Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D For Dummies

Julie Adair King has been writing about digital cameras and photography for more than a decade. She is the author of several books on Canon, Nikon, and Olympus cameras. Dan Burkholder is a professional photographer and photography educator specializing in techniques that combine film and digital photography.

Introduction 1

A Quick Look at What’s Ahead 2

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 2

Part II: Taking Creative Control 2

Part III: Working with Picture Files 3

Part IV: The Part of Tens 3

Icons and Other Stuff to Note 4

About the Software Shown in This Book 5

eCheat Sheet 5

Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun! 6

Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 7

Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 9

Getting Comfortable with Your Lens 10

Attaching a lens 10

Removing a lens 12

Using an IS (image stabilizer) lens 13

Shifting from autofocus to manual focus 14

Zooming in and out 15

Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus 15

Working with Memory Cards 17

Exploring External Camera Controls 18

Topside controls 18

Back-of-the-body controls 20

Front-left buttons 23

Viewing and Adjusting Camera Settings 24

Ordering from menus 25

Using the Shooting Settings display 27

Taking advantage of the Quick Control screen 29

Decoding viewfinder data 30

Checking the Camera Settings display 32

Reviewing Basic Setup Options 33

Setup Menu 1 33

Setup Menu 2 35

Setup Menu 3 37

Three more customization options 38

Chapter 2: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 41

Getting Good Point-and-Shoot Results 42

Exploring Basic Flash Options 47

Using Red-Eye Reduction Flash 48

Shooting in the Fully Automatic Modes 49

Full Auto mode 50

Automatic scene modes ( Image Zone modes) 51

Gaining More Control with Creative Auto 58

Changing the Drive Mode 62

Chapter 3: Controlling Picture Quality 65

Diagnosing Quality Problems 66

Decoding the Quality Options 68

Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small? 70

Pixels and print quality 71

Pixels and screen display size 72

Pixels and fi le size 73

Resolution recommendations 74

Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw) 76

JPEG: The imaging (and Web) standard 76

Raw (CR2): The purist’s choice 79

Our take: Choose Fine or Raw 81

Chapter 4: Monitor Matters: Picture Playback, Live View, and Movie Mode 83

Disabling and Adjusting Instant Review 84

Viewing Images in Playback Mode 84

Viewing multiple images at a time 85

Jumping through images 86

Rotating vertical pictures 88

Zooming in for a closer view 90

Viewing Picture Data 91

Image Only display mode 92

Detailed Information display 93

Understanding Histogram display mode 96

Deleting Photos 100

Erasing single images 100

Erasing all images on your memory card 100

Erasing selected images 102

Protecting Photos 103

Using Your Monitor As a Viewfinder 105

Enabling Live View 108

Taking a shot in Live View mode 109

Customizing Live View shooting data 111

Using the Quick Control screen in Live View mode 113

Displaying an alignment grid 114

Recording Movies 115

Changing the information display 120

Setting basic recording options 121

Shooting your first movie 124

Playing movies 127

Editing movies 129

Part II: Taking Creative Control 133

Chapter 5: Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting 135

Kicking Your Camera into Advanced Gear 136

Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 137

Understanding exposure-setting side effects 140

Doing the exposure balancing act 145

Monitoring Exposure Settings 146

Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 149

Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed 153

Controlling ISO 153

Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 157

Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools 160

Overriding autoexposure results with Exposure Compensation 160

Improving high-contrast shots with Highlight Tone Priority 164

Experimenting with Auto Lighting Optimization 166

Correcting lens vignetting with Peripheral Illumination Correction 169

Locking Autoexposure Settings 172

Bracketing Exposures Automatically 174

Enabling AEB 174

Putting AEB to work in HDR imaging 177

Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes 179

Understanding your camera’s approach to flash 180

Adjusting flash power with Flash Exposure Compensation 184

Locking the flash exposure 187

Exploring more flash options 188

Using an external flash unit 191

Chapter 6: Manipulating Focus and Color 193

Reviewing Focus Basics 193

Adjusting Autofocus Performance 196

Selecting an autofocus point 196

Changing the AF (autofocus) mode 198

Autofocusing in Live View and Movie Modes 200

Choosing the Live View or Movie mode autofocusing method 201

Quick mode autofocusing 202

Using Live mode autofocusing 205

Using Live mode autofocus with face detection 206

Manipulating Depth of Field 207

Using A-DEP mode 212

Checking depth of field 213

Controlling Color 214

Correcting colors with white balance 215

Changing the White Balance setting 217

Creating a custom White Balance setting 218

Fine-tuning White Balance settings 220

Bracketing shots with white balance 223

Choosing a Color Space: sRGB versus Adobe RGB 225

Taking a Quick Look at Picture Styles 227

Chapter 7: Putting It All Together 233

Recapping Basic Picture Settings 234

Setting Up for Specific Scenes 234

Shooting still portraits 235

Capturing action 240

Capturing scenic vistas 244

Capturing dynamic close-ups 248

Part III: Working with Picture Files 251

Chapter 8: Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Photos 253

Sending Pictures to the Computer 254

Connecting your camera and computer 255

Starting the transfer process 257

Downloading images with Canon tools 258

Using ZoomBrowser EX/ImageBrowser 265

Getting acquainted with the program 266

Viewing photos in full-screen mode 268

Organizing your photos 271

Processing Raw (CR2) Files 273

Chapter 9: Printing and Sharing Your Photos 279

Avoiding Printing Problems 280

Check the pixel count before you print 280

Allow for different print proportions 282

Get print and monitor colors in sync 284

Printing Online or In-Store 287

Printing from ZoomBrowser EX/ImageBrowser 288

Preparing Pictures for E-Mail and Online Sharing 293

Creating an In-Camera Slide Show 299

Viewing Your Photos on a Television 302

Part IV: The Part of Tens 305

Chapter 10: Ten Fast Photo-Editing Tricks 307

Removing Red-Eye 308

Cropping Your Photo 312

Adjusting Color Saturation 315

Tweaking Color Balance 318

Adjusting Exposure 320

Three-point exposure control with the

Level Adjustment filter 321

Gaining more control with the Tone Curve Adjustment filter 323

Sharpening Focus (Sort Of) 326

Shifting to AutoPilot 330

Adding Text 330

Saving Your Edited Files 332

Chapter 11: Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 333

Changing the Function of the Set Button 333

Customizing Exposure and Focus Lock Options 336

Disabling the AF-Assist Beam 337

Enabling Mirror Lockup 339

Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images 340

Turning Off the Shooting Settings Screen 342

Adding Original Decision Data 344

Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu 344

Tagging Files with Your Copyright Claim 347

Getting Free Help and Creative Ideas 349

Index 351