In manual mode on your camera you may set the shutter speed to be a fraction of a second, but if there is very little light coming in there will be a whole lot of black on your screen.
Both aperture and shutter speed work together to allow the perfect amount of light into you camera so that your picture is neither overexposed (too bright) nor underexposed (too dark). If you have a fast shutter speed you want to have a large aperture (larger hole open in the lens) to let more light in during that tiny amount of time. Conversely if you have a slow shutter speed, you will need to tone down the amount of light that comes in.
These two always need to be in balance. Check out this PDF for common pairings, what subjects the pairs are useful for and other photo-geek goodness!
This is why I haven't been brave enough to switch off the automatic focus. But I guess I need to remind myself that the whole point of digital (besides the sharing capabilities) is the benefit of not having to waste money developing film with only half the role coming out the way you hoped. These are great skills to master and they show why photography is truly an art form. Are there any particular photographers that you admire?
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