Aloha and Welcome to the new year. I always love the first of the year. Everything seem so well... . New. In some of our households it may very well be more than just a sense of something new. With the 2006 holiday season just over, many of you likely found a new digital camera that was left behind by ole' Saint Nick.

It is still shiny and has that new camera smell. Ok maybe I went a little too far, but it is still a very cool gift. You likely put the batteries into it right away, or charged them up so that you could take pictures of all your friends and family. If for no other reason than to hear them say... hey nice camera. Ahh there is nothing quite like it. Wait, what is that you say?? You haven't event taken it out of the box? What!!! You're kidding?! Right? What are you waiting for? Great photos are waiting for you to simply un-box them.

If you find yourself falling into this category or if you know someone who does, open that box or refer them to this article. See there is a horrible disease our there that inflicts its self on those that are timid or resistant to change. It is called "Cannotworkthisgadgetitis" There is only one cure known to man. Repeat after me "I Can Do This", repeat as necessary until you begin to believe it, then repeat it a few more times until you actually pick up that box and open it. It may sometime require some intervention from a "younger" family member who has had the disease before you, but you can make it though this, really.

While this is of course not really a disease it does sometimes seem like folks are afflicted when it comes to learning a new way of doing an old task. Fortunately with digital photography, the learning curve while steep, is easily learned. The biggest reason for this is the instant feedback you get from your digital camera.

So you are saying, It can't be that easy, well let's compare shall we? Years ago we would put a roll of film into our camera, then we would take pictures and process that roll of film into prints. Good bad or indifferent, we had to make those prints. This process could take a couple of hours or weeks depending on how quickly you finished the roll of film. Shoop... Fast forward to today. You have a gleaming new digital camera with a marvelous 2 in display screen, you click the picture and BAM it appears in milliseconds on your display in "living color". Could you ask for a faster result? I doubt it. Because of this instant result, the learning curve is nearly straight.

In this article we are going to explore some of the settings on your new digital camera and how you can make the most of it right out of the box. By the time we are done, we hope to cure your case of "Cannotworkthisgadgetitis" and get you out there taking great pictures.

First and foremost is your owners manual. I know reading is an archaic way of learning anything, especially for most guys ( myself included ) but trust me on this one, you will really only use it as a reference. I promise you won't have to read the whole thing unless you really want to.

We will start by making sure you have battery power, either a rechargeable type or alkaline, you will likely need to insert your batteries. If you have to charge them up... we'll wait. Ok now that your batteries are in the camera, you will need to insert the media card. This is the film for your digital camera and you can use it and re-use it as many times as you want. Check the manual to see where your card goes into the camera.

Now set your camera to "automatic mode" It is generally marked as a "P" for Program on a dial like in the illustration. Of if you have a menu option rather than a dial it will be called " auto " if you don't see a setting for this don't worry it probably means that your camera is only automatic and it is already set that way. You are ready to go! Really it's that easy!!! Run around the house and take a few photos, then step outside and do the same thing. Each time you do, you should see your picture show up on your monitor on the back of the camera. Don't erase any thing until we are all done. These are the first images you will use to learn how to evaluate a good exposure with your camera.

Now go out and test some of the different settings that might appear on the dial on your camera. The " M " is my favorite it means manual, then there is an "A" which means " aperture priority" the " S " Means Shutter Priority and we already covered the "P" setting. The little camera Icon generally means full automatic and the little movie camera means you can take short movies to send to folks and clog up their email.

You will see several other settings on your camera, give each of these a try, don't worry, you can't hurt the camera by trying them and you might just get a great picture because of it.

The Running Man - This setting will speed up the shutter and allow you to better stop action. Now while this seems to be best during sporting events etc, it is also good for catching surprise moments or if you are in a moving vehicle and shooting scenery as you go.

The Flower - This setting is designed for shooting in close up situations. It will allow you to take pictures of detail oriented objects at very close distances. This is wonderful for shooting Macro shots of Jewelry, Plant life and more.

The Mountains - Setting is designed for people that want to shoot landscape photography. You will find this most useful when you are on vacation. The aperture is generally high allowing for a sharp image from foreground to middle and background.

The Cloudy Day - Setting will compensate a little for the color of this kind of day and generally pick up both the aperture and the shutter speed to allow for good exposures in this overall well lit situation.

The Portrait Setting - You will want to use this if you are taking photos of people. It will give you the best results, filling flash and setting the proper aperture and shutter speeds to help you best capture your subjects.

Finally there is the Moon and Stars Setting - This is a long exposure setting allowing you to shoot at night or in dark situations, the camera will slow down the shutter and allow more light to enter the camera, while opening up the aperture to aid with the gathering of more light.

Now The last thing we will discuss is when to flash and when not to flash. Basically when in doubt flash! You can use the flash in bright sunlight to fill in the shadows under the eyes of your subject and to allow the background colors to be punched up a little too. We all know that you should use the flash indoors, or in low light. But if you are in the Moon and Stars setting you may not want to use the flash, The long exposure associated with this setting is designed to record the light that is available in the scene rather than adding flash to it. Most cameras also have the ability to set the flash on all the time, off all the time, to work automatically. They also sometimes allow for "red eye" reduction which is an important feature when you are taking pictures of people in low light situations, but not really during other times as it will un necessarily drain your battery.

Now we know that this was a long article, it took us a while to write is as well but the truth to the matter is that this is a pretty simple process, some trial and error is involved but you can do it. If you really want to get the most out of your camera and it's settings we suggest taking a course in photography. There are consumer as well as pro-am classes at many local colleges and vocational centers. We offer such a course through the Pacific New Media branch of the University of Hawaii's Outreach college. You can find out more about the classes they offer, including ours by clicking on this link www.outreach.hawaii.edu/pnm/Programs/HL2-PHOTO.asp or by going to our website and clicking on our instruction button. Now go out have fun with your new digital toy. - Aloha