 18% grey, from that assessment.
Practically speaking: when starting out with your

camera, either average or centre weighted metering
are a good starting point. They will both provide a
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fairly consistent measure of the exposure required

and, if you select one mode and stick with it, you will
soon begin to understand when a scene will be under
exposed (i.e. too dark) or over exposed (i.e. to light)
compared to how you see it with your own eyes.
But what can you do if a scene is under/over
exposed? That is where exposure compensation
comes in.
Exposure compensation
Generally found on a small +/- button near the
shutter, this is one of the most useful functions to
learn how to use. It allows you to either increase or
decrease the cameras default meter reading to
account for the actual brightness of a scene.
If a scene contains primarily bright tones and is being

rendered too dark, for example, a bright white snow
scene (that will typically be reduced to 18% grey by the
default metering system), you can apply positive
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exposure compensation to let the camera know that

the scene should be lighter than middle grey.
A spring lamb leaping in front of a snowy

hillside. Left: Straight out of camera, with the
snow caught as grey. Right: With +2 stops
exposure compensation (added in post
processing). The bright snowy background
caused my camera to underexpose this scene
by nearly two stops, which could have been
corrected by exposure compensation in
camera.
Conversely, if a scene contains primarily dark tones
and is being rendered too light, for example, a dark
night scene (that will typically be increased to 18%
grey by the default metering system), you can apply
negative exposure compensation to let the camera
know that the scene should be darker than middle
grey.
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5. Focussing
Regardless of what shooting mode you are using, or
what ISO you dene, the chances are there will be a
subject of your image that you want to have in focus.
If that focus is not achieved, the image will not be
what you wanted.
Autofocus modes
DSLRs come with a range of autofocus modes,
however, for simplicity, the two that are most
important to understand are AF-S and AF-C
AF-S autofocus-single. This is best used when taking
photos of stationary subjects such as portraits of
people, landscapes, buildings etc. When you halfpress the shutter, the focus will be acquired and
locked on that point for as long as you hold the button
down. If you want to change to focus, you need to
release the button, recompose and then re-half-press.
AF-C autofocus-continuous. This is best used when
taking photos of action or moving subjects such as
sports and wildlife. When you half-press the shutter,
focus will be acquired and locked on to a given
subject. When that subject moves, the focus will
adjust with it, refocusing all of the time until the
photograph is taken.
(These modes are not to be confused with the AF/MF
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switches on the lens, where AF stands for autofocus

and MF stands for manual focus. That switch is an
override for if you want to manually focus your lens.
If you want to make use of the autofocus modes
discussed above, ensure the lens is set to AF).
Focus Points
Both of those focus modes rely on what are known as
focus points. When you look through the viewnder,
you should see a number of squares/dots overlaid
across the screen. When you half-press the shutter,
you should see one of these squares be highlighted in
red. That is the active focus point, and it is that
position within the frame that the camera is focussing
on. A viewnder with 9 focus points is shown below:
New DSLRs can come with over 50 focus points and

the temptation is to leave it on fully automatic focus
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point selection, with the thinking that the camera will

be able to select the correct focus point. However,
only you know what you want to focus on, and there is
no better way than ensuring the correct subject is in
focus than by using one focus point, and placing that
focus point over the subject.
If you select a single focus point, you should be able
to change which point is active fairly easily either by
using directional buttons one of the dials. If you
select a focus point that is on your desired subject,
you will ensure that the camera focuses where you
want it to. After a small amount of practice, you will
soon get into the habit of being able to change the
focus point without taking the camera away form your
eye.
Practically speaking: Initially, set your camera to use a

single focus point (your camera manual should tell
you how to do this). This way, you will be able to
choose what you are focussing on, ensuring that the
subject you want to capture is in focus. Once you are
familiar with the basic focussing modes and focus
point selection, you can then explore the more
advanced modes that your camera may oer.
6. File Size/Types
You will have the option to be able to change the size
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of the images that your camera records, and in which

le type. You want to set the le size to the largest
possible (whether it is large or ne or super ne) to
ensure that you are making the most of the mega
pixels that you have just invested in.
You will also have the option of choosing whether to
record the images as raw or jpeg le type. A raw le
is uncompressed, and so contains a lot of image data
that allows for a lot of exibility during postprocessing (i.e. on your computer) but also comes
with additional complications such as the need to
process every le using dedicated editing software
and a larger le size. A jpeg is a compressed le type,
that is automatically processed by the camera. They
will be print ready straight out of the camera, and are
much smaller les, meaning you can t more images
per memory card.
Practically speaking: When starting out with your

camera, using jpeg is the most straight forward. It will
enable you to get the best results whilst you learn the
basics or your camera before complicating matters
with post-processing of raw les.
7. White Balance
If shooting in jpeg, as recommended above, you will
need to make sure you set your white balance before
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taking a picture. The white balance can signicantly

impact colour tone of your photographs. You may
have noticed that sometimes your images have a
blueish tone to them or, in others, everything looks
very orange. This is to do with the white balance and,
whilst you can make some adjustments to the image
on your computer, it is much simpler if you get it right
up-front.
Dierent light sources (such as the sun, light bulbs,
uorescent strips etc) emit light of dierent
wavelengths, and therefore colours, which can be
described by what is known as colour temperature.
Light from a candle, or from the sun during
sunrise/sunset, is very warm, and contains a lot of
red/orange wavelengths; whereas light from a
uorescent strip is much cooler, containing a lot of
blue wavelengths. This coloured light is reected o
of surfaces, but our brain in clever enough to
recognise this and automatically counter the eect,
meaning that we still see a white surface as a white
surface. However, your camera is not that intelligent,
and unless told otherwise, will record the orange or
blue tones giving the colour cast to your images.
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Left: The image captured using auto white

balance has a heavy yellow tone from the
articial street lighting. Right: the same image,
corrected for a Tungsten white balance, giving
the cooler tones on the stone work, and the
bluer sky
As the colour temperature of dierent light sources is
well known, there are a number of presets built into
your camera that help to overcome the dierent
colours of light in dierent situations cooling the
warm light, and warming the cool light all in the
cause of trying to capture the colours of the scene
accurately. The auto feature (auto WB or AWB) will
attempt to predict the colour of the light by detecting
the predominant colour of the scene and then
countering it, however it may not necessarily make a
correct decision, leaving you with inaccurate colours.
Therefore it is best to set the colour balance before
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you take your image and just to make sure (note: the
above image was a raw le giving me a lot of latitude
for white balance correction. Jpeg les are not as
susceptible to white balance adjustments, meaning
the white balance correction needs to be made before
the image is taken):
Daylight To be used on clear sunny days. Bright
sunlight, on a clear day is as near to neutral light that
we generally get
Cloudy To be used when shooting on a cloudy day.
Adds warm tones to daylight images.
Shade To be used if shooting in the shade, as
shaded areas generally produce cooler, bluer images,
so need warming up.
Tungsten Used for shooting indoors, under
incandescent light bulbs, or under street lights, to cool
down the yellow tones.
Fluorescent Compensates for the green/blue tones
of uorescent light strips when shooting indoors.
Flash the ash will add a cool blue cast to the image,
so used to add some warmth.
Practically speaking: avoid auto white balance and set

the white balance manually. Generally, you will be
able to look up at the sky and see what kind of day it
is, and determine the colour balance required pretty
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7/14/16, 5:47 AM
easily. If you move indoors, just check the lighting

that you are shooting under, and again select the
appropriate white balance. It will soon become
second nature to set it as you take your camera out of
the bag.
Conclusion
So that is an overview of the settings you will
encounter when you want to take the leap and take
your camera o Auto. You dont necessarily need to
consider them all straight away, but exploring and
understanding the eect of each setting will soon
have you in complete control of your camera. The
biggest step, that will give you the most noticeable
dierence in the feeling of control and direct inuence
on creative results, will be to start using the aperture
priority or shutter priority shooting modes and once
you are familiar with those, you can start thinking
about exploring further. Soon enough, you will no
longer think of your camera as a mysterious black
box, but understand how to achieve the photographic
results that you bought it for in the rst place.
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Read more from our Tips & Tutorials

category
Elliot Hook is a wildlife and landscape
photographer based in Hertfordshire, UK.
Elliot loves being outdoors with his
camera, and is always looking to improve
his own photography and share what he
has learnt with others. Elliot also can be
found at his website, on Twitter, Flickr
and 500px.
If you enjoyed this article, you

might also like...
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Lili
3 years ago
I have been looking for information like this for about a

week now, and your post really hit the nail on the head! I
just got a D5100 as a gift, and would really like to learn as
much as I can! Thank you so much for sharing!
49
Reply Share
Bart Van Eynde
2 years ago
Hi Elliot, could you create a pdf / free eBook version of this

article?
25
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Kaveen Rodrigo > Bart Van Eynde
10 months ago
http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/

Rijushree Saha
Reply Share
2 years ago
A Great manual for beginners . Interesting and easy to

understand
21
Rishika
Reply Share
3 years ago
Thank you for this post.

It is really helpful.
21
Reply Share
Andrea Deatrick Roat
2 years ago
Thank you so much for helping decipher how to use my

DSLR better...you write in a style that is so easy to
understand!
10
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Page 29 of 46
herandhair
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
2 years ago
Thanks Elliot, I am shopping around for a camera and I

have been encountering lots of camera jargon associated
with the content you discussed. Now, I feel like I will be
able to more confidently select a camera that suits what I
need it for, as well as be able to start shooting with less
intimidation. Feel free to give more examples regarding
how aperture, shutter speed, and ISO work in hand with
one another, I am definitely still a bit foggy on the exacts of
how they aect each other... but I figure it's something I
may learn with hands on practice.
6
Reply Share
bappaditya
2 years ago
how to bring blur eect at the background of a picture?

5
Reply Share
Abhi > bappaditya
8 months ago
Lower your shutter speed and aperture value I.e.

f/3.5
Reply Share
Ads > bappaditya
2 years ago
That is called Depth of Field and can generally be

adjusted by fixing the apeture (which is measured in
f stops) - pick a small f stop and you should be able
to get that eect - eg. a clear portrait of a person
with a blurred background. Large f-stops are
conversely good for when you want everything in
focus, like in a landscape.

macmacmac
Reply Share
2 years ago
love your lessons.... its so easy to understand. thank's!

5
Jeremy
Reply Share
2 years ago
This is by far the best article I have found for DSLR

beginners. You broke everything down to a beginners
perspective. You explained everything clearly without using
terms that a newbie wouldn't understand. Thank you for
this article!
4
Reply Share
Page 30 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
Reply Share
Keythin Watford
2 years ago
I have just bought a new d5100 and over 200 pages of

small pages with even smaller print and illustrations does
not compare to a guide like this. Owners manual on a disc
would be much better.
4
Reply Share
Anand Sharma
2 years ago
thanks a lot !!!!!

4
Reply Share
Newbie1189
2 years ago
Very informative input. Appreciate your time writing this

down.
3
Reply Share
Dan Witter
2 years ago
Hey, another important thing to remember is that if you're

looking to buy a DSLR, stick with the entry-level cameras.
You don't want to fork over a ton of cash for an expensive
camera if you aren't sure you're going to like photography.
Another thing to keep in mind -- don't buy a DSLR if you're
only going to shoot in automatic. It's a waste of money
and a waste of a camera. DSLR's are meant to be tinkered
with and adjusted in manual mode. If you don't use it in
manual mode you may as well stick with a compact
camera. You'll save yourself a lot of cash.
3
Reply Share
Sandy > Dan Witter
a year ago
True to a point, but even a DSLR on automatic

takes better pictures than a point and shoot.
2
Reply Share
Sammy > Sandy
a year ago
I am not sure about that! Just bought a

DSLR and pictures taken in auto are
comparable to my point and shoot.
But....the DSLR focuses so much faster that
I have many more opportunities for a shot.

Mike
Reply Share
2 years ago
Page 31 of 46
Mike
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
2 years ago
Since I was a young lad, I have always been interested in

photography and always carried with me some sort of
camera over the years, but I have never owned or used a
DSLR until my brother recently bought his first dslr kit.. He
hardly uses it, and ive been dying to get my hands on it
and give it a wirl before buying one myself.. As mentioned
by others, this tutorial is by far the best I have come across
on the web ( much easier too follow and understand than
reading from a manual or going round in circles by reading
through magazine,s etc ).. Just getting a grip of the basics
is good enough for me, and the guide above is excellent
and so easy to follow and understand.. I cant wait now, to
get my brothers cannon gear out of its bag and get
practicing.. Thanks for giving me that extra push to give it
a serious go..
2
sree
Reply Share
2 years ago
Great Article .......good explanation

2
VibhaJ
Reply Share
2 years ago
I just bought my Canon 1200D and your blog is very

helpful to me.. Its really well written and easy to
understand all features for a newbie.
1
Joan
Reply Share
2 years ago
Thanks for this article. It is exactly what I was looking for.

Your explanations and examples were particularly helpful.
1
Reply Share
Tim Stuttard
2 months ago
After loving photography for years but mainly using auto

on a Fuji bridge camera I decided to try and learn how to
take pictures in other camera modes. I was on a budget so
opted for a Canon 400d with the basic 18-55mm lens. I
love the Canon but for some reason am still doing
everything on auto. I think my biggest fear of using it as
manual is spoiling my images by not being able to get the
right focus and the picture being blurred or just not
focused correctly. Also when I read the manual, it's like
way over my head and written by people for people with a
Page 32 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
great knowledge of the camera already. I am a beginner. I

wear glasses for reading and find it hard to use the view
finder hence my fear of out of focus shots. Anyone got any
tips to make me feel more comfortable using manual mode
?.
Thanks
Reply Share
Amit Mallick
2 months ago
Thanks Much, This is exactly what I was looking for.

Thanks!!
Reply Share
Ryan O'Connor
5 months ago
Awesome but it should be mentioned that if using a Nikon

camera, it is very highly recommended to just leave the
metering on Matrix, which does an awesome job of
determining the correct exposure for a large range of
shots.
Reply Share
Group Of Oceninfo
6 months ago
Hi Can you please create some live video tutorial?

Reply Share

Kosala
6 months ago
really good. simply explained. well done !

Reply Share
Nature eye
6 months ago
Very clear teaching. Thank a lot.

Reply Share

Suren
7 months ago
Fifteen years ago I had first started to use SLR. It was

quite tough to experiment as the results are not
immediately visible. Now we are into digital era and I had
given a gap for few years. I have once again decided to
continue exploring ,but this time with a digital SLR. To
refresh my basics I'm here in this website. Wonderful
explanation by the author. I'm sure it has all the key
ingredients required. Thank you very much.
Reply Share
Page 33 of 46
Nick Franks
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
7 months ago
Hi Elliot, Thank you for providing such a helpful intro piece

for late-to-the-party newbies like me!
Reply Share
shariq khan
7 months ago
thank u so much dear. have a good day

Prabhu
Reply Share
8 months ago
Great guide for ever one..... Thanks for the article.

Iam planing to buy new DLSR, can you please suggest me
which one is the best as per the latest trend...
Reply Share
hostile_17
9 months ago
Thank to so much. My manual started taking about f stops

so I found this article. I'm used to skim reading but this
topic is 100% new to me and I've read every word and that
has explained so much so well I'm looking forward to
getting my first DSLR shots tomorrow.

Pete
Reply Share
9 months ago
Thanks a lot Elliot - the internet is a wonderful tool thanks

to people like you!
Reply Share
Jacquelyn K
10 months ago
This was extremely helpful thank you so much

MS
Reply Share
10 months ago
This is the best tutorial.... thanks lot..
Reply Share
Chandra
a year ago
I purchased a DSLR yesterday and I was wondering what

are the basic techniques to start with. This article is the
best I found so far. Thank you
Reply Share
Nay Thway
a year ago
Page 34 of 46
Nay Thway
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
a year ago
Very helpful! thanks a lot!

Reply Share
Robin C Samuel
a year ago
Great article, really helpfull. Thanks a lot!

Reply Share
Rileigh Rileigh
a year ago
I just decided to save up for a dslr, but the problem is that I

know it will take me years to save up for one! I decided to
start leaning how to use one now so I don't feel like I'm
trying to solve a rubrik's cube when it's handed to me.
Your post has been sooo helpful, and I thank you very
much for that. Thanks again!
Reply Share

mohsen
a year ago
tank yoooooooooooooou
! %*( &
Reply Share
VISHAL MEGHWAL
a year ago
Really very helpful..... Got a canon DSLR 4 days back.....

Was using on auto mode as i didnt know anything about
other functions..... Now i can think of changing modes....
Thank u.... Very easy to undersrand......
Reply Share
Aditya Agrawal
a year ago
Thank you for this... I just stepped in the world of DSLR

photography and thoroughly confused around the creative
side of it.....this article pretty much gets me started
Reply Share
Maria
a year ago
Lovely article.. Very helpful.. Thanks for the wonderful

post..

Pradip
Reply Share
a year ago
It is great to have your post very helpful for a beginner as I

am in the vast field of DSLR photography.So thanks a lot.
Reply Share
Page 35 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
Reply Share
Arjun Sunil
a year ago
thnks dude,really helped

Reply Share
Berto Putik
a year ago
Thank you very much! This is such a big help for me. I just
got my new Fujifilm x-m1 last night and it makes easier for
me to understand most of the controls in there. More
power!
Reply Share

chandu
a year ago
Thanks for good read .. its very straight and catchy for
beginner :)
Reply Share
vichu
a year ago
thank you very much. That was quite focussed.

Reply Share

Claire
a year ago
Extremely helpful.
Reply Share
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Some Older Comments
Wendy Elphinstone
September 29, 2013
05:11 pm
Excellent tutorial!!! I'm actually nally

understanding. Thank you for making a
very informative, to the point, tutorial! I
really appreciate it!
Kathy
September 29, 2013 12:33 pm
First I love this website! This is the best

article I have read on the dierent
settings. It is especially helpful to have
the pictures and diagrams. Great article
and thank you so much, Kathy
Page 37 of 46
Phylo
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
September 28, 2013 11:02 am
Many thanks for the excellent tutorial.

As a beginner, starting tomorrow i will
using the suggested program modes.
Dave
Awesome! Simple, clear and ultimately

understandable. Most important to me
is that I took away at least two excellent
procedures to improve my photos (wb
setting and exposure comp).
Ross
A very good article and direct to the

point.
HOWEVER - your discription of P mode
is a little incorrect. I have a Cannon
400D. On this camera, P mode lets you
Page 38 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
set all settings as you want them,

(exposure oset, ISO etc,) BUT the
shutter speed and aperature are set as
the camera sees t.
With some experimenting I found that
the aperature can be changed and the
shutter speed will correct itself.
However no reference is made in the
manual about this.
I use this mode for general
photography when I am a bit lazy and
set ISO as I want it, and tweek the oset
if required. I try to remember to leave
my camera on this setting when
nished as it is then ready for a basic
photo in a quick reaction situation.
I use Tv or Av when I want to control
either shutter speed, or aperature for
the purpose you explain.
If you use one of these modes the other
will be adjusted by the camera, or ash
if out of range.
On a dierent subject, I always have my
camera set to take both JPEG and RAW
together, it can be done on the Cannon.
Storage media is cheap, I keep about
four x 4GB cards in my case and never
run out of space. I don't post process
Page 39 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
about 95% of my photos, but it is VERY

good to have a RAW le if I do want to
"x" that special photo.
The last comment I will make is I always
check the histogram, and if not to my
satasfaction, make corrections using
the oset, exposing on a lighter/darker
area and reframing, depending on my
mood.
Once again, thanks for an excellent
article, simple and to the point.
Ross.
Stephanie Lanzetti
September 27, 2013
04:20 pm
Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have just taken up photography and
have been grappling with pretty much
all the above. I couldn't nd anything
that would explain it all simply and
clearly; this has done the job.
Stephanie
Page 40 of 46
Tallulah
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
By the way, Elliot, LOVE your photos!

The hares are stunning!
Tallulah
Thanks very much for this article. I just

purchased a Pentax K-5 II and the info
you shared in this article will really help
my learning process.
George Hewitt
Best explanation of the various camera

settings, especially WHY you choose
one over the other. Better than any
camera manual. Gives real
encouragement and desire and
purpose to steer clear of auto. Perfect
for beginners and for many who think
Page 41 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
they are not beginners.
Benedict Menezes
September 27, 2013
12:49 am
An excellent article along with good

photographs illustrating the points. My
sincere thanks to the author,a very
good teacher.
Elliot Hook
Frank - yes, that is what the two

separate priority modes do, however
program mode functions almost as a
hybrid of the two. The camera will
determine the exposure, yet you should
have the option of changing either the
aperture OR shutter speed (within the
one mode) and the camera will change
the other to maintain the balanced
exposure. It is a 'semi-automatic' way of
shooting that gives a little more
Page 42 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
exibility over the two individual

priority modes.
Gnslngr45
Good article. There's so much to learn.

This website is a tremendously good
place to start (and continue). I read it
every chance I get and even after 4+
years, I still nd nuggets here to
improve my photography.
Flickr:
http://bit.ly/oufr4c
leighann
I love the pictures really amazing I hope

you ceep up the good work
Frank
Page 43 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
Great article, but I'm a little confused

about the dierence between Program
mode and Priority modes. In the
description of Program mode it says
you set one and the camera takes care
of the other. Isn't that what Priority
modes do too?
Natalia
Thanks for explaining the basic! Very

useful information!!!
Gourab
excellent.I have read these points bits &

pieces in DPS.But this one is stunning
with all assembled together with
perfect example & pictures.
Page 44 of 46
Babs Baker
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
Very informative. ..excellent for ALL

photographers and students
everywhere!
Richard Taylor
Excellent tutorial. Thanks very much.
David Stransky
September 20, 2013 06:51
am
That was a GREAT article with a lot of

useful information. I have been using
my DSLR for many years and still have
not mastered all of those things. I plan
on trying some of them this weekend at
a local state park. I also forwrded a link
to to a end who just bought a new
camera.
Page 45 of 46
7/14/16, 5:47 AM
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