Still learning how to use my camera

I’ve had my Dad’s Nikon D50 at school with me for over four months now and although I use it all the time, I am still learning the equipment.

So, I decided to teach myself how to adjust the +/- Exposure Compensation while familiarizing myself more with aperture priority.  I did this through trial and error.  I figure I’m not the only one who struggles with knowing how to adjust my camera settings… which is why I’ve decided to blog my results.I’m a visual learner, so the only way I’d ever really understand aperture and exposure was to take a ton of photos and then compare the differences. Hope this helps someone else in the future, too.

I kept the ISO consistent at 1600 and the subject of focus as the middle of the bear’s face.

These photos show the aperture decreasing from f/3.5 to f/18 at exposures of -1, 0 and 1. Increasing the exposure obviously makes the photo brighter while decreasing the aperture increases the depth of field (notice how the subject stays in focus while the background details become more in focus).