Have a look at the back of your camera. Now check out the front, top and sides. How many buttons can you count that you have absolutely no idea what their function is? The ideal answer is ‘zero’ but for many, it usually takes the digits on both hands to count them!
The controls, dials and switches on a digital camera can be confusing.
It’s easy to get a bit lost in the controls. Take my camera for instance. I just counted and there are 32 buttons, dials and switches. Add the controls on the attached lens and flash and it’s enough to drive anyone around the bend (not to mention imprison your camera forever in auto mode!).
Do you need to know each and every camera function to get amazing photos? Absolutely not, but as you familiarize yourself with your camera, shots that weren’t possible before can come suddenly into your reach. Your ability to take amazing photos will be less ‘a stroke of luck’ and will come more naturally and frequently.
To start creating the shots that you want, there are 3 essential basics that will help you take control of your camera. They each respectively deserve their own tutorial but we’ll give you a bite-size chunk here to get you going! Our 3 beginner’s basics are: aperture, shutter speed and ISO. (Although each section is tailored to the DSLR user, tips will be given on using the advanced features of point and shoots (compacts) to achieve similar effects.)
So, if you’re ready, click on page two below and let’s jump in!
I have been looking to buy this for awhile... this would be perfect! Excellent tips as well :) Thank you!
Hi Eric,
Thanks so much for the tips! I love taking pictures, more for the memories than the art, but I have always had my camera on auto because I didn't know how to use the settings. My request, which could be far-fetched: What if you made a basic tutorial for the different kinds of basic cameras, explaining how to do these basic functions on them? I was messing with my camera while reading this blog post but was having trouble figuring out how to do what you were talking about on my specific camera (Canon PowerShot SD1200 IS).
I've read through each of your tutorials this morning and I must say that you offer the most simple and user friendly explanations that I have seen. Great job!!
@Dusty
Thank you Dusty, I appreciate that!
Loving the photography tips from you, Eric!! I'm excited about taking my Canon Rebel off of 'Auto' mode!! :-) Thanks!
@JLM212
Great! I'm excited to see some of the shots that you get with your experimenting! Soon we will be having a reader's showcase with the best images using the tips in this series.
Thank you! I couldn't really figure out what most of my buttons & settings do, so I usually keep it set to "auto" & just take a ton of pictures (one eventually comes out well...). I think this will help a lot- I will definitely play around with it this weekend! Thank you for the tips! :)
Thank you so much for this series! I got a sweet camera for high school graduation (four years ago now....) determined that that would allow me to actually take good photographs. It has been sitting on a shelf for three of those years, but no longer! Please keep posting this series!!
@anyaejo
I'm glad it's off the shelf! What sort of camera is it?
Cool! I knew ISO had something to do with the level of light when you were taking your pictures, I just didn't know what. lol. good to know!
Thanks for the comments! I will be showing loads of contrasting photos in the blog posts that are dedicated to each photography basic. They will be coming soon!
Great info! Thanks so much!!! :-)
i love the tips, eric! is there any way you can show contrasting photo examples for the tips? as in, "here's my gorgeously amazing example, and over here is what you'd get on auto if you sneezed while clicking"? :-)
Eric, I think you're brilliant at explaining this! It's complicated for all of us beginners, but this made it very clear. Thanks!
Great information and tips. Thanks for sharing, Eric.
As a photographer myself I think it's great that you're doing this. My photography instructor always says there are two types of photographers: the kind that photos happen to them and the kind that make photos happen. You are helping people become the latter type of photographers, and I love that.
@astreamartinez
Thank you Astrea!
thanks so much for sharing this. I'm just starting to really get into photography and this was really helpful.