Lesson Two: That funny dial at the top

By this point, I'm sure you've gotten the chance to play with the camera a little bit and have probably noticed that funny dial at the top.  You know, the one with the funny pictures (such as the flower) and letter combinations (such as Av) on them.  I highly suggest you play around with each setting and get a feel for what each one does and when to use each one.  When you first start out, playing with just the settings that have symbols on them is just fine but eventually, you'll want to start experimenting with the semi-automatic settings of the camera, such as Av mode or Tv mode.  These settings are the reason you shelled out all that money for a digital SLR instead of a point and shoot camera.  The settings with the symbols on them will have the camera make all the setting adjustments for you.  Sure, you'll get decent enough pictures most of the time but to get excellent shots all the time, you'll want to start with either aperture priority (probably labeled Av mode, no, I don't know why it's labeled Av) or shutter priority (probably labeled Tv mode on Canons.  I believe some other companies may refer to it as Sv mode).  Most of the time Av mode will be your best choice.  In Av mode, what the camera does is have you set the aperture (Terminology Alert: opening in the camera that lets light through).  The camera will automatically adjust all other settings such as shutter speed based on the aperture setting you choose.  Often, you'll see aperture setting denoted as f/x where x=a number.  For instance f/3.5.  An aperture of f/3.5 is bigger than f/8 and so lets more light in.  A trick that I use to remember this is to pretend that the f =1.  So, just like in math, 1/3.5 is greater than 1/8.  This mode is great for all around shooting and especially for landscapes and other non-moving objects or slow-moving objects.  However, there are a couple of cons to using this mode.  Since the aperature is what takes priority in this setting, the camera may have to keep the shutter open longer which increases the chance of having a blurry image aka motion blur.  Also, as previously mentioned, this mode works well for non-moving or slow moving objects but if the object you're trying to photograph is moving fairly fast, you'll probably end up with motion blur. That's probably when you'll want to switch over to Tv or shutter priority mode which we'll cover next time.