I challenge you to find your passion with your camera. Even if you didn't start on film photography, you can still make it possible to learn when to read the scene and the subject and to know how the image will turn out in your camera before you even look into the viewfinder. I'm speaking of using Manual mode of course as you will need to learn how to make those adjustments.
In fact, try not to look at your viewfinder at all when you take images. If this is foreign to you, practice by reading your settings first when you take a few images, then try not to look at them until you download them to your computer. This is a great way to learn how to understand your camera settings and really get them down until it's second nature.
Photography Practice
The best way to start would be to take 2 different shots outdoors and 2 indoors. You will be looking at your settings on your viewfinder at first so you can get a feel for how the images will turn out.
Outdoor Photographs
For your outdoor photos you will need to capture one where it is sunny and another photo in a shaded area. This will give you a range of adjustments you can make to your settings so you understand the light that comes into your camera.
Most shots outside are set on an ISO of 100-400 depending on the shaded areas. This is called your "film speed." After that adjust your shutter speed to 1/125 or higher. Since there is a lot of light coming in, you don't need the shutter to stay open for very long. The higher the number, the faster your shutter will open and close to let light in. Lastly, adjust your f-stop (the larger the number the smaller the shutter opening, the lower the number the more open the shutter will be). The f-stop will control your depth of field in your image. If you would like to have a blurry background behind your subject, you would typically open the shutter by adjusting to a lower number such as f/2.8 or 4. If you would like to have most of the photo in sharper focus, then setting your f-stop to a higher number such as f/11-16 will be the way to set it.
For the shaded areas, you will have similar settings as above, but you will be slightly adjusting your shutter speed to be lower. When it's a little darker you will need to have light come into your camera more. Adjusting your shutter speed to be 1/60 - 1/125 may be just enough to get more light into the camera. F-stop still applies here where if you want to control your depth of field in your image you would adjust accordingly by using a higher number for a more sharper image or a lower number with more of a blurry background.
Indoor Photographs
Indoor photos can become a challenge if you are not using any other light sources other than the outside light coming in through the windows or a light in the room. This is where you may need off-camera flash if your photo you would like to take is difficult to capture. However, we are going to just talk about the camera settings with no additional off-camera flash at the moment. I want you to grasp these concepts first.
In your indoor shots, capture an image where you will have some sort of natural light coming in through a window and another with an artificial light in the room. Make sure it's enough where the light is abundant and not too dark. Your ISO will need to be a little higher because there isn't as much light to come into the camera. I typically will set my ISO from 400-800 depending on how much light there is. Next, for your shutter speed you won't be adjusting it to a very high number typically. Since you are boosting your ISO "film speed", this will help give you room to have a shutter speed anywhere between 1/60-1/125. You may need to go lower than 1/60, but my rule of thumb is try not to go below that as anything under 1/60 can run the risk of camera shake where your image can have motion blur. You can use a tripod if you are setting it up in that way for a posed image or capturing still life, but most of the time you may prefer to hold your camera. Your f-stop will be more in the lower numbers to open the shutter more since you may be in an area that doesn't have much light to have the shutter closed. So f-stop settings 2.8 - 8 will be ideal in most indoor shots.
--------------------------------------
These scenarios are very basic to get an understanding of how settings need to be adjusted in the most common situations you may take photographs. I learned this on my film camera and the only way I would know how the images turned out would be to take notes as I shot each image. Since a film canister mostly came with 36 images to take, I was able to take a note for each image so that later when I would develop my roll I could see how the image turned out. There is a light meter in all cameras as well, which will be helpful through this process of getting acquainted to your settings. The dial will reach the middle if it is in proper exposure for the image you are taking, or it will reach more towards the '+' if it's too much light and '-' if it's not enough light. Use this as a guide, but also remember to read your settings as you photograph.
Photography is an art. Your settings are a symbiotic relationship to how the light enters the camera and exposes the image you desire to capture. It's a relationship that will only grow stronger over time the more you practice and understand what you need to do to capture the images you love. Eventually, it will all become second nature to you, just like driving! Once you get that down, you can create beauty in the press of a button!
