DSLR Camera Tutorial (The Buttons)

I've decided to do one of these a week and to give out homework both for me and for you my lovely readers to do over the week. Then you guys can learn how to do it and go out in the field to learn it. It is the way I learn how to use all my cameras.

DSLR cameras are really fun but with all that fun stuff there are a lot of buttons and menus and even if you read through the manual it's just hard to figure out. That's why you should not only read but actually go out and use what you learn. That's why with these tutorials I'm giving all of you and me homework to do to test out our new skills. I just went to my camera manual and went through and listed all the buttons so they are in no real order of importance.

Mode dial:
The mode dial is where you will change the shooting mode of the camera. There is (We will discuss them in more detail later on.):

• Auto (with and without flash) for simple point and shoot photography
• P, S, A and M (Programmed auto, Shutter-priority auto, Aperture-priority auto, and Manual) with these modes you have full control over camera settings. 
• Special Effects (Night vision, Color sketch, Miniature effect, Selective color, Silhouette, High key and Low key) Each of these gives different looks to the pictures. 
• Primary Scenes (Portrait, Landscape, Child, Sports, Close up) These will have their own place on your mode dial
• Scene (other scenes)

Live view switch:
This is a switch on the camera that brings you from the menu of the camera telling you all the information about what you are about to shoot to the live shot that you would see from your viewfinder.

Information button:
When you press the information button the information display page shows up and can be edited. It tells you the shooting mode, aperture, shutter speed, flash, ISO, battery, and much more. This can seem very daunting but as we do more and more lessons it will all make sense what your camera is trying to tell you.

Movie-record button:
This is just a red button on your camera that begins to record a movie. You can use it no matter what mode you are in.

Exposure button:
Along with hitting the information button there is a button to change the exposure.

Aperture button:
Along with hitting the information button there is a button to change the aperture.

Shutter-release button:
This is the button you press to take a photo. Press it halfway and it focus automatically. Then press the rest of the way to take the picture.

Self-timer button:
Along with hitting the information button there is a button to make it go into self timer mode.

Menu button:
The menu button sends you to the menu where you can change some settings and do in camera editing of photos.

AE-L/AF-L button:
This locks the exposure unless you are in Auto, P, S, or A mode.

Command dial:
This dial lets you scroll through your camera either modes when on Scene, or adjust shutter speed and aperture when in modes P, S, A and M.

Playback button:
This sends you to the photographs you have already taken.

HOMEWORK:
Explore your camera and take lots of pictures. Try using all the modes and just figuring out what the buttons do. For my homework I'll make a post for it and you can comment your pictures too =D

Next Week:
Aperture