Day 1 - Basics

Okay - here we go. Day one will be the VERY basics. There are three concepts to grasp completely before being able to make your camera your slave. The first is APERTURE. That is the amount of light the camera lens lets in. The second, SHUTTER SPEED, is the amount of time that light is allowed into the camera. And the third is ISO, or FILM SPEED. This is the sensitivity of the sensor, or how much light it actually needs. All three of these can be adjusted up or down to achieve the desired effect. The trick is to know what effect it will have on the photo, and what effect adjusting one would have on the other two.
For the above shot, I wanted to focus on the railing, and not the entire bridge.. To do that, I needed to control my APERTURE. I made it very fast (f-1.8). The problem with that is that it let a ton of light in. so the shot would be very bright. So I had to adjust the SHUTTER SPEED to let less light in, and adjust the ISO to make it less sensitive so it needed a ton of light. Keep in mind there are plusses and minuses for each action you take.
For the best results, a thorough grasp of these three concepts is essential. Always be aware of where the three are set, and HOW to set them on your camera. Other things like composition, metering, color, shadows, etc. will come in time, but these three are essential.
Tomorrow I will start with APERTURE. That, to me, is the most important concept to grasp, and one of the toughest. So, until tomorrow, no homework for tonight.