When I got my first digital camera I was overwhelmed by all the things I needed to learn. JPEG or RAW? Apertures? Shutter speeds? It takes time to learn all these things and to become comfortable with all these different choices and methods. I'll be going over some of the basics in this article and I hope that by the end of this article you'll have a better understanding on how to use a camera.

RAW or JPEG?

While this doesn't really affect your ability to take images it's good to know the difference. If you don't know for sure you are probably shooting in JPEG mode right now. Almost everybody knows what a JPEG is. You probably know what it is if you have ever looked at images or photographs on a PC. The other format, RAW, is something else. A lot of people don't know what it is. It is the original data that your camera captures when you take a photograph. A RAW file has absolutely no compression it you can easily edit it on your computer. It takes up a lot of memory card space and that's it biggest downside. Let's say your memory card is big enough to let you shoot a thousand photographs in JPEG mode then maybe you can shoot around four hundred RAW images.

ISO.

This is derived from the Greek word isos, meaning equal, and it stands for international organization for standardization. The sensitivity of your photographic film or light sensor is indicated by the ISO value. An ISO of 1600 will require a lot less light then an ISO of 100. It isn't that simple though. The higher your ISO the more noise your photograph will have. Low ISO number on the other hand will give you almost no noise and the quality will be much better.

White balance.

This one can be a little tricky at first. Your camera uses the white balance settings to interpret colors. So are you telling me a camera doesn't know how to interpret colors? you might ask. I thought a camera was designed with this in mind? While it does know how to interpret colors properly there are some things that can mess up that interpretation. The sun, light bulbs or a flash can distort the cameras interpretation and give your images a blueish or yellowish tint. So your camera uses the white balance settings to compensate for those things and to make the colors in your photograph look more accurate.

Shutter speed.

This is an absolute must if you want to know how to use a camera. The time your photographic film or light sensor is being exposed is being determined by your shutter speed. It works together with the aperture of your camera. If you want a long exposure you should use a longer shutter speed. Remember that this can create motion blur. If you want to freeze movement you should use a shorter speed. This will let only a little light in.

Aperture.

Light has to come into your camera and it first passes through the aperture. It is the hole in your lens and it shapes the cone angle of the rays of light that come into your camera. If you want shallow depth of field you should open up your lens and use a larger aperture. Something like f/2.8 will do. If you want a lot of depth of field you should use a small aperture. Something like f/22)

So how do you actually handle a camera? The grip is the most important thing. Your left hand should support the lens and your right hand should hold the right end of your camera. Try to keep your elbows as close to your chest as possible. The key is to reduce as much motion blur as possible. Press the capture button slightly to let the camera focus on your subject. The auto focus of your camera will adjust itself and it will reduce blurriness. If you hold the capture button firmly your camera will capture the image. Put the camera in play mode and you can look at the photograph you've just taken on the lcd screen on the back of your device.

This concludes my article on how to use a camera. Don't expect being a professional tomorrow. Photography takes quite a while to master. The most important thing is to practice. You need to go out and take a lot of pictures in order to get good. You will become very comfortable using a camera if you do this and I know for a fact that you'll have a great time.If you want to learn more check out my blog.

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