Chapter 3
Taking Great Pictures, Automatically
IN THIS CHAPTER
Shooting your first pictures in Scene Intelligent Auto mode
Trying Live View photography
Getting creative by using Image Zone modes
Gaining more control with Creative Auto mode
Your camera is loaded with features for the advanced photographer, enabling you to exert precise control over exposure, focusing, and much more. But you don’t have to wait until you understand all those options to take great pictures because your camera also offers exposure modes that provide point-and-shoot simplicity. This chapter shows you how to get the best results in those modes, including Scene Intelligent Auto, Flash Off, the six Image Zone (scene) modes, and Creative Auto.
Shooting in Auto and Flash Off Modes
For the simplest camera operation, set the camera to Auto mode, as shown in Figure 3-1. Or, if you’re shooting in an environment that doesn’t permit flash, choose Flash Off, represented by the symbol labeled in the figure. This mode works the same as Auto but, as its name promises, prevents the flash from firing.
FIGURE 3-1: Set the Mode dial to Auto or Auto Flash Off for point-and-shoot simplicity.
Officially, Auto mode is called Scene Intelligent Auto mode. The name stems from the fact the camera uses its digital brain to analyze the scene — it’s an intelligent camera, see — and then selects the most appropriate settings for that scene. In the interest of saving page space and perhaps even a tree or two, I usually refer to this mode as simply “Auto.”
Although the camera handles most picture-taking chores for you in Auto and Flash Off modes, you need to consider a few settings, starting with whether you want to use the viewfinder to compose the photo or enable Live View, which sends a live preview of the subject to the camera monitor. Your choice makes a difference in how the camera’s autofocusing system works and, therefore, how you take the picture. The next section shows you how things work for viewfinder photography; following that, I show you how to take a picture in Live View mode.
Both sets of instructions assume that you’re using the camera’s default settings. To restore the defaults, set the Mode dial to P, Tv, Av, or M and then choose Clear Settings from Setup Menu 3. (You can’t access this menu option in any of the point-and-shoot modes.)
Viewfinder photography in Auto and Flash Off modes
The following steps show you how to take a picture using the Auto or Flash Off mode, relying on the default camera settings and autofocusing. If your lens doesn’t autofocus with the T6, ignore the focusing instructions and focus manually.
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Set the Mode dial to Auto (refer to Figure 3-1).
Or, for flash-free photography, select the Flash Off mode.
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Set the lens focusing method to autofocusing.
On the 18–55mm or 75–300mm kit lens, set the switch to AF.
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Looking through the viewfinder, frame the image so that your subject appears under an autofocus point.
The autofocus points are the nine rectangles scattered around the viewfinder frame, as shown in Figure 3-2.
Framing your subject so that it falls under the center autofocus point (labeled in the figure) typically produces the fastest and most accurate autofocusing. -
Press and hold the shutter button halfway down.
The camera’s autofocus and autoexposure meters begin to do their thing. In Auto exposure mode, the flash pops up if the camera thinks additional light is needed. Additionally, the flash may emit an AF-assist beam, a few rapid pulses of light designed to help the autofocusing mechanism find its target.
When the camera establishes focus, one or more of the autofocus points blink red to indicate which areas of the frame are in focus. In Figure 3-3, for example, the focus points on the horse’s face are lit.
In most cases, you also hear a tiny beep, and the focus indicator in the viewfinder lights, as shown in Figure 3-3. Focus is locked as long as you keep the shutter button halfway down.
If the camera senses motion in front of the lens, however, you may hear a series of small beeps, and the viewfinder’s focus lamp may not light. Both signals mean that the camera switched to continuous autofocusing, which adjusts focus as necessary up to the time you take the picture. Your only job in this scenario is to keep the subject framed within the area covered by the autofocus points. -
Press the shutter button the rest of the way down to take the photo.
When the recording process is finished, the picture appears briefly on the camera monitor. If the picture doesn’t appear or you want to take a longer look at the image, see Chapter 9, which covers picture playback.
FIGURE 3-2: The tiny rectangles in the viewfinder indicate autofocus points.
FIGURE 3-3: When you photograph stationary subjects, the green focus indicator lights when the camera locks focus.
I need to add just a few more pointers about shooting in Auto and Flash Off modes:
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Exposure: After the camera meters exposure, it displays its chosen exposure settings at the bottom of the viewfinder, as shown in Figure 3-3. You can ignore all this data except for the shutter speed value, labeled in the figure. If that value blinks, the camera needs to use a slow shutter speed (long exposure time) to expose the picture. Because any movement of the camera or subject can blur the picture at a slow shutter speed, use a tripod and tell your subject to remain as still as possible. No tripod? Try turning on Image Stabilization, if your lens offers that feature, to help compensate for slight camera shake that can occur when you handhold the camera. (The warning about subject movement still applies.)Additionally, dim lighting may force the camera to use a high ISO setting, which increases the camera’s sensitivity to light. Unfortunately, a high ISO can create noise, a defect that makes your picture look grainy. See Chapter 4 for tips on dealing with this and other exposure problems.
- Drive mode: By default, the camera uses the Single mode, which means you get one picture for each press of the shutter button. Your other choices are to use either the standard Self-Timer mode (10-second delay) or the continuous Self-Timer mode (record up to nine frames with each press of the shutter button). To change the setting, press the left cross key or use the Quick Control screen, as outlined in Chapter 2.
- Flash: The built-in flash has a relatively short reach, so if the flash fires but your picture is still too dark, move closer to the subject. In Auto mode, you can set the flash to the Red-Eye Reduction mode (the control lives on Shooting Menu 1), but you can’t disable flash. To go flash free, you have to set the Mode dial to the Flash Off setting.
Live View photography in Auto and Flash Off modes
Follow these steps to take a picture in Live View mode using autofocusing and the default settings for Auto and Auto Flash Off modes:
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Set the Mode dial to Auto or Flash Off.
Refer to Figure 3-1 if you need help locating the symbols that represent these shooting modes.
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Set the lens focusing method to autofocusing.
On the 18–55mm and 75–300mm kit lenses, set the switch to AF.
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Press the Live View button to engage Live View.The viewfinder goes to sleep, and the scene in front of the lens appears on the monitor. What data you see superimposed on top of the scene depends on your display mode; press DISP to cycle through the available displays.
If you press the Live View button and nothing happens, Live View may be disabled. To turn it back on, press the Menu button, pull up Shooting Menu 2, and set the Live View Shooting option to Enable.
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Focus.
By default, the camera uses a Live View autofocusing option called FlexiZone-Single. In this mode, you use the cross keys to move the focus frame, labeled in Figure 3-4, over your subject. Then press the shutter button halfway and hold it there to initiate autofocusing. When focus is achieved, the focus frame turns green and the camera beeps, signifying that you’re ready to shoot.
For details on other Live View focusing options, see Chapter 5.
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Press the shutter button fully to take the shot.
You see your just-captured image on the monitor for a few seconds before the Live View preview returns.
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To exit the Live View preview, press the Live View button.
You can then return to framing your images through the viewfinder.
FIGURE 3-4: Move the focus frame over your subject and press the shutter button halfway to focus.
For tips on exposure, Drive mode, and flash, see the end of the preceding section. All the notes provided there for viewfinder photography apply to Live View photography as well.
Exploring Image Zone (Scene) Modes
In addition to Auto and Auto Flash Off modes, the T6/1300D offers several Image Zone modes, labeled in Figure 3-5. Each mode is designed to make it easy to capture a specific type of scene, which is why such modes are known generically as scene modes.
FIGURE 3-5: These symbols represent other easy-to-use shooting modes.
The following list describes each scene mode. But before you dig in, understand that whether any scene mode can produce the results it promises depends on many factors, including the ambient light and your lens capabilities. In other words, your mileage may vary.
Portrait: Select this mode to create the classic portraiture look, with a sharply focused subject and a blurred background, as illustrated in Figure 3-6. Portrait mode also warms colors (makes them a little more red) and reduces skin texture slightly, the idea being to create a more flattering rendition of your subject.
Landscape mode: This mode produces traditional landscape characteristics, with sharp focus maintained over a long distance from the camera lens, as shown in Figure 3-7. (I set focus on the rocks in the foreground for this shot.) Landscape mode also increases contrast and color saturation, with blues and greens appearing especially vibrant. Flash is disabled.-
Close-up mode: Switching to Close-up mode doesn’t enable you to focus at a closer distance to your subject than normal, as it does on some non-SLR cameras. The close-focusing capabilities of your camera depend entirely on the lens you use. (Your lens manual should specify the minimum focusing distance.)Instead, Close-up mode, like Portrait mode, is designed to blur background objects so that they don’t compete for attention with your main subject. I used Close-up mode to capture the orchid in Figure 3-8, for example. But in Close-up mode, the camera doesn’t play with color, sharpness, or contrast as it does in Portrait and Landscape modes. So in that regard, Close-up mode is the same as Scene Intelligent Auto.
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Sports mode: Sports mode is designed for capturing moving subjects without blur, as in Figure 3-9. Colors, sharpness, and contrast are all standard in Sports mode, with none of the adjustments that occur in Portrait and Landscape modes.In dim lighting, your subjects may appear blurred even in Sports mode. The problem is that the lack of light requires a slow shutter speed, and you need a fast shutter speed to capture motion without blur. Unfortunately, you can’t add light by using the camera’s built-in flash; it’s disabled in Sports mode.
Food mode: The goal of this mode is to tweak color and exposure in a way that makes food more appetizing — at least, in a way that Canon thinks makes food look better to most people. Specifically, if you shoot the picture in incandescent lighting, which emits reddish light, the camera tweaks colors to tone down those warm hues. Exposure is also increased just a hair to make everything a little brighter.-
Night Portrait: As its name implies, Night Portrait mode is designed to deliver a better-looking portrait at night, which it attempts by combining flash with a slow shutter speed. The longer exposure time enables the camera to rely more on ambient light and less on the flash to expose the picture. The result is a brighter background and softer, more even lighting. If you can keep your subject and the camera perfectly still during the exposure, Night Portrait mode works great. Otherwise, either the subject or the entire picture may blur.Night Portrait mode also differs from regular Portrait mode in that it renders the scene in the same way as Scene Intelligent Auto in terms of colors, contrast, and sharpness.
FIGURE 3-6: Portrait setting produces a softly focused background.
FIGURE 3-7: Landscape mode produces a large zone of sharp focus.
FIGURE 3-8: Close-up mode also produces short depth of field.
FIGURE 3-9: To capture moving subjects and minimize blur, try Sports mode.
Taking pictures in scene modes
The process of taking a picture in one of the scene modes is pretty much the same as for Auto and Flash Off modes, detailed earlier in this chapter. But there are a few variations to understand:
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Autofocusing in Sports mode: In Sports mode, the camera sets initial focus on the object at the center of the frame when you press the shutter button halfway. However, if the subject moves from that spot, autofocus is adjusted as needed until the time you press the shutter button the rest of the way to take the shot.
This continuous autofocusing is not available if you shoot in Live View mode. So use the viewfinder when photographing in Sports mode. - Autofocusing in other scene modes: Autofocusing behavior depends on whether you use the viewfinder or Live View to shoot the picture:
- Viewfinder photography: When you press the shutter button halfway, focus is locked. The camera decides which of the nine focus points to use to set the focusing distance (usually choosing the one that falls over the object closest to the lens).
- Live View photography: By default, the camera uses the AF FlexiZone-Single autofocusing option, which requires you to use the cross keys to position the focus frame over your subject. You can choose either of the two other Live View autofocusing options, which I cover in Chapter 5. Use the Quick Control screen to change the setting.
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Changing the Drive mode: Detailed in Chapter 2, this setting determines when and how the shutter releases after you press the shutter button. Here are the default settings used for the scene modes:
- Landscape, Close-up, Food, Night Portrait: The Drive mode is set to Single, which means that you get one frame each time you press the shutter button.
- Portrait, Sports: The default Drive mode is Continuous, which means that the camera records a series of images in rapid succession as long as you hold down the shutter button.
All the scene modes enable you to switch to the normal Self-Timer mode, which delays the shutter release for 10 seconds after you press the shutter button. You also can choose the continuous Self-Timer mode, which also has a 10-second delay but enables you to capture up to nine frames each time you press the shutter button. The 2-second Self-Timer mode is off-limits.
The fastest way to adjust the Drive mode setting during viewfinder photography is to press the left cross key, but you can also adjust it via the Quick Control screen. (You must use the Quick Control method in Live View mode.)
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Using flash: Flash is disabled in Landscape and Sports modes. In Food mode, flash is turned off by default, but you can enable it via the Quick Control screen. (Note that using flash in Food mode may eliminate the color and brightness adjustments that normally happen in that mode.)
In Portrait, Close-up, and Night Portrait modes, flash is set to automatic firing; the camera raises and fires the built-in flash when the ambient light is insufficient to expose the picture. For modes that allow flash, you can turn on Red-Eye Reduction via Shooting Menu 1.
Modifying scene mode results
When you rely on the scene modes, you don’t have much control over the final look of your picture. But you can make small adjustments to color, sharpness, contrast, and exposure. The next three sections tell all.
Taking a look at the Shoot by Ambience options
In all the scene modes, the Quick Control screen offers access to a feature named Shoot by Ambience, which enables you to adjust certain picture characteristics on your next shot. The following list describes your Shoot by Ambience choices:
- Standard: Consider this the “off” setting. When you select this option, the camera makes no adjustment to the characteristics normally produced by your selected scene mode.
- Vivid: Increases contrast, color saturation, and sharpness.
- Soft: Creates the appearance of slightly softer focus.
- Warm: Warms (adds a reddish-orange color cast) and softens.
- Intense: Boosts contrast and saturation (color intensity) even more than the Vivid setting.
- Cool: Adds a cool (blue) color cast.
- Brighter: Lightens the photo.
- Darker: Darkens the photo.
- Monochrome: Creates a black-and-white photo, with an optional color tint.
Unfortunately, only one setting can be in force at a time. You can’t ask for both a more vivid photo and a warmer photo, for example.
Also note that all adjustments are applied in addition to whatever adjustments occur by virtue of your selected scene mode. For example, Landscape mode already produces slightly sharper, more vivid colors than normal. If you add the Vivid Shoot by Ambience option, you amp things up another notch.
You can control the amount of the adjustment, however, through a related setting, Effect. You can choose from three Effect levels. The level name and its effect depend on the adjustment you choose. Most Effects have Low, Standard, and Strong settings. Darker and Lighter have Low, Medium, and High settings. In the case of the Monochrome setting, the Effect setting enables you to switch from a black-and-white image to a monochrome image with a warm (sepia) or cool (blue) tint.
As a quick example of the color effects you can create, Figure 3-10 shows the same subject shot at four Shoot by Ambience settings. I took all pictures in the Landscape scene mode. For the three variations — Vivid, Warm, and Intense — I applied the maximum level of adjustment, setting the Effect option to Strong.
FIGURE 3-10: To create these Shoot by Ambience variations, I used the maximum amount of adjustment for the Vivid, Warm, and Intense settings.
If you’re more concerned with exposure than color, check out the Brighter and Darker settings, which give you a way to overrule the camera’s exposure decisions. For example, in the left image in Figure 3-11, the exposure of the background was fine, but the flower was overexposed. So I set the Shoot by Ambience option to Darker, set the Effect option to Medium, and shot the flower again.
FIGURE 3-11: If the initial exposure leaves your subject too bright, choose the Darker setting and reshoot.
Eliminating color casts
Normally, the camera renders colors accurately through its automatic white-balancing system, which compensates for any color added to a scene by the light source. For example, incandescent lights infuse a scene with a warm tint, which is neutralized by the white-balancing system. (Chapter 6 explains white balance in detail.)
When a scene is lit by two or more light sources, though, the camera can get confused, creating a photo that has an unnatural color tint. In that event, you may be able to fix things through the following options:
- Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type: Available in Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and Close-up scene modes, this option enables you to tell the camera to compensate for a particular light source or, for outdoor shots, the lighting conditions. Your choices include Daylight, Shade, Cloudy, and Sunset. For Portrait, Sports, and Close-up modes, you also can choose Fluorescent Light and Tungsten Light (select this setting for incandescent bulbs as well as tungsten bulbs). To return to the regular, automatic white-balancing formula, select Default.
- Color Tone (Food mode only): When you use the Food scene mode, you lose access to the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type option. In its place, you get a Color Tone slider that enables you to make colors warmer (more red) or cooler (more blue).
Adjusting the “Shoot by” and Color Tone settings
The options described in the preceding two sections determine your final photo colors and exposure when you shoot in the scene modes. So being able to preview the possible combinations of settings without having to take a bunch of shots to experiment would be great, yes?
Luckily, you can enjoy that advantage in Live View mode. As you vary the available settings, the Live View display updates to show you how the subject will be rendered. (Note that the Live View preview isn’t always 100-percent accurate, especially in terms of image brightness, but it’s fairly close.) After you choose the settings you want to use, you can exit Live View mode and take the picture using the viewfinder if you want.
The following steps provide an overview of this process. Note that when you shoot in a scene mode that offers both Shoot by Ambience and Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type adjustments (that is, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and Close-up modes), Canon recommends that you tackle the Lighting/Scene type setting first, so that’s the approach I take in the steps.
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Set the Mode dial to Close-up mode.
More about how things work in the other scene modes later; for now, stick with Close-up.
- Press the Live View button to shift to Live View mode.
Press the Q button to shift to the Quick Control display.-
Select the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type option, as shown on the left in Figure 3-12.
Remember that this setting is available only in Close-up, Portrait, Sports, and Landscape modes. Assuming that you’re using one of those modes, the name of the current setting is shown on the left side of the screen. For example, in the first screen in Figure 3-12, the Default setting is selected. The text at the bottom of the screen reminds you that you’re adjusting the light/scene type setting.
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Rotate the Main dial to cycle through the settings.
Depending on the lighting conditions, you may not see significant changes for some settings. In the example, the Default setting added a slight warm color cast, which I eliminated by shifting to the Tungsten Light option. If your subject is lit by multiple light sources, choose the most prominent one or just keep experimenting until colors look the most accurate. -
Use the cross keys to select the Shoot by Ambience option, labeled in Figure 3-13.
By default, the Standard setting is used.
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Rotate the Main dial to change the setting.
As soon as you rotate the dial, you see the impact of the newly selected ambience setting on the scene. For example, on the left side of Figure 3-14, the preview shows the result of changing from the Standard setting to the Vivid setting. In addition, the Effect setting, which determines the level at which the adjustment is applied, becomes available. I labeled this option on the right side of Figure 3-14.
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Use the cross keys to select the Effect setting and rotate the Main dial or press the left/right cross keys to set the level of the adjustment.
The Effect display indicates the adjustment level. For example, in the left screen in Figure 3-14, the Effect level is Standard; on the right, I raised the setting to Strong (three notches).
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Exit the Quick Control screen by pressing the Q button.
You’re now ready to take the picture. Again, you can exit Live View mode if you prefer; the settings you just dialed in stay in force for both Live View and viewfinder shooting until you change them.
FIGURE 3-12: This control enables you to adjust the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type setting.
FIGURE 3-13: After highlighting the Shoot by Ambience option, rotate the Main dial to change the setting and display the Effect control.
FIGURE 3-14: Use the Quick Control screen to access the Shoot by Ambience setting, too.
Now for the promised details about adjusting these settings in modes other than Close-up:
- Portrait, Landscape, and Sports: Things work just as they do for Close-up mode (described in the preceding steps). However, Landscape does not offer the Fluorescent and Tungsten Light options for the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type setting.
- Night Portrait and Food: You lose access to the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type option. In Food mode, however, you can adjust colors through the Color Tone option, as outlined in the preceding section. Use the cross keys to select that option and then press the right and left cross keys or rotate the Main dial to move the slider toward the blue or red side of the color bar, depending on whether you want colors to cooler or warmer.
If you already know what settings you want to use, you can get the job done more quickly by staying out of Live View mode and just using the Quick Control screen to adjust the options. The left screen in Figure 3-15 shows you where to look for the Shoot by Ambience and Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type options. Again, the latter is not available in Night Portrait mode, and in Food mode, it’s replaced by the Color Tone option, shown on the right in the figure.
FIGURE 3-15: When you’re not using Live View, the selected scene-mode adjustments appear as shown here.
For the Shoot by Ambience and Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type options, you also can highlight the option on the Quick Control screen and then press Set to display a list of all the available settings. After highlighting the setting you want to use, press Set to return to the Quick Control screen.
Gaining More Control with Creative Auto
Creative Auto mode, represented on the Mode dial by the letters CA, offers a bit more control over the look of your pictures than is possible in the scene modes or Auto and Flash Off modes. If you check the monitor after taking a shot and don’t like the results, you can make the following adjustments for your next shot:
- Adjust color, sharpness, contrast, and exposure through the Shoot by Ambience option, as explained in the preceding sections.
- Enable or disable the flash.
- Use the Background Blur setting to manipulate depth of field, or the distance over which focus appears acceptably sharp.
Figure 3-16 shows you where to look for the relevant controls in the Shooting Settings and Live View displays. You adjust all the settings via the Quick Control screen.
FIGURE 3-16: You can adjust these additional settings in Creative Auto mode.
The settings you choose remain in effect from shot to shot. If you turn the camera off or switch to a different exposure mode, though, the settings return to their defaults.
Here’s what you need to know about each option:
- Shoot by Ambience: This setting enables you to alter how the camera processes the photo, enabling you to tweak color, contrast, and exposure slightly. The earlier section “Taking a look at the Shoot by Ambience options” explains this feature.
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Flash: You can choose from three flash settings:
Auto: The camera fires the flash automatically if it thinks extra light is needed to expose the picture.
On: The flash fires regardless of the ambient light.
Off: The flash doesn’t fire.
For the Auto and On settings, you can use the Red-Eye Reduction flash feature, found on Shooting Menu 1. See Chapter 2 for more information about flash photography.
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Background Blur: This feature is somewhat mislabeled. You can blur the background by adjusting the setting, but any objects in front of your subject may also become blurry. So apply this feature with caution and do some test shots to find the right amount of blurring.
Unfortunately, this feature doesn’t play nice with the flash. If you set the flash mode to On, the Background Blur bar becomes dimmed and out of your reach when the flash pops up. Ditto if you set the Flash mode to Auto and the camera sees a need for flash.When you select the Background Blur option, you see the scale shown on the left in Figure 3-16. Use the Main dial or right/left cross keys to move the indicator to the left to increase blurring; move it to the right for less blurring.
The extent to which objects in front of and behind your subject blur is known as depth of field. To find out more about depth of field, see Chapter 5. In the meantime, note these easy ways to tweak depth of field beyond using the Background Blur slider:
- For blurrier backgrounds, move the subject farther from the background, get closer to the subject, and zoom in to a tighter angle of view, if you use a zoom lens.
- For sharper backgrounds, do the opposite of the above.
Again, remember that depth of field affects anything in front of your subject as well as objects behind it.