I remember my first digital camera – a tiny Canon Elph S230 3.2MP point and shoot which was years ahead of its time in terms of quality and portability. Using that camera (or any point & shoot for that matter) is simple as pie – you just frame your picture on the LCD display (or viewfinder) and click.

My old Canon Elph – RIP

 It was not until I upgraded to a Digital SLR (or DSLR) and dedicated the time to read the user manual front to back, that I finally understood its creative potential. It was really an eye-opener for me because even though as a kid I owned an analogue SLR (you know, those ancient looking boxes that worked with film), I never actually spent the time to explore its full potential.

My Canon 60D DSLR

With an SLR, composition is still the key ingredient, but you gain significant control over the exposure settings. Understanding the exposure triangle (Speed, Aperture, ISO) and the effects of changing any combination of those, is what really got me hooked with photography – the possibilities are truly endless.

This morning, I was browsing a few websites and came across this article on understanding exposure:

http://www.exposureguide.com/exposure.htm

This for me sums everything up, and I highly recommend reading this if you own an SLR and still shoot using the auto settings. If this stings your curiosity enough, then there is an endless library of books on how to take your skills to a whole new level.

A great book that I highly recommend is the “Digital SLR handbook” written by John Freeman. Anyone in Cyprus interested in reading this, I would be more than happy to lend it to you.