So you have a fancy new DSLR and you dream of capturing beautiful photos. You’ve been practicing shooting in Manual mode, but you often struggle with remember what ISO, aperture, and shutter speed all do exactly. I understand – it feels like yesterday that I was in that exact place. I got my first SLR right before I left for a month long trip in Italy so that I could document all the amazing sights I would see and I thought that since I had spent so much money on a nice camera, my pictures would all be beautiful. Boy was I wrong! I wasted a lot of money developing rolls of film just to discover that I wasn’t the best, or the quickest, at choosing the right settings. Isn’t it so frustrating to think you’re taking a beautiful photo of what you see in front of you only to discover that it’s a lot harder to take a good photo than it should be?

If that sounds like you, I have good news for you – I’ve created a cheat sheet for how to shoot in Manual mode and it’s free for you to download by clicking here. Keep this handy whenever you’re trying to figure out your settings and you’ll be capturing better photos in no time!