I am going to have an attempt at explaining the settings on the dial on a camera- as before I can only use my own Canon 400D as the basis for my explanation but am sure it can be related to other cameras too.

A – this setting is still in automatic but I have included it as not many seem to know that it means automatic but with no flash.

B –  P – Program. The camera sets aperture and shutter speed. You have control over the ISO white balance and flash.  It works similar to the automatic green box setting but gives you a little but of control over the picture

C- TV – Shutter Priority. You set the shutter speed and the camera sets the aperture. This means you only have to try and get one part right as the camera will always set the reciprocal part according to your calculations.

D- AV- Aperture Priority this works in the opposite way to TV and sets the aperture and the camera uses the appropriate shutter speed.

E- M – Manual Mode. You set shutter speed and aperture.  You have full control over all parts of the exposure, shutter speed, aperture and ISO.  The camera will not choose any settings

To date I mainly use TV and AV rather than fully on manual as I often don’t have the time to set up the shot.  If I am taking pictures of the children at play I often use auto to make sure I can capture the moment as they don’t wait to be posed!

A quick guide I follow is:

• If the subject is moving use TV
• If the subject is static use AV
• If you need to get the photo use auto