From auto to manual with a Canon or Nikon DSLR camera

I started to use the P setting first but not much was different than with the auto setting. In P though you can set up most of your settings and then go to M.

I used the Aperture priority (AV) for a while and got to see some good photos with depth of field differences.

I tried A-DEP too, but you don't have enough control there for depth of field because the camera chooses what will be in focus and what won't.

I used Night Portrait but most of them came out shockingly because as it says it was for portraits not Xmas lights.

I've also used Sports for moving objects like bike riders.

However, none of these partly manual settings satisfied me.

I knew I was having trouble with night photography, making running water look smooth, and getting the right exposures for light and dark subjects, so I studied up. The best site I came across was SLR photography guide Another photography ecucational site with more photoshop lessons than the first one is Digital photography school I see no point in going over what has already been written.

A great little guide to the relationship between ISO, Aperture and Shutter speed (which are the main settings you will need to know about for manual settings) is at Jeremy
Jacob's cheat sheet

So after you set your camera to M (Manual) you can really start experimenting. You can also manually set your shots by turning off AF and you can use a tripod to take photos at night or to take still shots, for example. My advice though is to keep AF on unless you want to focus on somehting that is unusual. Also you can lock in your focus to where your want to focus by holding down the shutter button half way, focus, and then move your camera to where you want to compose the photo. Then click all the way.

Another great tool is an EXIF program which looks at your photo and tells you all the settings which were used. Amazing! It also has a picture viewer.

EXIF program

Click on that hideous spider and you will see my photos

One more thing for now: if you have an iphone, you can download SLR Photography Guide app