Image via Wikipedia

My foray into DSLR photography began with the ownership of a Canon G9, which I purchased a few years ago. I wanted a camera that was portable, familiar, and not as intimidating as an SLR; yet could produce similar images. The Canon G series was a good stepping stone to to SLR photography for two reasons.

Number one: It accepts a hotshoe flash, allowing you to light your subjects with more flexibility AND power than the built-in flash alone.

Number two: The MOST important reason, it’s the ease of accessing the manual control parameters, ISO, shutter speed, and aperture values.

You could buy a DSLR and never learn what ISO, Aperture, and Shutter speed are, due to the dumbed down AUTO modes featured on the accessible consumer marketed dslr’s; but I ask you, are you the type of person to buy an expensive, complicated, and trendy piece of equipment just to act like you can walk the walk? If you answered yes to that question, close your browser window now. Don’t pass GO or collect $200. Thanks for stopping by.

To those of you still here, I’d guess that you rather like to get under the hood of your equipment. That you like to make decisions , you like to take charge of your life and don’t delegate the important decisions to the whims of –of automata. So you want to understand how to use a camera in MANUAL mode, naturally.

I suggest you FIRST gain an understanding of what effect Shutter Speed, Aperture, and ISO have on your pictures by independent manipulation of each variable. These three parameters are oft referred to as the “Exposure triangle.”

This video can help get you started, but you need experience in the field to know it intuitively. The more comfortable you are, the quicker you’ll be able to make decisions in the field, and the more command of your craft you will get. NOTHING is worse than the feeling of being in front of a client, and not being able to meter the correct exposure while working with studio strobes. That would make me feel like crawling under a table and never coming out , or ever touch a camera again. Thankfully this hasn’t happened to me, nor should it ever happen to you.

[removed iframe during malware-safe restore]
 

Know your gear, and know how to manage your light. I owe much of what I’ve learned about light to the guys at the creativelive courses. Zack Arias‘ studio photography workshop taught me nearly all I know about light and flash photography today. This video is the beginning of that exploration, but unless you go out there and solidify this knowledge in the field, you’ll never really progress.