Manual mode sounds like a large step forward and a lot of people are scared to even touch it. So I know when I tell you that "its really not that hard" you probably won't believe me. But seriously its not and after reading this guide and practicing just a bit you too will be able to confidently say that you can shoot in manual mode!
Ok step one! Don't put your camera into manual mode. A common misconception is that all professional photographers shoot in manual mode when that is simply not the case. Don't get me wrong many do but in a lot of cases it is better to shoot in either Aperture priority or Shutter priority modes.
Apature priority:
Aperture priority is the most common mode to shoot with when you are just out shooting with your camera. In this mode you decide what aperture to shoot at and you camera balances the shutter speed and the ISO for you. Don't worry about those yet though for now we will just learn what to set that aperture value too.
To get to aperture priority mode on your camera turn the mode dial until it is set to either A or Av depending on the camera brand. To change your aperture you should just be able to turn the main dial on your camera either above your pointer finger or the settings dial by your thumb though your camera may be different.
Aperture values normally range on most beginner cameras from around 2.8 to 16 though yours might go lower and higher than that. The lower the number the more light is going to be let onto your cameras sensor. A side effect of having your aperture more open is having a shallower depth of field. This means that if you are shooting a subject the background will be blurrier which is great for shooting portraits or for shots where you want to isolate the subject.
High aperture values are great for when you want to get the whole scene in focus for instance when you are shooting landscapes and sometimes when shooting sports so that you miss less shots due to the camera not getting perfect focus. Though with high aperture values you have to be careful of that fact that you are letting a lot less light into the camera and may run into issues with the photos being blurry due to too low of a shutter speed.
Shutter priority:
In shutter priority mode you chose the shutter speed in which your camera takes a photo at and the camera decides the aperture and the ISO. You can get to this mode by setting you mode dial to either S or Tv depending on the brand of your camera. You should be able to use the same dial as for aperture to adjust your shutter speed.