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 1A Quick Look at What’s Ahead 2Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 2Part II: Taking Creative Control 2Part III: Working with Picture Files 3Part IV: The Part of Tens 3Icons and Other Stuff to Note 4About the Software Shown in This Book 5eCheat Sheet 5Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun! 6Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 7Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 9Getting Comfortable with Your Lens 10Attaching a lens 10Removing a lens 12Using an IS (image stabilizer) lens 13Shifting from autofocus to manual focus 14Zooming in and out 15Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus 15Working with Memory Cards 17Exploring External Camera Controls 18Topside controls 18Back-of-the-body controls 20Front-left buttons 23Viewing and Adjusting Camera Settings 24Ordering from menus 25Using the Shooting Settings display 27Taking advantage of the Quick Control screen 29Decoding viewfinder data 30Checking the Camera Settings display 32Reviewing Basic Setup Options 33Setup Menu 1 33Setup Menu 2 35Setup Menu 3 37Three more customization options 38Chapter 2: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 41Getting Good Point-and-Shoot Results 42Exploring Basic Flash Options 47Using Red-Eye Reduction Flash 48Shooting in the Fully Automatic Modes 49Full Auto mode 50Automatic scene modes ( Image Zone modes) 51Gaining More Control with Creative Auto 58Changing the Drive Mode 62Chapter 3: Controlling Picture Quality 65Diagnosing Quality Problems 66Decoding the Quality Options 68Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small? 70Pixels and print quality 71Pixels and screen display size 72Pixels and fi le size 73Resolution recommendations 74Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw) 76JPEG: The imaging (and Web) standard 76Raw (CR2): The purist’s choice 79Our take: Choose Fine or Raw 81Chapter 4: Monitor Matters: Picture Playback, Live View, and Movie Mode 83Disabling and Adjusting Instant Review 84Viewing Images in Playback Mode 84Viewing multiple images at a time 85Jumping through images 86Rotating vertical pictures 88Zooming in for a closer view 90Viewing Picture Data 91Image Only display mode 92Detailed Information display 93Understanding Histogram display mode 96Deleting Photos 100Erasing single images 100Erasing all images on your memory card 100Erasing selected images 102Protecting Photos 103Using Your Monitor As a Viewfinder 105Enabling Live View 108Taking a shot in Live View mode 109Customizing Live View shooting data 111Using the Quick Control screen in Live View mode 113Displaying an alignment grid 114Recording Movies 115Changing the information display 120Setting basic recording options 121Shooting your first movie 124Playing movies 127Editing movies 129Part II: Taking Creative Control 133Chapter 5: Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting 135Kicking Your Camera into Advanced Gear 136Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 137Understanding exposure-setting side effects 140Doing the exposure balancing act 145Monitoring Exposure Settings 146Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 149Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed 153Controlling ISO 153Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 157Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools 160Overriding autoexposure results with Exposure Compensation 160Improving high-contrast shots with Highlight Tone Priority 164Experimenting with Auto Lighting Optimization 166Correcting lens vignetting with Peripheral Illumination Correction 169Locking Autoexposure Settings 172Bracketing Exposures Automatically 174Enabling AEB 174Putting AEB to work in HDR imaging 177Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes 179Understanding your camera’s approach to flash 180Adjusting flash power with Flash Exposure Compensation 184Locking the flash exposure 187Exploring more flash options 188Using an external flash unit 191Chapter 6: Manipulating Focus and Color 193Reviewing Focus Basics 193Adjusting Autofocus Performance 196Selecting an autofocus point 196Changing the AF (autofocus) mode 198Autofocusing in Live View and Movie Modes 200Choosing the Live View or Movie mode autofocusing method 201Quick mode autofocusing 202Using Live mode autofocusing 205Using Live mode autofocus with face detection 206Manipulating Depth of Field 207Using A-DEP mode 212Checking depth of field 213Controlling Color 214Correcting colors with white balance 215Changing the White Balance setting 217Creating a custom White Balance setting 218Fine-tuning White Balance settings 220Bracketing shots with white balance 223Choosing a Color Space: sRGB versus Adobe RGB 225Taking a Quick Look at Picture Styles 227Chapter 7: Putting It All Together 233Recapping Basic Picture Settings 234Setting Up for Specific Scenes 234Shooting still portraits 235Capturing action 240Capturing scenic vistas 244Capturing dynamic close-ups 248Part III: Working with Picture Files 251Chapter 8: Downloading, Organizing, and Archiving Your Photos 253Sending Pictures to the Computer 254Connecting your camera and computer 255Starting the transfer process 257Downloading images with Canon tools 258Using ZoomBrowser EX/ImageBrowser 265Getting acquainted with the program 266Viewing photos in full-screen mode 268Organizing your photos 271Processing Raw (CR2) Files 273Chapter 9: Printing and Sharing Your Photos 279Avoiding Printing Problems 280Check the pixel count before you print 280Allow for different print proportions 282Get print and monitor colors in sync 284Printing Online or In-Store 287Printing from ZoomBrowser EX/ImageBrowser 288Preparing Pictures for E-Mail and Online Sharing 293Creating an In-Camera Slide Show 299Viewing Your Photos on a Television 302Part IV: The Part of Tens 305Chapter 10: Ten Fast Photo-Editing Tricks 307Removing Red-Eye 308Cropping Your Photo 312Adjusting Color Saturation 315Tweaking Color Balance 318Adjusting Exposure 320Three-point exposure control with theLevel Adjustment filter 321Gaining more control with the Tone Curve Adjustment filter 323Sharpening Focus (Sort Of) 326Shifting to AutoPilot 330Adding Text 330Saving Your Edited Files 332Chapter 11: Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 333Changing the Function of the Set Button 333Customizing Exposure and Focus Lock Options 336Disabling the AF-Assist Beam 337Enabling Mirror Lockup 339Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images 340Turning Off the Shooting Settings Screen 342Adding Original Decision Data 344Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu 344Tagging Files with Your Copyright Claim 347Getting Free Help and Creative Ideas 349Index 351