There. That’s all there is to this post. Plain and simple, and as easy as can possibly be. Three short words which, when it comes right down to it, will make you a better photographer. The total cost to do this? Absolutely zero. That’s right. No money out of your pocket. Nothing to buy. Nothing, save time, to invest. How long until the effort to do this rewards you? Why, the very next time you use your camera, of course.

And the really big payoff is when you need that great shot, and don’t have to fumble with your camera.

Having let the cat of the bag for this post, though, let’s go a little deeper for a moment.

It doesn’t matter if your camera costs you $50 or $50o or $5,000. If you don’t know its functions, and what it can (or can’t do), then it might as well be nothing more than a paperweight to you. Yet, it seems that a surprising number of people simply don’t really know their camera. I don’t mean that you should sit down and read your camera manual cover to cover (unless you have insomnia, which case, by all means, do this). But you should glance through it briefly, just to give you an idea of the various features and functions and whatnots available to you.

Experience, as in so many areas of life, is the very best teacher. And, luckily, there is one way to get that experience… yeah, that’s right. Use the camera. But don’t just click away. Instead, learn the settings and the knobs and the dials and controls. If you don’t know what something does…find out! In the digital world, it doesn’t hurt a thing to find out what something does. And keep at it. Trying one thing, then checking it off your list, can (unfortunately) hardly be called “learning.” Use it until you are familiar with you. And then use it some more.

This does not mean that you have to know every last itty-bitty esoteric thing your camera does, but it does mean you should know the basics. And, of course, once you have the basics down, you can expand and deepen your knowledge.

Oh. You already know all there is to know about your camera? Great and well done! Let’s try this simple quiz:

Without looking (and no fair cheating)… how many buttons does your camera have? Don’t forget that there might be some on the front. How many dials does it have? Where, exactly, is the shutter button? You should be able to answer these 100% correctly.

And try this, too. Can you, in complete darkness (or with a blindfold, if you prefer) take your camera out of its case/pouch/cover, turn it on, and set up a shot? Don’t worry about the focus or actually taking any sort of picture; the goal here is that you can get your camera ready, turn it on, set the mode to something appropriate, and then bring it to your eye, ready to shoot, without looking and in a very reasonable time. That’s the key to getting the shot, and that’s the point of this missive.

Try it and see how well you do. And no matter how well you just did, don’t forget that practice always helps.

Happy shooting