How to Operate a DSLR Camera for Beginners

If you’ve recently bought a DSLR camera and after unboxing it, you’re suddenly overwhelmed with its numerous dials and buttons and the thick manual that came with it. It’s a tempting idea to ignore the manual and just set the camera setting to “Auto” and start shooting. But should never be the case.

There’s so much to learn if you want to make full use of your DSLR. For starters, you’ll need to be familiar with its functionality.

DSL Camera Modes

Here are important settings that you’ll need to be critical about to achieve the best shots from your DSL camera:

• Shooting modes - One best approach to getting to know your DSL camera is its shooting modes. A typical what is a DSLR cameras nowadays often have a dial generally labeled as “Auto,” “Av,” “Tv,” “P,” and “M,” Choosing a certain mode will determine how your camera will operate the moment you work with its shutter.Here’s a breakdown on each one:
  • Aperture Priority (Av or A)

  - Aperture priority is basically a “semi-automatic” shooting mode for a DSLR camera. It’s an important part of photography since it has a directly influence on the image that’s in focus. When utilizing aperture priority, you have total control on field depth and leaving your camera to do the rest.

  • Shutter Priority (Tv or S)

  - This functions similar to aperture priority, but in this case, you set the shutter speed while the camera will look into the aperture. You’ll need to go for a long shutter speed if you want blur out a moving subject.

  • Program (P)

  - This mode will let you set either the shutter speed or aperture. The camera will automatically maintain proper exposure by making necessary adjustments on the other.

  • Manual (M)

  - This mode gives you full shooting control. You can set both the shutter speed and aperture according to your preference.

• ISO

ISO is basically a measurement of how sensitive your camera’s sensor is to light exposure. Such sensitivity is represented through numbers: ISO 100 (indicating low sensitivity) up to ISO 6400 (indicating high sensitivity).  It’s responsible for controlling the amount of light needed by the sensor to gain a specific exposure.

If you prefer shooting on a bright day, you could utilize as what is a dslr a lower ISO number (100 or 200). But if you’re going for a low-light shot, you’ll need to opt for a higher ISO number (3200 or higher).

• Metering

Whenever you’re taking a shot, your DSL camera will always make a calculation on its “average” exposure. It’ll analyze the whole image, the light and dark areas, and come up with the right exposure to make all the tones “average.” This is a process called “metering.”

It’s always important to start out your camera with an average or centrally-weighed metering. Both offer accurate exposure measurements to help you understand when an image is underexposed or overexposed.

• Focusing

Regardless of the shooting mode, there’s a chancee the subject within your image will require focusing. If focus can’t be achieved, you’ll end up with an image not to your liking.

Here are focus modes you’ll need to consider when shooting with your camera:

• Autofocus

- A majority of DSLRs come in with autofocus, which is fine for use. But you’ll also consider other modes as well.

• AF-S (Autofocus-Single)

- This mode is ideal for taking pictures of immovable subjects.

• AF-C (Autofocus-Continuous)

- This mode is ideal when taking pictures of subjects in motion.

• Focus Points

When you do a half-press of the shutter, you’ll see squares that are highlighted in red. Such squares are known as the “active focus point.” This shows the position within the frame where the camera is currently focusing. It’s important to initially set your camera to a single focus point. This gives you the freedom to choose focus and ensure the object you’ll be shooting is in focus.

• White Balance

You may notice that what is a dslr can sometimes have images that appear in an orange or bluish tone. This calls for an adjustment of the white balance of that image to ensure it meets your preferred color. It’s a lot simpler if you deal with this matter right away to avoid such image problem from showing up on your next shot.

Exploring Your Camera

These are an overview of the settings you’ll run into if you no longer want to use the “Auto” mode of your camera. Understanding the effects of every setting on your image will later give you better adjustment and control of your camera. In the later going, you’ll no longer see your DSLR camera as a mysterious digital box since you’re already understanding the best approach to achieving a high quality image.

 

Learn more about photography on http://howtobeaphotographer.net

Originally Published Here: How to Operate a DSLR Camera for Beginners