I will be covering the basics of how to use your DSLR and some resources that you can use to manipulate your photos to get the quality you are looking for.

I will be mentioning the BARE MINIMUM for each feature and also be using beginner TERMS when I am referring to them, this will make it a friendlier tutorial, than being more "correct" and confusing. But I will post links to other websites if you are interested in reading more about it.

Let's get started.


First off, I will introduce you to the most important features and terms.
Some may seem a bit abstract, so feel free to ask and I'll elaborate.

======================== ( EXPOSURE) ========================
- In basic terms, the exposure is the picture that you are taking.

- When you press the button on your camera to take a picture, what happens is that the shutter opens and exposes the "film” to light.

- When your camera is in the process of "exposing" something, it is collecting light ALSO KNOWN AS taking a picture of whatever the lens can see.


====================== ( SHUTTER SPEED ) ====================
- The shutter is that light-proof "curtain" that is infront of the "film" of the camera. The shutter speed is how fast your camera takes a picture.

- When your shutter speed is set REALLY fast like (1/4000) "one four thousandths of a second," your camera freezes motion and it also collects MINIMAL light because it is only given a very short amount of time to collect light.

- When your shutter speed is set REALLY slow like (2") which is two seconds, moving objects will be blurred in the picture and a lot of light will be
collected because it is given a longer time to "expose."


======================= ( APERTURE ) ========================
- The aperture is a set of light-proof blades arranged in a circle inside the lens.

- This controls how much light is allowed to be collected through the lens.

- The explanation for the measuring system is pretty complicated. So for beginner's, all you have to remember is a lower "F" value means a BIGGER opening, and a higher "F" value means a SMALLER opening.

- Bigger openings will let more light to filter in, making your pictures "brighter" and smaller openings will let less light in, making your pictures "darker"


==========================( ISO )=============================
- ISO stands for International Organization for Standardization, which does not exactly give you a clue about what it does. Dumb, I know.

- ISO is basically how SENSITIVE the camera is to light. A high ISO makes the camera VERY sensitive to light, meaning that you will potentially get better pictures in darker areas.

- HOWEVER, the danger of using high ISO's is that you are making your camera SUPER sensitive to light that it's collecting ALL OTHER KINDS OF "things" which end up making your picture GRAINY or NOISY.



You can now start learning how to use MANUAL mode. In Manual mode, you can manually change the shutter speed and aperture and ISO. You will have to experiment with these values with the knowledge you have to get the best picture possible. BUT. this is only 50% of the whole picture. Now I will introduce you to CAMERA RAW.

=================== (CAMERA RAW )==========================
When you go to the menu of your camera, the file extenstion should have Jpeg, other things. and CAMERA RAW.

Camera Raw is basically a "negative" in terms of REAL SLR's.
They are not "pictures" yet. they will have to be "developed" first using a program so you can use it for uploading or whatever you are planning to do with it.

Cons:
- Camera Raw files are HUGE, but that shouldn't be a problem anyway, you should have a HUGE memory card too.
- You will have to take your time to get the resources to convert and "develop" your raw files.

Pros:
- GET THE BEST EFFIN PICTURE YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE.
- This is what "pros" shoot in. 99% of the amazing photos you love are proccesed in Camera Raw.
- You can turn an amateur shot to an amazing one in seconds.

=========== (HOW TO USE AND PROCESS RAW FILES )===========
- You will need to shoot in camera raw first.

- You will need a program to process raw files. In my opinion, the BEST one to use is ADOBE PHOTOSHOP CS 5. If you have earlier versions, the only way for it to support raw is through the adobe updates. Which means that they cannot be torrented. (I torrented mine, since I am not a rich 17 year old. Ask, and you shall receive. LOL.)

- You will need to open your raw files using Adobe Bridge and then it will open up the processing menu with TONS of things to edit. ALL YOU WILL REALLY NEED TO TOUCH IS THE "basics" part.

==================( HOW I PROCESS MY SHOTS) ================
Here is MY way of processing.

1. Shoot a million pictures in Camera Raw.
2. Delete all the unwanted, ugly, disgusting pictures using my camera.
2. Upload raw files to computer.
3. (optional) Use an image viewer that allows viewing of raw files such as ViewNX (for Nikon) to sort out the files and find the best ones that I will want to work with.
4. Use Adobe Bridge in Adobe Photoshop CS5 to process raw files.
5. (optional) Get super sexy pictures to be hopefully uploaded in lookbook. LOL JK.

Here are some examples!


There are some gradients added in the first picture, but the quality was still improved by A LOT.

On the second example. The WHITE BALANCE is all effed up in the before picture, and CAMERA RAW FIXES THEM FOR YOU. HELLZ YEAH.

============================================================
So that is basically all you will need for the meantime. Feel free to message me any questions and I'll try my best to answer them. Note that I am NOT an expert or anything, but I know a fair bit about cameras. Also, if you want the torrent for CS5 or something, LOL.


This is the site that I basically learned MOST of the things I know.
This one

And here is a link to the best features of PHOTOSHOP CS5
This one

ps.

If any of you were wondering, I shoot with a Nikon D5000!