photo 101 – DSLR intro (know your camera)

For the (second) start of my photography series, I’m going, to begin with how to shoot in manual mode on your DSLR. If you have a DSLR and you have it set to Automatic, you’re missing out. I know it’s intimidating, but over the next few months, I’m going to teach you how to shoot confidently in Manual mode. I promise once you get the hang of it, it’s really pretty easy. We’re going to ease into it and take it slow. And don’t worry iPhone users, I’ll be sharing some about composition and tips as well!

If you don’t have a DSLR and are looking into getting one or are curious what I use, I shared my camera equipment in this post here. I have had two Canon cameras and loved them both. If you’re just starting out, my suggestion is to go with the Canon Rebel (grab whatever version you can afford, I had a t3i back in the day) and this 50 mm lens.

The first step is knowing your camera and where all the settings are and how to change things easily. I can’t really teach you these things as each camera is different. So, get out that manual or spend a bit of time playing around with your settings and getting them just right. Keep in mind that you will continue to learn your camera more as you use it, experience is by far the best teacher in photography.

Here are some things you will need to learn:

1. How to switch your camera to different modes
   1. We are also going to use different modes before making the jump to fully manual, so look out for Aperture Priority (A or Av) and Shutter Priority (S)
2. Figure out how to adjust:
   1. aperture
   2. shutter speed
   3. ISO
3. Look into editing software, I use Lightroom to edit my photos

Those are the main things, but it’s smart to learn as much as you can about your camera. Go to your info or settings and go through each tab and learn about each item in there. And whatever you do, do not format your memory card. I did that once in high school and accidentally deleted all of my photos. By doing this you will learn other things that will be helpful, like how to change your image size, switch to RAW, and possibly set up your camera to your phone.

In the next few lessons, we will be covering aperture, shutter, and ISO and how to properly expose a photograph. Sound like fun? 🙂

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Let me know if you have any questions and look out for the next photo 101 lesson in a couple weeks!