I still remember a funny incident where I was asked to take a photo for a friend using her camera. For a short moment, I was blurred and confused on how to use her camera. Apparently, I am so used to my own camera that I find it a little difficult to operate another camera. Thus, it was impossible for me to advise her on how to make the best use of her camera.



If I was given a very powerful camera then, I still could not make good use of it. I could do very little to use the powerful features of the camera to capture good photos. This is because I am not familiar with the camera at all. At such a time, I would wish that I had the user manual to refer to so that I could make full use of the camera.

You can conduct a simple experiment for yourself. Exchange your handphone with your friend and see if you know how to use it well? After playing with it for a short while, maybe you will know how to use the basic function to make a call. But when you try to use other features of the handphone, you will find difficulty in trying to use them. At that time, you will either wish that someone show you how to use it or there is a user manual to refer to.

Have you ever read the user manual completely at one go? I confessed that I did not. What I have done instead is to break down the exploration of the camera features in parts. For example, I am interested to know more about shooting portrait using the camera. I will read the pages of the user manual that talks about taking portraits. After reading it, I will practice with my camera immediately. Then, I will plan and go for shooting practice with real situations. In this way, I get myself familiarize with my camera slowly but consistently.

Once I have acquired familiarization with my camera, I can be creative on how to use my camera to capture a subject. For example, my camera has a 'sunset' scene mode. That does not mean that I should only capture sunset using the 'sunset' scene mode. I can use the same scene mode to capture sunrise or any subject where the effect of the light source is almost like sunset or sunrise. But if I do not know that the 'sunset' scene mode exists in my camera, I will not have used it at all. This will decrease my chances for taking a good photo of the subject.

In short, the simple idea that I will like to share with you is:

Familiarize yourself with the camera so that you can be more creative in using it.