If you want to learn how to operate your camera by yourself and move away from the automatic modes like 'portrait' and 'scenery', well done! There's quite a learning curve but it's infinitely worth your while if you want to make the step from 'happy snapper' to photographer.
In this post I want to give you a roadmap to follow. You'll inevitably find yourself hopping back and forth from subject to subject as you learn more, but I hope you can use this to guide what can be a confusing initial foray into the technical and creative aspects of photography. We'll look at where your time should best be spent, which of the photography building blocks you may want to study first, and where to go from there.
Note: I am assuming that you have either a mirrorless or DSLR interchangeable lens camera, with the usual modes of aperture priority, shutter priority, and full manual.
Let's get started.
Priority One: Daily Practice
If you want to be a better photographer, you have to be practicing every day. That doesn't mean hours out roaming the countryside or town center every evening, nor does it mean thoughtlessly snapping away and hoping you'll magically improve. Focus (ha) on two things:
At least a little, very often
Practicing instead of just 'taking pictures'
The first point there is pretty clear. Think about learning to drive; what would be a better approach, driving for twenty minutes every day or driving for two hours once a month (and probably with your grandma)?
For the second point, all that means is that every day you will benefit from having a goal in mind - a particular aspect of photography that you want to work on. This can be whatever you have in mind that day, whichever technical feature you're presently learning about. To give you an idea, here are a few that I've used:
practicing flexible spot focusing
practicing setting the exposure manually
not driving my other half crazy
experimenting with different shutter speeds for different subjects
seeing how different apertures affect your depth of field (with different lenses!)
looking for better compositions with landscape photography (framing, for example)
getting your subjects eyes pin-sharp for portraits
You can use whatever you want, but if you're reading up on various aspects of photography you'll find that you want to try several things at once most days! This will give your photography practice some direction. Think about learning an instrument - do you just play random chords, or do you pick a progression for that day and work on it?
The Roadmap, Part One: Sir, Please Step Away From The Auto Modes
The first step is the most important - commit to never using the full auto modes on your camera.
Don't sweat, you'll be using the semi-auto modes of aperture and shutter priority a great deal, but you have to take that first step and burn your bridges behind you! Let's lay out the first section.
Locate 'aperture priority' on the top dial. This is 'A' for Sony and Nikon users, 'Av' for Canon. Hop into it and mess about with changing the aperture using your secondary dial. Experiment. See what happens. Take some pictures.
Read up on everything 'aperture'. This will include f-stops, depth of field, 'shooting wide open', bokeh, and more besides. Try not to delve into exposure too much at this point.
At this point, google how to change focus area on your camera model, and see what you can do with a wide aperture and selective focusing.
Hop on over to 'shutter priority' - 'S' for Sony or Nikon or 'Tv' on Canon, for some reason.
Experiment! Try taking shots of animals or kids or cars with a 1/500 or faster shutter speed. Try lowering it and getting some motion blur, either from you or your subject.
Google everything shutter speed. This is a lot easier than aperture googling, and will include things like long exposures and action/sports photography techniques.
At this point, google how to change focus modes on your camera - single shot, continuous, or manual. You'll find that continuous auto-focus and high shutter speeds tend to fit well together for moving subjects, so dive into that. Take pictures of everybody's dog.
Make your first foray into full manual mode, or 'M'. Leave the ISO on Auto, but try different combinations of wide/narrow apertures and fast/slow shutter speeds.
That's plenty to be going on with for now! The second part is on its way.