14.6.

2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your

rst DSLR
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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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

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 one-stop 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
camera, and give you the key topics to go back to your manual to read.

Steps for Learning How to Use Your DSLR

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Steps for Learning How to Use Your DSLR

include:
Heres some steps for learning how to use that new DSLR that well cover in this
article.

1. Master Shooting modes (including priority modes and full manual)

2. Understand ISO

3. Learn the exposure triangle

4. Master Metering including exposure compensation

5. Learn About Focussing

6. Understand le size/types

7. Learn about White balance

Theres lots to learn if you want to get the most from your DSLR but lets start by
digging into each of these topics.

1. Master 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 camera behaves when you press the
shutter, for example, when auto is selected, the camera will determine everything
to do with the exposure, including the aperture and shutter speed. The other
modes, Av, Tv, P, M, are there to give you control:

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Dont worry if your mode dial looks a little di erent; di erent manufacturers use
di erent 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 semi-automatic 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 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.

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Aperture is one of the most important aspects of photography as it directly

in uences 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.

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

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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:

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 semi-automatic 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 to freeze a fast moving
subject, such as shooting sports, action or wildlife, for example:

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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 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

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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 view nder 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. Understand ISO

ISO is a measure of how sensitive the sensor of your camera is to light. The term
originated in lm photography, where lm of di erent sensitivities could be used
depending on the shooting conditions, and it is no di erent 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 di erent 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

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ISO number, such as ISO 100 or 200. This will give you images of the highest
quality, with very little grain (or noise).

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, e ectively
multiplying the small amount of available light to give you a correctly exposed
image. This multiplication e ect comes with a side e ect 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 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. Learn the Exposure Triangle

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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.

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).

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Aperture, shutter speed and ISO are all facotrs that in uence
your exposure, and are all linked. Its just a case of balancing the
books!

They all have the net e ect 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 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 .

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4. Master 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 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 in uence 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 view nder 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 view nder that totals approximately 5% of the
view nder area. It will make the assessment of dark/light tones in this area and
expose the entire scene to 18% grey, from that assessment.

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Practically speaking: when starting out with your camera, either average or centre
weighted metering are a good starting point. They will both provide a 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 exposure compensation to let
the camera know that the scene should be lighter than middle grey.

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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.

5. Learn About Focussing

Regardless of what shooting mode you are using, or what ISO you de ne, 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 half-
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press 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 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 view nder, 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 view nder with 9 focus points is
shown below:

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New DSLRs can come with over 50 focus points and the temptation is to leave it on
fully automatic focus 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. Understand File Size and Types

You will have the option to be able to change the size 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 post-processing (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.
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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. Learn about White balance

If shooting in jpeg, as recommended above, you will need to make sure you set
your white balance before taking a picture. The white balance can signi cantly
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.

Di erent light sources (such as the sun, light bulbs, uorescent strips etc) emit light
of di erent 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 re ected o of surfaces, but our brain in clever
enough to recognise this and automatically counter the e ect, 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 arti cial 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 di erent light sources is well known, there are a
number of presets built into your camera that help to overcome the di erent
colours of light in di erent 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 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

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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 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 e ect of each setting will
soon have you in complete control of your camera. The biggest step, that will give
you the most noticeable di erence in the feeling of control and direct in uence 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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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.

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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!
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Bart Van Eynde 3 years ago

Hi Elliot, could you create a pdf / free eBook version of this article?
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14.6.2017
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Kaveen Rodrigo > Bart Van Eynde 2 years ago

http://www.web2pdfconvert.com/
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Rijushree Saha 3 years ago

A Great manual for beginners . Interesting and easy to understand
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Rishika 3 years ago

Thank you for this post.
It is really helpful.
22 Reply Share

Andrea Deatrick Roat 3 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!
11 Reply Share

herandhair 3 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
condently 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 denitely still a bit foggy on the exacts of how they
aect each other... but I gure it's something I may learn with hands on practice.
6 Reply Share

bappaditya 3 years ago

how to bring blur eect at the background of a picture?
5 Reply Share

Abhi > bappaditya 2 years ago

Lower your shutter speed and aperture value I.e. f/3.5
Reply Share

Ads > bappaditya 3 years ago

That is called Depth of Field and can generally be adjusted by xing 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.
Reply Share

macmacmac 3 years ago

love your lessons.... its so easy to understand. thank's!
5 Reply Share

Jeremy 3 years ago

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR
Jeremy 3 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

Keythin Watford 3 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 3 years ago

thanks a lot !!!!!
4 Reply Share

Newbie1189 3 years ago

Very informative input. Appreciate your time writing this down.
3 Reply Share

Dan Witter 3 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 2 years ago

True to a point, but even a DSLR on automatic takes better pictures than a point and
shoot.
2 Reply Share

Sammy > Sandy 2 years 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.
Reply Share

Mike 3 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 rst 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
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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 Reply Share

sree 3 years ago

Great Article .......good explanation
2 Reply Share

VibhaJ 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 Reply Share

Joan 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

George Best 22 days ago

Thank you Elliot for such an informative article.
Reply Share

Julianna Campusano a month ago

Thank you so much for this article. I've been looking for information like this for a while, but
never found something as complete, straight forward and easy to understand. Thank you!
Reply Share

Nupur Sachdeva 3 months ago

Hey Elliot, Really great post.. It helped me a lot during my early stage of using a DSLR.

Pls note I have used your content on my site - nupursachdeva.com just as a post for about 5-6
days since the website building was a part of my school project and we have to put posts on it
of our interest.

I would really like to get your consent before I submit it to the school. I have also kept your link
intact and have mentioned that the post is by you. It would be taken down as soon I am graded
for the website. The content would not be considered in grading.

I would really appreciate this help. I hope you wont mind.

Thanks and Regards

Nupur
Reply Share

Shani Gemini 4 months ago

You are a real savior man, been looking for this from last two week .
Thanks for your eorts
Reply Share

Anwar SK 5 months ago

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR
Anwar SK 5 months ago
Very nice article!!!
Reply Share

Deborah Hands 5 months ago

Please could you upload more images taken with the dierent settings discussed. It would
really help me and other visual learners retain all the information! Thank you for producing this
great guide.
Reply Share

Prabhat 5 months ago

Thanks for the details in depth discussion. It is really very helpful for the beginners.
Reply Share

Tehila Dahan- Hatheway 5 months ago

Thank you for this post. I've been taking some phots lately and the subjects looked orange. I
am looking forawad to try playing with the white balance to see if it xing my issue.
Reply Share

Sophie Boyd 6 months ago

Looking at buying my rst DSLR and considered the Canon EOS 100D. Does that sound like a
good choice, and would I be able to use it manually in the way you have described in the
article?
Reply Share

Sagar Gole > Sophie Boyd 6 months ago

Yes you will be able to use it manually in the way the author has described in the article.
I have recently bought the Canon EOD 700D and it is pretty close to Canon EOS 100D.
You can also consider Nikon D5200 which will costs you more or less the same.
Reply Share

Vinmay Mane 7 months ago

Nice really very thanq for a such creative nd helpful information god bless u....
Reply Share

Adnan siddiqui 9 months ago

http://tinyurl.com/hh23gwk
This would help you all photographers out there!!!
Hope for great results...
Reply Share

Rio N 9 months ago

Excellent article !
Reply Share

Lilac 10 months ago

Amazing, I have spend years trying to understand how to use the manual setting on my camra
and this explained everything i needed to know, best easy to understand explanation i have
read. Perfect!
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read. Perfect!
Reply Share

Raducu a year ago

I still found this very informative, a good start to get more into this, thanks :)!
Reply Share

Abhishek Malipatil a year ago

Thank You for this.. Super helpful for a novice like me.. Cheers.
Reply Share

Charilaos a year ago

Superb article! Shared and recommended!
Reply Share

Tim Stuttard a year 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
great knowledge of the camera already. I am a beginner. I wear glasses for reading and nd it
hard to use the view nder hence my fear of out of focus shots. Anyone got any tips to make
me feel more comfortable using manual mode ?.
Thanks
Reply Share

Derp > Tim Stuttard 9 months ago

There's a dial that you can adjust while looking through the view nder. It changes the
focus depending on your eyesight. Doesn't mean that the pictures will be out of focus,
just that what you see through the nder will be sharp, even though you are not wearing
glasses. Aside from that, take your time, don't worry about getting the right pictures
right out of the bat. Go to a park or a place you like and start experimenting. Read a bit
about ISO, Aperture and Shutter Speed and use these to get dierent pictures. Leave
the rest on auto for the time being. When you think you can handle these 3 elements, try
using the rest on manual. You will hardly get good pictures at the beginning, so go out
with the idea that you'll be learning. Hope it helps, although I just read it now, 5 months
later after you posted.
Reply Share

Amit Mallick a year ago

Thanks Much, This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!!
Reply Share

Ryan O'Connor a year 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.
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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR
the correct exposure for a large range of shots.
Reply Share

Group Of Oceninfo a year ago

Hi Can you please create some live video tutorial?
Reply Share

Kosala a year ago

really good. simply explained. well done !
Reply Share

Nature eye a year ago

Very clear teaching. Thank a lot.
Reply Share

Suren a year ago

Fifteen years ago I had rst 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

Nick Franks a year ago

Hi Elliot, Thank you for providing such a helpful intro piece for late-to-the-party newbies like
me!
Reply Share

shariq khan a year ago

thank u so much dear. have a good day
Reply Share

Prabhu 2 years 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

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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 di erent settings. It is especially helpful to
have the pictures and diagrams. Great article and thank
you so much, Kathy

Phylo 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 September 28, 2013 07:07 am

Awesome! Simple, clear and ultimately understandable.

Most important to me is that I took away at least two

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

excellent procedures to improve my photos (wb setting

and exposure comp).

Ross September 27, 2013 08:55 pm

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 set all settings as you want them,
(exposure o set, 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 o set 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 di erent 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 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 o set, exposing on a lighter/darker

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

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

Tallulah September 27, 2013 12:54 pm

By the way, Elliot, LOVE your photos! The hares are

stunning!

Tallulah September 27, 2013 12:46 pm

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 September 27, 2013 08:12 am

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 they are not
beginners.

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

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 September 24, 2013 04:28 am

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 exibility over the two
individual priority modes.

Gnslngr45 September 24, 2013 12:50 am

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 September 22, 2013 02:59 am

I love the pictures really amazing I hope you ceep up the

good work

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

Frank September 22, 2013 12:50 am

Great article, but I'm a little confused about the

di erence 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 September 21, 2013 04:35 am

Thanks for explaining the basic! Very useful

information!!!

Gourab September 20, 2013 10:49 pm

excellent.I have read these points bits & pieces in

DPS.But this one is stunning with all assembled together
with perfect example & pictures.

Babs Baker September 20, 2013 09:43 pm

Very informative. ..excellent for ALL photographers and

students everywhere!

Richard Taylor September 20, 2013 04:01 pm

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

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14.6.2017 The Ultimate Guide to Learning how to use Your rst DSLR

them this weekend at a local state park. I also forwrded

a link to to a end who just bought a new camera.

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