I am also pretty new to photography with a digital camera, it has been more than 30 years since I really took to photography, for the last 10 to 11 months I have really been enjoying it. manual on a digital is pretty fun to do, I know we can all do it the easy way, but I, like you, wanted to learn more.

When I go out for birds and critters, I usually set my ISO up to 400. Not to high as to cause digital noise, but makes for good speed shots. I try to pay attention to the little viewfinder bar, and the first thing I try to adjust for is speed when hand holding the camera. I read on another post that for hand held almost blur free you want a speed of at least 1/1250 of a sec.

The other thing I recently finally grasped, is that of the f-stop. I kind of look at it like a ruler now when trying to figure out what I want. starting at the low numbers of f-stop means that you can only see so far down the ruler and still make out the numbers. With a big f-stop looking down the ruler means that there are a lot more numbers in focus so you can see more. I also read that f5.6 is the best for clarity of image. I don't really understand that yet, but the f5.6 ones do seem to be a lot more in focus.

Any ways, have fun with the camera, I think you will enjoy it, and there are so many places to share your snaps with like keithboones mountainmonday and featheredfriday, and there are a lot more. All about having fun, not stressing over if is it good enough for this contest or that type thing.