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Using your SLR is not as problematical as it seems. Think of the camera as a box that lets in light. On that box is a succession of controls. These various controls allow you to let a large amount of or a little amount of light in. The level of lighting coming in will influence how you capture your photo.

Let's begin with the auto function. The auto function enables the camera to make the options for you. This enables you to just concentrate on shooting the photo rather than stressing about the settings. The auto mode is straightforward however it is not ideal.

The basics of digital SLR photography are simple to become skilled at when you recognize how the camera controls lighting. Camera has control over the light two main ways; Aperture and shutter speed. Your aperture is the opening in which you allow your light in. Your shutter speed is how you organize the speed at which the lighting is coming in. You need them both to be able to control the light.

Think of the digital camera as a human eye. Your aperture is the iris that opens and reduces so that light won't come in. The shutter speed is like the blinking eyelid. Your aperture is also recognized as F stop. F-stop is a numeric value that tells you how much the iris is open. If the aperture is pretty open then we say that it is a considerable aperture. A large aperture is a small number. For example F2 .8 is a very wide aperture. It means the aperture is open very wide. It is comparable to how the iris behaves in dim light. The iris will open more to let more light in so that we can distinguish things in the dark. Your camera is the same.

Aperture not only has control over how wide the iris is but it has an important role to play in depth of field. Depth of field just means what part of the photo is in focus. If every single thing in the photo is in focus then we call that a extended depth of field. If there is only a minor part of the photo that is in clear, sharp focus we call this a small depth of field.

When you have a large aperture, F2 .8 for example, your depth of field can be short. If you have a little aperture such as F 22, then everything in image is in focus. (Light allowing of course.) I will teach this in another lesson.

Shutter speed is intimately linked to seconds. Shutter speed is measured in fractions of a second, seconds and then minutes. A number of cameras have a setting called "Bulb". This means the shutter stays wide open for as long as you keep it open. You can fasten a particular cable to the digital camera and press it just the once. The shutter will open up. It will close up only when you compress the cable button. This will mean that you might have the shutter right open for an hour if your camera allowed it.

Let's take for example the night sky. There is not much light at the human eye can distinguish. In this instance we may want to keep the shutter open for 10 seconds or more. However if we want to take a photo of movement that is fast paced and "freeze" the action, then we want to retain a very fast shutter speed. This is where we get into fractions of a second. I have a Canon 5D Mark II and the shutter speed can go to 1/8000 of a second. This is extremely fast! I use a fast shutter speed when I want to create the effect of water floating in midair for example.

You will see different shooting modes on your camera dial. Not only do you have the automatic function but you have aperture priority, shutter priority, manual and possibly more. Aperture priority sets the aperture for you. It means the camera selects what f-stop to use and you select the shutter speed. Shutter priority works the other way round. This will mean that that the camera picks the shutter speed and you do the rest These two shooting modes are okay but you still won't get the best result. The best mode to use is manual.

When you use the manual setting you have essentially the most control over your digital camera. You can decide the shutter speed and the aperture concurrently. Once you become familiar with how the manual setting works then you can begin to have more control over lighting. Once you have utmost control over the lighting that is when your images begin to look lovely.

Learning how to use your SLR is not a intense or difficult progression. It actually a lot of enjoyment and fairly easy when you get the hang of it. The basics of digital SLR photography purely depend on your camera's capability to interpret light. This of course will mean that that you have to comprehend light too! Once you recognize how light works with your camera you can then choose the shutter speed and aperture that produces the photos that you desire.

Once you master the basics of digital SLR photography you can then move on to shooting with tools to improve your light. These tools can enhance and manipulate the appearance of lighting in your images. Shooting with the flash is one such example of this. But I will leave this to an additional lesson.

Your onboard light gauge is a very significant part of knowing light. Your internal light meter is a small scale that you see when you look through the digital camera. When you put your dial on manual then the indicator will be more to the left or the right.

Depending on what camera model you have the indicator means there is not enough or too much light. When the indicator is right in the middle it means the camera thinks there is just the right amount of light and you may safely take the photo. To be proficient to master light successfully just start shooting in automatic and write down the aperture and shutter speed that the camera has recommended. Then change your dial to manual and choose those same aperture and shutter speed settings. You will see that those suggestions may not be the perfect ones that you once thought. Sometimes at those settings can create an image that is under exposed. This is why it is significant to take photos using manual.

Learning how to use your SLR takes a bit practice. The great thing about photography is you can always remove the photos you don't like. Do not be fearful of making mistakes. Mistakes are catalysts for discovering new things. Once you learn how your camera interprets light then you will be free to become the skilled photographer you've always dreamed about.