Explain F-stops, ISO and apertures and all that stuff to me? In layman terms?

So I've been taking a photography class in school. And it pretty much is a blow off class. We haven't learned jacksh*t.lol. The teacher has no authority over the class and all the other kids are being douches and not letting him teach. But its not like we would learn much anyways. So we haven't really covered the things i mentioned above. We sort of got into them, but I don't get it. Its kind of confusing. I'm going on a 6 week vacation this summer and I want to get better pictures than ever before with my new Nikon D3100. I want to shoot with more than just the preset modes. I know i can get better photos with them. So can someone please explain these things?

Visit this site.

http://camerasim.com/camera-simulator/

It will help you learn how to balance ISO, shutter speed and lens aperture.

Take a look at your local library. They will have at least a few books on basic photography and those will be an excellent start.

Google is your friend - there are hundreds if not thousands of websites about photography, and countless tutorials on every subject. It is super easy to find information these days, but YOU will have to make the small effort to then read/watch it.

F-Stop: That is the opening of the lens, the f-stop can open wide (lower numbers) for a blurry background (good for portraits, flowers and wildlife) or it can be small (higher numbers) for a sharp background (good for landscapes). Think of f-stop as the pupil for your eye contracting and constricitng letting more or less light in.

ISO: Basically the higher the ISO setting the more grainy (dotty) your photo is.

Aperature: Also known as shutter speed, this is the time the shutter is open allowing light to hit the film or sensor. The longer the time the brighter the image the shorter the darker.

Pick up a copy of "understanding exposure".

Http://www.geofflawrence.com/index.html