DSLR Geek

Did you get a DSLR camera for Christmas? Maybe you got one a while ago and you put it away because you found it too overwhelming to learn how to use? A lot of people look at a DSLR camera and say “woah! I would need a course to learn how to use that”. Don’t be intimidated by the number of buttons on your camera. It all comes down to only 2 things that you need to pay attention to; Focusing and Exposure. You can ignore the rest for now. At least during the learning stage.

So I’m going to talk about a couple basic functions that people should know about their DSLR cameras. I’m will try to explain it in plain English without getting too technical because learning should be fun. Not difficult.

Focusing

Camera technology is so advanced that focusing has become really fast and easy. Most people will use the auto focus function over the manual mode. And why wouldn’t they? Manual focus can be really hard and very slow. There really isn’t any reason to use the manual focus mode unless you’re going for a very specific result and assuming that time is not a factor. So let’s go ahead and switch the focus mode to “AF” (auto focus) on your lens and we’ll talk more about auto focusing.

If you look through the view finder you’ll notice a bunch of dots around a center dot. These are called “focus points”. The number of focus points depends on the camera model you have. Don’t let anyone hurt your ego by saying they have more focus points than you because they are useless. Focus points are the like the crosshair of a gun that helps you point at the target you want to shoot. And like a gun, you really only need one focus point; the middle one. Of course the other focus points exist for a reason, but again, we’re only talking about learning the basics here.

Setting The Focus Points

First of all this only works in the camera modes (P, Tv, Av and M) and we’ll talk about those modes later. Instead of having multiple focus points focus on multiple subjects, I find it a lot easier to only use the middle focus point and use it to focus on the main subject. This allows you have full control on the auto focus and YOU decide what part of the picture is in focus. I use this technique on 95% of my pictures. Here’s how you do it.

All DSLR cameras allow you to choose which focus points (little dots in the view finder) are active. Press the “AF Point” button ( ·:· ). Use the dial button to change the focus points until only the middle dot is red. That’s it! Now every time you focus on a target, your lens will only try to focus on whatever the middle dot is pointed at.

Composition

Now let me tell you about “composing” the picture frame between focusing and taking the picture. Focusing and taking the picture should never be done in one step like a lot of people do. Always 1) focus, 2) compose and 3) take the picture.

1) Focus; With only the center focus point being active in the view finder, you can easily point the camera straight on the main subject you want in focus. Press the shutter half way to auto focus on that subject. Most cameras will make a beep sound to indicate that focus has been achieved.

2) Compose; Wait! Don’t press the shutter button yet! This is where your artistic talents come in play. Keep your finger pressed halfway on the shutter button to keep your subject in focus. Now you want compose your frame. Think about the background, surroundings, where do you want your subject in the picture, etc. While looking through the view finder, move the camera around until you find an interesting composition you like.

3) Take the picture; Still got your subject in focus? Found a composition you like? Now press the shutter button all the way to take the picture. It’s ok to not always have you subject in the middle of your picture. Actually it is often more interesting to have it off set a little bit. There’s more about that in this article about the rule of thirds.

Exercise

So now you know the secret about focusing like the pros. There is a lot of focusing techniques but I would dare say this is how most photogs focus 95% of their pictures. Now get out there and practice. See if you can find a subject that would look nice in a picture without being in the center of the picture. Remember; focus, compose, take the picture. Post your pictures in the comment below (pictures are best viewed with a maximum size of 600 pixels).

On DSLR Basics – Part II we’ll talk about exposure and manual camera modes (P, Av, Tv and M).