Photography lessons... in simple terms.

It seems as though many people have gotten their hands on a DSLR (digital single lens reflex) camera for Christmas (or just bought one for themselves).  I have been asked by numerous people how to use the darn thing, and it's hard to explain in a short amount of time.  There's a lot to it, you no longer just point your camera and shoot (all though you can very well do that in auto mode).  I've decided to do a blog series devoted to teaching about cameras and photography in general.  I think for a lot of people it's really too hard and too complicated to sit down and read the manual, there's lots of information and terms you may not know... and frankly it can just make your brain hurt.  I will do my best to break it all down in simple terms.  Even if you don't have a DSLR you can still follow along as many of my tips will work for your simple (or complex) point and shoot cameras.

I am going to start with your mode dial seen here:

The mode dial is used to set the mode you want to shoot in.  The easiest is the green square (your camera may have it as a different picture or just say "auto").  If you put your camera on this setting the camera automatically detects all of your settings.  You won't get award winning photos using this, but you'll get decent shots.  I use this from time to time when I have to grab my camera and shoot, if my kids are doing something I want to capture I may not have time to fiddle with the settings and this makes it easy.

Next to auto is the icon of the lady, this is your Portrait Mode.  This is used for shooting portraits of people or animals.  It sets a shallow depth of field (gives you a blurry background) and puts all the focus on the person.  In my opinion this mode works best when photographing only one person (any more then that and you loose focus) and the person must not be moving.

Next is the mountain/cloud icon, this is your Landscape Mode.  You guessed it, it's for shooting outdoors, landscapes to be exact.  It sets a large depth of field (allows objects even far away to be in focus).  

The next icon is the flower, this is your Macro Mode (close up).  This allows you to only focus on the one close up object you are photographing.  This one is tricky as it really depends on the lens you have on your camera to determine how close you can get to your subject and remain in focus.  This mode works best with a macro lens.

The next icon is the running man (no, not the dance from the 90's), this is your Sport Mode.  It sets your shutter speed fast so you can capture fast subjects.  This works best at a sporting event with lots of natural lighting or at the park when your trying to capture your two year old that just won't sit still.

The next icon is the man with the star, this is your Night Mode.  This is for capturing scenes at night.  It has a very slow shutter speed which means any tiny shake of the camera and your photo will be blurry.  You must use a tripod or table and be sure your subject is not moving.

The last icon on that side is the arrow that's been crossed off, this is your No Flash Mode.  It simply makes certain your flash does not fire.  In this mode you also want to be sure you have ample natural light and minimize camera shake (camera shake is any movement of the camera when taking the picture).

That covers half of your mode dial, I will be explaining the other half soon.  Happy Shooting!