Whether you have a point and shoot camera or a digital SLR, you
may find that you have many of the same settings. Understanding
these settings and how they work is one of the fundamentals of
photography. Without this knowledge, you will never be able to
take your shots to the next level that custom settings offer.
One of the most critical mistakes beginner photographers make is
using the 'Auto' modes on their cameras. While this is fine for
simple snapshots, actual photography requires much more. There
are several different 'modes' on your camera that determine the
level of automation which your camera will provide. These modes
are generally adjusted by a dial located on top of your camera,
and may range from fully manual, meaning you have control over
every single aspect of the shot, to fully automatic, meaning the
camera will control everything for you based on the current
conditions. There are two categories (or 'zones') of modes,
Basic (automatic) and Creative (manual), each of these zones
make up half of