Having a really nice DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) camera is quite a nice feeling. The fact is that you can capture amazing images from wherever you are it is just a question of knowing how and what to look for. This might at first not seem like such a great deal, but if your photographic efforts are being limited exposing the possibilities to what can easily be achieved is like opening a door and seeing a whole new world.

By reading through this entire article you should at the very least gain some new ideas on how you can take certain pictures and how to produce great photography results, but hopefully you will discover the key to open that door that was previously mentioned.

I treat my digital camera like my best friend and take it absolutely everywhere I go, that includes even just a short journey. You never know what opportunity is going to arise in the form of a great picture and there is nothing worse than sitting there thinking it would have made a great picture if I had my camera.

There should be no restrictions, it might even be dull and raining, but what a great chance to capture a picture of a rainbow or if really lucky a bolt of lightning, it really is a question of seeing opportunity everywhere.

A lot of people tend to start or get interested in photography by taking their digital camera on vacation, daily excursions, or using it as or for photographing their hobbies, but what about looking for the picture instead of taking random pictures of what comes your way.

Instead of ending up with some nice vacation pictures you will come back with a great holiday album that is jam packed with so many interesting and appealing pictures. If you see a tall building that you are allowed to go to the top of then this is a great place to start. Things look so different when up high.

Native flowers and plants are another great photograph opportunity as these will more than likely not be seen growing wild in your home country, as well as the insects that visit them.

Animals running on the beach or shaking water off of themselves after getting out of the sea, it is a question of knowing what is going to happen in some instances that goes into the making of a great shot.

Sunsets and sunrises go without saying, but try and think of something that would look good in the foreground, palm trees, boats, horse rider, etc.

It is an ideal place to practise panning techniques when on holiday as a lot of the birds near a coastline tend to ride the sea thermals giving a great chance to photograph bids in flight, not only that but seagulls tend to be an easy bird to follow with a lens while flying.

There are many, many more holiday ideas, but without going into massive detail it would be difficult to cover and give ideas to cover every taste and type of location, but needless to say that you will find some great pictures no matter where you go on holiday.

That is all very well if you are abroad, but what about if your own country?

Ok, back home now and time to start using some of those manual settings that are on each DSLR digital camera. The first basic setting is the ISO button, which in easy to understand terms works something like this.

If it is a bright day with plenty of sunlight you will get better results by setting your ISO to a low setting of around 100, but if it is a little dull you will want to use between 200 and 400 and then so on up the scale depending on the light available, but be warned, the higher the ISO that you use the grainier the picture will appear.

It is a good idea to constantly check each picture as you take it if you are altering the ISO levels. You should be able to do this by viewing the picture in your LCD screen at the rear of the camera. Zoom in on the picture you have just taken to the point of how you will display it. If it is not grainy then continue with that ISO setting.

When taking pictures of the moon you will probably be better off with a 70-300mm lens or a 2 times converter on your normal lens and an ISO setting between 100 and 400, this is because the moon is in fact a lot brighter than most people think.

Most new cameras come with an aperture priority setting or F-number, which is normally indicated by the letter A on a thumb dial on top of the camera along with other various priority and subject style settings.

You should also be able to change or alter the F-number manually. The smaller the F-number then the foreground and background of the subject will be blurred, while the higher the F-number means that you should also have the background and foreground in focus.

You cannot check this outcome in the viewfinder, but by taking the picture and viewing in the LCD screen you should be able to see which way that you need to adjust to make the picture better. It is worth practising this as it will help when out and about using manual settings.

There should be many other settings that you can use and experiment with on your DSLR digital camera, but the ones covered here tend to be the most important.

It is well worth your time in familiarizing yourself with these as it will also start to give you a much better understanding about taking better photographs and how to use your camera.

By now you should have a good understanding of basic digital camera photography and using a digital single lens reflex camera.

By: Clive Anderson

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