Mom's DSLR Crash Course - Which Mode? & Assignment #2

Mom, don't worry, I don't expect you to be the "pro" at Ali's wedding.  You need to be able to enjoy the occasion and not worry about camera settings the whole time.  But... I'll try to teach you a few tricks that will give you an edge over the other wedding guests with "nice cameras."

Check out the descriptions (starting on pg 40 of your manual) for the modes that are in the basic/image zones.  These are pretty self explanatory.  These are the "point and shoot" modes.  Since we don't have tons of time before the wedding, you should get to know these modes because you will probably want to use them, especially during moments that you just don't want to bother with camera settings.

The new mode that I want you to start learning is the Av (Aperture Priority) mode in the creative zone.  See pg 70.  In this mode, you will tell the camera what size aperture you want and it will set the shutter speed for you.  I'll go into details later about aperture size.  For now, here are my reasons as to why you should use this mode over the basic modes for some of the photos you take....

• Av mode (and the other creative modes) will allow you to decide what to focus on, rather than letting the camera assume what you want in focus.
• We can set the camera to record RAW files instead of jpegs when using Av mode.  This is good because there are greater editing possibilities with RAW files.
• On camera flash is not the greatest thing since sliced bread.  In Av mode, we will try to limit the number of shots in which the camera needs to use it's flash.

Here's assignment #2....

1) Put the camera in Av mode

2) Find the 2 places that the camera shows you the aperture value (this will be between 2.8 and 22 for your lens). 

• Hint #1: When you look into viewfinder and press the shutter button down half way, you will see it here...

• Hint #2:  Look at the LCD screen on the back of the camera, it's here...

3) Use the main dial to adjust this value

4) Go outside and pick 1 thing to photograph.  Pick an angle and shooting distance and keep that constant.  Now take and share a few pics at different aperture values.  Oh, and have fun!  Love ya.