Master Your DSLR Camera

Your camera is basically just a box with a hole in it and a light sensor inside. If the right amount of light gets through the hole to strike the sensor, you get a properly exposed picture. If you get too much or too little light, you get garbage. You already know that in program mode you can control the sensitivity of the light sensor itself by changing the ISO value, but in manual mode you can also control the amount of light that gets inside in the first place. You do that with the shutter and the aperture.

Shutter

The shutter controls how long the hole in your camera stays open. Open it for a long time and a lot of light gets in. Open it for a short time and less light gets in. It's that simple!
Well, not really. Having a fast shutter means you can freeze fast action such as athletic performances, splashing water, and so on. The drawback? A lot less light gets inside the camera, and your picture could be too dark. Conversely, you might use a slow shutter speed to compensate for low light conditions—the longer the hole is open, the more light gets in, right? But there's a drawback here, too. With a slow shutter speed it's more likely that you or your subject is going to move while the shutter is open, causing motion blur in your photo.
In auto mode and program mode, the camera decides what shutter speed is needed. Sometimes the result is what you want, sometimes it isn't. The camera doesn't know that you want to freeze a fast-moving subject, for example. All it knows is whether the right amount of light is getting inside the camera for a proper exposure. With the camera in manual mode, however, you control the shutter speed to get the shot you really want.
To change the shutter speed in manual mode, just turn the command dial (1) and watch for the changing numbers in the LCD status screen (2).

Get To Know Your DSLR Presets

So you took the plunge and bought a DSLR.  Excellent!  A whole new world of creative photography has just opened up for you.  The picture quality, low noise levels and creative settings on that new fancy dial on top are yours to command with your new photographer DSLR powers!
Hmm…  Speaking of that new fancy dial on top, what do they all mean anyway?  Sure, the guy at the store told you to just keep it on the “auto” or “green” box setting but you own the DSLR now so let’s dig into the details so you can start to actually get some good photos from it!  To start things out, let’s go through them one at a time.
 
“Green Mode” – This mode (sometimes called Auto or just a green square) is just what is sounds like.  It turns your camera into a point-and-shoot camera.  Us this when you just want to take a basic picture just remember that it will be whatever the camera determines is the best settings.