Introduction to DSLR

DSLR stands for Digital Single Lens Reflex.

It basically means a camera with one lens and a mirror which reflects the light, where pictures are recorded on a digital card instead of film.

Getting started

Its best to use the automatic settings to get accustomed to the camera:

• Set the dial to the green automatic mode.
• Make sure the lens is set to AF (auto focus) and not MF (manual focus).
• Push the shutter button down halfway-the camera will automatically focus on the subject.
• Push the button down the rest of the way to take the picture.

Exposure

• Exposure is the amount of light a digital camera's sensor captures when a photo is taken.
• Too much light results in a washed out photo (overexposed).
• Too little light and the photo will be too dark (underexposed).
• A camera's Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO settings directly affect exposure but more importantly, they allow you to control how each photo will look.

Aperture

• The aperture setting controls the size of the lens opening that allows light into your camera.
• You can blur the foreground and background that bracket your subject (known as shallow depth of field) by opening up the aperture with a low f-stop number.
• Alternatively, you can keep your photo sharp from the foreground through to the background (known as wide depth of field by closing the aperture down with a high f-stop number.

Shutter Speed

• The shutter speed setting controls how long the shutter opens to expose the image sensor to that light.
• Open it for just a millisecond and you can freeze a fast moving subject.
• Alternatively, you can show the movement of a fast moving subject by keeping it open longer with a slow shutter speed.

ISO

• The ISO is how sensitive your image sensor is to light.
• With the ISO setting, a camera's image sensor can be adjusted to detect more, or less light as needed for a good exposure.
• The higher the ISO, the more sensitive the sensor will be, and the brighter the image will be.
• The lower the ISO, the less light it's going to bring in, and the darker the image is going to be.
• If you're shooting in low light, you will want to boost your ISO so that the image will be brighter.
• If you're shooting in a bright, sunny place, you'll want to lower your ISO, or the image will be overly-bright.
• High ISO will cause graininess so as a rule use the lowest ISO possible.