A very basic guide: the apererture is the of hole that let's light into the camera. It's given with a f-number i.e. f7. The shutter speed sets how quickly the 'film' is exposed to the light. i.e. 1/100 (of a second). When you're takin pictures you balance these two settings to get a photo that's not too dark or light. Although it doesn't sound like a long time, it's near impossible to hold a camera still for less than 1/80 of a second, more so if like me you drink lots of coffee! So that gives you a basic, any less than that and you'll get blurry pictures, figure for your shutter speed.
The aperture setting also effects the ‘depth of field’ (how much of the photograph is in focus) A low f-number, i.e. f4.5 will give you a very small portion of the photograph in focus, (which is great for that blurry background ‘portrait’ style shots, not so good when you don’t know why your pics are out of focus.) with a higher number, i.e. f11 more of your photo will be in focus. Depending on the light levels / weather, etc.. you might have to use a lower f-number than you’d ideally want, in order to your photograph. If that’s the case, you can adjust your ISO setting (this used to be film speed, I’ve don’t know exactly what it refers to in a digital setting) ideally you want to be using the lowest setting your camera will go to for this, maybe 100 / 200. With higher settings you can take pictures in lower light, but they’ll be a lot grainier, it’s worth experimenting to see what looks good to you.
Things like your white balance, etc.. are usually set to automatic as the factory default so you don’t really need to worry about them.
PLUG PLUG PLUG 
