I am currently doing a photography course today and the best advice I learnt today was there a couple of points you need to look at when taking photo's.

Put the camera on the A setting on camera (Nikon)

1) Set ISO (Start at 100)
2) Set Aperture

Once they are set the camera will set the Shutter Speed, depending on what you are taking a photo of, you may have to either change the ISO or Aperture to get the right Shutter Speed.

Aperture means- Iris of the eye - Controls the Volume of Light
ISO means - Sensitivity to Light
Shutter Speed means - Time of Exposure (Length of time)
with these 3 you will get the Correct Exposure.

RAW - Requires Post Processing, Large File and Large Dynamic Range
JPEG - All processed and is squeezed down and info will be lost, small file and less colour.

Depth of Field
Aperture
Focal length - (size of zoom) Bigger zoom less Depth of Field
Distance from Subject
F 4.5 is Shallow DOF
F22 is Large DOF


This is some of the stuff I have learnt, I hope it helps people new to photography.