First post and I'm ready to swim with the sharks!

[gpaai]

Hi Everyone!

My name is Gary and I am from Irvine, California. About a year ago I bought an Olympus C-4040 Zoom. To date I have been taking pictures using the auto program mode. And while I have ended up with a few (or should I say very few - ok a couple.) decent photos, I am getting to the point where I feel as though I am swimming around in a kiddie pool.

I am sooooooo ready to roll out (wheelchair ) to the end of a pier and jump into 20 feet of ocean water, sharks and all.

In other words I want to know what makes shooting manually work. What is f-this, f-that? What is aperture. What's best for day, night, indoors, outdoors?

Basically, is there a site that will explain the manual functions in laymens terms?

I have seen some real nice work here at PBase which has given me the inspiration to hopefully one day produce the same quality (or come close anyway).

Thank you so much for your time.......

Gary

[bobtrips]

Take a look at this site and see if it works for you ...


http://www.shortcourses.com

[gpaai]

Thanks so much! Just gazing over it briefly, it seems to be full of necessary info to get me on my way.

Gary

[bobtrips]

OK, now here's an approach.

Pick out a few of your shots that disappoint you. Open the EXIF and copy down the shutter speed, f-stop, and ISO setting.

Click on your personal 'very critical' switch. See if you can start to see the ways in which your photographs might be improved.

Blurry shot? Maybe too slow a shutter speed.
To little depth of field? Needed a higher f-stop, smaller aperture.

And look for a photo site where people critique other's photographs. Read some of the critiques and see what improvements are suggested.

I post on http://www.trekearth.com which has collects a lot of good critiques, including 'Workshops' where people edit other's photographs and post improved/modified versions. I've learned a lot from others.