So, you've got your 1st ever digital SLR, congratulations !
First things first, you're going to need to do the basics :
Charging the battery, attatching the strap, and mounting the lens.
The first 2 will be no problem but when it comes to mounting the lens I have a little advice - face your camera down and push the camera onto the back of the lens. Why ? Because this will reduce the amount of dust that gets into the camera body compared to if you mount the lens from the top to bottom, but more on that later.
So you're lens is mounted and your camera is powered up ! Let's get snapping !
Set your camera to AUTO mode for now. This will leave the camera in charge for now. Take photo's of everything and anything. Daytime, night time, fast moving, slow moving, big, small, things close, things far away.. the world of photography is now yours !
When you download the files to your PC / MAC the camera will have made a digital log of all the settings it used to take your photo's. This log is called an EXIF
This EXIF log will keep a record of Shutter speed, focal length, ISO, F number, if your flash fired and all other relevant information to the photo If you are using Adobe Photoshop then the EXIF info will be under " File Info " and " Camera data 1 "
By looking at these settings you can over time work out which settings to use when you venture into the world of manual photography but for now leave your camera in AUTO mode and get snapping !