If you ever had an SLR camera, you know that there is no auto setting. You know about apertures, ISOs, shutter speeds and so on.

With a digital camera, the auto setting might be the easiest but it takes the worst photos. My camera has a P which is portrait setting, AV which is the aperture setting, M (Mode) and TV. Then there are other settings which show contrast and colour, ISO, and video to name just a few. We spend money on digital cameras, not so we can use the auto setting but because after using these different settings we can get a really good photo and it is digital.

Now your camera came with a manual. My brother always reads manuals. He loves them. I usually want to get going straight away and work it out myself. Wrong. As my brother always said “RTFM”.

Some tips. Set the camera to P. Turn off the flash so it works only when you want it to, set the ISO (speed of film) , fix focus and exposure problems.

When on auto the camera assumes you want the object in the front to be the thing in focus. Go to the menu look for auto focus or AF settings.

Set it so there is a small spot in the middle of the view finder. Hold shutter down half way in order to give the camera time to focus. If you can see green or red squares in the viewfinder then it is at AF (auto focus). Turn that off.

AF also sets the camera to read light as reflected from the entire scene. When you have a backlit subject or a dark subject in a bright light, AE should be set to centre weighted or spot metering.

If you lose your manual, there are many on the internet to suit your camera.

Good luck!