Master Your Camera for Beginners

In this section, we'll cover:

• What a camera is and how it works

• Some of the key differences between DSLR and Mirrorless cameras

• Some of the pro's and con's of crop and full-frame sensors

• Lenses and focal-lengths

• And finally, we'll have a look at a camera. We'll find some of the buttons and dials you'll need to find on your own camera and we'll practice changing lenses.

In this lesson, we'll be looking at what a camera is and how it works.

We'll also go over the key similarities and differences between Mirrorless and DSLR cameras. Both systems are extremely good and it really comes down to personal choice as to which system you decide to use.

I'll talk about crop and full-frame sensors (and discuss the price point of both systems and why you might choose to start with a crop sensor).

And finally, we finish up talking about lenses and focal lengths.

After this lesson, you should have a basic understanding of how a camera works, the differences between different camera systems and you should be able to recognise a wide or telephoto lens by its focal length

In this lesson, we go over the camera and all its functions.

We take the lens off and put it back on. Make sure you practice this, so you know how to do it easily when you need to change your own lenses

***Please note*** Unless you have the exact same model of camera that I am demonstrating with, the buttons and dials will most likely be in different places. To get the most out of this lesson, watch it all the way through, then re-watch the lesson and write down all the features that I point out. Then go to your manual and find out where these functions are on your camera.

The Exposure Triangle

Have you ever seen photographs of beautiful misty oceans, those magical creamy waterfalls, rain droplets being frozen in time and portraits of people or pets with sharp faces and lovely soft or blurry backgrounds?

If you want to get more creative with your photography and move beyond just taking snap-shots, then learning and understanding the exposure triangle is crucial!

What is the Exposure Triangle?

You may have heard of the exposure triangle before; photographers often talk about it on YouTube and in blogs.

Maybe you’ve never heard on the exposure triangle at all!

But don’t worry, by the end of this section of the course, you’ll know all about the exposure triangle and understand how it is one of the most important principles in photography.

The exposure triangle describes the three camera settings that contribute to creating a well-exposed photograph:

• Aperture

• Shutter Speed

• ISO

The three points on the triangle all work together to create a balanced and well-exposed image. Changing one side of the triangle will affect the exposure unless you counterbalance by changing another side of the triangle.

Don’t worry if this all sounds quite complicated at the moment, I’ll be breaking it down and explaining it in more detail within this section.

When you shoot in the automatic mode, your camera or smartphone reads the light coming into the camera through the lens with its light meter and calculates the correct exposure.

It then automatically adjusts each side of the exposure triangle to create what it thinks is the correct exposure.

However, what the camera perceives as the correct exposure might not necessarily be what you had in mind. It might be overexposed or underexposed. You might have wanted a darker image to highlight some interesting light. You may even have wanted to create a high-key, bright image by purposefully overexposing your image.

Understanding and taking control of the exposure triangle will open up a whole new world of creative possibilities and you will take another step closer towards taking the photo’s that you see in your mind’s eye.

In this lesson, we're going to look at the exposure triangle in a little more detail.

We'll explore camera stops, f/numbers and grain

In this lesson, we're going to look at the various shooting modes.

Your camera has various modes for shooting, but the most important shooting modes are the semi-automatic and fully manual modes.

If you're stuck on the Auto mode, watch this lesson and have a go with a different mode - you really won't regret it!

There's more to your camera than the exposure modes.

These extra modes will all help you create beautiful pictures. However, if you're new to photography, don't try to learn everything all at once!

Start with exposure, master that first, then start on these extra functions.

This lesson is all about storage and viewing your pictures.

We talk about Jpeg and Raw files, memory cards and finally, we discuss why you should print your pictures.

I've gone over a lot of information. So in this video, I sum everything up