Your camera captures photons to create images. We'll call the brightness of your image "exposure." Controlling exposure is key to creating aesthetically pleasing images.

You have three tools available to control exposure. F-Stop (Aperture), Shutter Speed, and ISO. Each of these tools will affect the others and the art of obtaining good exposure is a balance of the three.

Aperture refers to the size of the opening, or hole, in your lens. You can adjust this opening through measurements called F-Stops. A large aperture allows more light to enter the camera than a small aperture.

It's important to remember that F-stops and the aperture have an inverse relationship. This means that the higher (larger) the F-stop number, the smaller the aperture. An F-Stop of 2 will create a smaller aperture than an F-Stop of 1.4.

F-Stop not only affects the amount of light that enters the camera, but also affects the depth of field. Depth of field describes how much of the background is in focus . If your subject is in focus and the background is "blurry", then you have a shallow depth of field. If your subject is in focus and the background is also in focus, then you have a large (deep) depth of field.

Smaller F-Stops, like 1.4, will give you a shallow depth of field. Larger F-Stops, like 5.6, give you a deep depth of field.

Think of the shutter in your camera as a window that opens at a specific speed and allows light to enter the camera. Shutter speeds are measured in fractions of a second. A shutter speed of 1/60th of a second is faster than a shutter speed of 1/30th of a second.

If the shutter, or window, is opened for a long time, then more light is allowed to enter the camera. 1/60th of a second will allow more light to enter the camera than a shutter speed of 1/200th of a second.

Shutter speed not only affects the exposure, but also effects how motion is captured. A fast shutter speed (1/200th of a second) will capture fast motion better than a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second. It's almost like a fast shutter captures a freeze frame of motion, while a slow shutter allows blurring of motion to be captured.

The ISO setting on your camera electronically controls how sensitive the image sensor is to light. A high ISO will make the camera very sensitive to light and therefore produce brighter images. A low ISO will do the opposite and produce darker images.

It's important to remember that high ISO settings introduce grain or noise into the image. Modern digital cameras have evolved so that even high ISO settings still produce decent pictures, but there still will be some element of grain.

Now that you know the tools, you can start experimenting and producing great images. Remember, with digital cameras, you can't run out of film -- so don't be afraid to make mistakes!