Beginner's Guide

You are smarter than your camera, so why let it make all the decisions for you? Your camera’s Auto feature may give you okay results, but who is happy with just okay?

This guide will show you how easy it is to break free of Auto and unlock your potential to capture AMAZING images. You will be surprised at how easy it is to take full control of your camera and create captivating photos in any situation.

There is nothing more important than “seeing the world” that is around you. I want to explain how you can train your mind and eyes to see the images that are around us at all time.

No matter the make or model of your camera I am going to show you the basics of the buttons so you have a better understand. I explain everything around the dial from what the auto mode to A-S-M-P

Glass, Glass, Glass, Glass, Glass!!! Did you know there is a difference between a good piece of glass and a basic piece of glass. I want to explain right up front how important using quality lenses is. Remember that quality glass does not always mean expensive.

Do you know what makes one image stand out as a WOW and some others as a Pass, composition. Understanding the basics of composition is going to allow you to capture images that make people go WOW. I hammer home the fundamentals of composition by using real world examples to allow you to visually understand each one.

You may hear people say that they “crop” their images often. I personally do not crop and pass along that mentality to you. When you crop you are taking away important data that could leave you with an image with less quality.

Let’s take a look at what the different modes of your camera mean. On your cameras dial you will see a A or AV which stands for Aperture Priority. This means you set the Aperture and the camera will set the proper shutter speed S or TV stands for Shutter Priority. This means that you set the shutter speed and the camera will set the aperture. The mode I will have you learning is the M mode or Manual. This gives you full control of your settings

Did you know that if you have a slow shutter speed there is a better chance your subject will have motion blur? A faster shutter speed generally allows you to freeze motion but you have to keep in mind that any changes you make will effect the exposure triangle.

Your shutter not only helps you capture motion it controls the amount of light that enters your camera. This is where under and over exposing an image comes into play. The faster the shutter speed the less light you will let in. The slow the shutter speed the longer the shutter is open, the more light you will let in.

Your ISO controls how sensitive to light your image sensor is. For example the brighter a situation is the lower your ISO may be. You raise your ISO in darker situations to make your image sensor more sensitive to light. There are different things that happen as you raise your ISO so you will want to be careful.

Do you want to “blow out” your background meaning do you want to have your subject completely sharp and your background blurry?

When you are trying to get either a little or a lot in focus you have to think about your depth of field. I will show you exactly how to make this work with even the most basic lenses.

Getting closer or further away from your subject will effect how much of the background is either in focus or out. This means even with your basic kit lens you can make the background go blurry by following the steps I discuss in this section.

Lets take a look at what the difference between a fix aperture vs variable aperture lens. A variable aperture lens means that as you zoom in or out your aperture is going to change. In a fixed aperture lens as you zoom the aperture is going to stay the same no matter what.

Have you seen those lines in your camera that usually have a + and - next to them? Have you seen the little needle move to the left and right depending on how much light there is? Well I am going to help you fully understand how you can control your light meter, read your light meter and get the results you are looking for.

Did you know that your camera has different focus modes, not just auto and manual? Depending on your camera there are different...