Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D Digital Field Guide

Introduction xx

Quick Tour 1

Getting Started 2

Camera Controls 3

The top of the camera 4

The back of the camera 5

Choosing Image Quality 6

Selecting a Focus Mode 6

Using a Flash 7

Reviewing Images or Video 8

Taking Better Photos 8

CHAPTER 1 Exploring the Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D 11

The Top of the Camera 12

The Bottom of the Camera 14

The Front of the Camera 14

The Back of the Camera 16

The Sides of the Camera 20

Lens Controls 21

The Viewfinder Display 22

The LCD Touch Screen and Live

View Mode 25

CHAPTER 2 Setting Up the Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D 29

The Shooting Menus 30

Shooting menu 1 30

Settings and corrective functions 30

Flash control 31

Shooting menu 2 33

Shooting menu 3 34

The Live View Shooting Menu 35

The Movie Shooting Menus 36

Movie shooting menu 1 36

Movie shooting menu 2 37

The Playback Menus 38

Playback menu 1 38

Playback menu 2 39

The Setup Menus 40

Setup menu 1 40

Setup menu 2 41

Setup menu 3 42

Setup menu 4 43

My Menu Settings 44

CHAPTER 3 Choosing the Right Settings for Your Camera 45

The Basic Zone Modes 46

The Creative Zone Modes 50

Focus Modes 52

Picture Styles 56

Drive Modes 59

White Balance Settings 60

Flash Modes 64

ISO Settings 68

Choosing File Quality and Format 69

Image size and file numbering 70

The RAW file format 71

The JPEG file format 71

Movie Modes 72

Exposing for video 72

Setting the file size and focus 73

CHAPTER 4 Using Lenses with the Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D 77

Choosing a Good Lens 78

Focal lengths 80

Autofocus 82

Aperture and depth of field 82

Image Stabilization 84

Vignetting 84

Types of Lenses 85

Prime versus Zoom Lenses 89

Understanding prime lenses 89

Understanding zoom lenses 89

Specialty Lenses 90

CHAPTER 5 Exploring Exposure and Composition 95

Choosing the Right Exposure 96

Setting the shutter speed 99

When to use fast shutter speeds 99

When to use slow shutter speeds 100

Night photography and painting with light 104

Setting the aperture 107

Setting the ISO 108

Using Exposure Compensation 110

High Dynamic Range Photography 111

Exposing for Video 113

Composition 113

Rule of Thirds 115

Fill the frame 116

Lines and shapes 116

Foreground and background 118

Keeping it simple 118

CHAPTER 6 Working with Lighting and Flash 121

The Importance of Light and Shadow 122

The Direction of Light 123

Frontlighting 123

Overhead lighting 124

Sidelighting 124

Backlighting 126

The Quality of Light 127

Hard lighting 128

Soft lighting 129

Types of Lighting 130

Natural light 130

Continuous light 132

Flash 132

Shutter speed and flash 133

Aperture and flash 134

Manual mode and flash 134

The Color of Light 136

White balance options 137

Using Picture Styles 137

Ambience Effects 138

Choosing a color space 138

Measuring Light 139

Choosing the proper exposure 139

Metering modes 141

Evaluative metering mode 141

Center-weighted metering mode 141

Spot metering mode 141

Partial metering mode 142

The Canon Flash System 142

The pop-up flash 143

Using an external flash 144

Using multiple fl ashes 145

CHAPTER 7 Shooting Photos 147

Portrait Photography 148

Equipment 148

Best practices 150

Tips 152

Shooting Action and Sports 155

Equipment 156

Best practices 157

Tips 159

Capturing Events 160

Equipment 160

Best practices 161

Tips 162

Landscape and Nature Photography 164

Equipment 164

Best practices 165

Tips 167

Macro Photography 170

Equipment 170

Best practices 171

Tips 172

Shooting at Night or in Low Light 173

Equipment 174

Best practices 174

Tips 175

Travel Photography 176

Equipment 176

Best practices 177

Tips 179

CHAPTER 8 Shooting in the Live View and Movie Modes 181

Using the Live View Shooting Mode 182

The Quick Control/Print button 185

Shooting stills 185

Focus modes 186

Live View and Video 187

Shooting Video 188

Setting up for a video shoot 190

The frame rate 192

The shutter speed 192

Lighting 194

Sound 196

Choosing a focus mode 198

Recording video 200

Equipment 202

Types of video 203

Helpful Hints for Shooting Video 205

CHAPTER 9 Viewing, Editing, and Sharing Your Images 207

Viewing your Images 208

Viewing images or videos

on the camera 208

Playback 208

The Quick Control/Print and Info buttons 209

Viewing images on a TV or smart device 210

Downloading and storing your images 210

Storage 211

The 3-2-1 rule 213

Editing Images and Videos on the Camera 213

Sharing your Photos 215

E-mailing 216

Printing 216

Uploading images to a website 216

Sharing photos via social media 218

APPENDIX A Postproduction 221

Photo-editing Software 222

Digital Photo Professional 224

Image Browser EX 227

Lightroom 227

iPhoto 229

Photoshop 230

Video-editing Software 232

Image Browser EX 234

iMovie 234

Windows Live Movie Maker 235

Other video-editing software 236

APPENDIX B Accessories 237

Grips and Remotes 237

Video Accessories 240

Microphones 241

Tripods 243

Bags 245

APPENDIX C How to Use the Gray Card and Color Checker 247

The Gray Card 247

The Color Checker 248

Glossary 249

Index 257