Canon EOS Rebel T3/1100D For Dummies

Julie Adair King has authored numerous books on Canon and Nikon cameras as well as Digital Photography For Dummies. Robert Correll teamed with Julie on Canon EOS 60D For Dummies and is the author of High Dynamic Range Digital Photography For Dummies and Digital SLR Photography All-in-One For Dummies.

• Introduction 1A Quick Look at What’s Ahead 2Icons and Other Stuff to Note 3About the Software Shown in This Book 4eCheat Sheet 4Practice, Be Patient, and Have Fun! 4Part I: Fast Track to Super Snaps 5Chapter 1: Getting the Lay of the Land 7Getting Comfortable with Your Lens 8Attaching a lens 8Removing a lens 10Using an IS (Image Stabilizer) lens 10Shifting from autofocus to manual focus 11Zooming in and out 13Adjusting the Viewfinder Focus 13Using the LCD Monitor 14Working with Memory Cards 16Exploring External Camera Controls 17Topside controls 17Back-of-the-body controls 19Front odds and ends 23Connection ports 24Viewing and Adjusting Camera Settings 25Ordering from menus 26Using the Shooting Settings display 28Taking advantage of the Quick Control screen 30Decoding viewfinder data 31Checking the Camera Settings display 33Reviewing Basic Setup Options 34Setup Menu 1 34Setup Menu 2 36Setup Menu 3 39Two more customization options 39Chapter 2: Choosing Basic Picture Settings 41Choosing an Exposure Mode 42Changing the Drive Mode 43Using the Flash 47Using flash in the fully automatic modes 48Using flash in Creative Auto mode 48Enabling flash in the advanced exposure modes 50Using Red-Eye Reduction flash 50Controlling Picture Quality 52Diagnosing quality problems 52Decoding the Quality options 54Considering Resolution: Large, Medium, or Small? 56Understanding File Type (JPEG or Raw) 60JPEG: The imaging (and web) standard 61Raw (CR2): The purist’s choice 62Our take: Choose Fine or Raw 64Chapter 3: Taking Great Pictures, Automatically 65As Easy As It Gets: Auto and Flash Off 66Taking Advantage of Scene Modes 71Trying out the scene modes 71Modifying scene mode results 78Gaining More Control with Creative Auto 87Chapter 4: Exploring Live View Shooting and Movie Making 93Getting Started with Live View 94Live View safety tips 96Customizing the Live View display 98Exploring Your Focusing Options 100Manual focusing 101Reviewing the three autofocus modes 102Shooting Still Pictures in Live View Mode 109Viewing and adjusting picture settings 109Taking a shot in Live View mode 114Recording Your First Movie 116Customizing Movie Recording Settings 119Movie Menu 1 120Movie Menu 2 121Movie Menu 3 123Playing Movies 124Editing Movies 125Part II: Working with Picture Files 129Chapter 5: Picture Playback 131Disabling and Adjusting Image Review 131Viewing Pictures in Playback Mode 132Viewing multiple images at a time 132Using the Quick Control screen during playback 134Jumping through images 135Rotating pictures 137Zooming in for a closer view 140Viewing Picture Data 141Basic Information display data 142Basic Information plus display 143Shooting Information display mode 144Understanding Histogram display mode 146Deleting Photos 149Erasing single images 149Erasing all images 149Erasing selected images 150Protecting Photos 151Protecting a single photo 152Protecting multiple photos 153Rating Photos 154Presenting a Slide Show 156Viewing Your Photos on a Television 160Chapter 6: Downloading, Printing, and Sharing Your Photos 163Choosing the Right Photo Software 163Four free photo programs 164Four advanced photo editing programs 166Sending Pictures to the Computer 167Connecting your camera and computer 168Starting the transfer process 170Downloading images with Canon tools 170Processing Raw (CR2) Files 176Planning for Perfect Prints 180Check the pixel count before you print 180Allow for different print proportions 182Get print and monitor colors in sync 183Preparing Pictures for Online Sharing 186Part III: Taking Creative Control 193Chapter 7: Getting Creative with Exposure and Lighting 195Kicking Your Camera into Advanced Gear 196Introducing the Exposure Trio: Aperture, Shutter Speed, and ISO 197Understanding exposure-setting side effects 200Doing the exposure balancing act 204Monitoring Exposure Settings 205Choosing an Exposure Metering Mode 208Setting ISO, f-stop, and Shutter Speed 210Controlling ISO 211Adjusting aperture and shutter speed 214Sorting through Your Camera’s Exposure-Correction Tools 216Overriding autoexposure results with Exposure Compensation 216Improving high-contrast shots with Highlight Tone Priority 220Experimenting with Auto Lighting Optimizer 223Correcting lens vignetting with Peripheral Illumination Correction 226Locking Autoexposure Settings 228Bracketing Exposures Automatically 230Turning auto bracketing on and off 232Shooting a bracketed series 235Using Flash in Advanced Exposure Modes 235Understanding your camera’s approach to flash 237Using flash outdoors 240Adjusting flash power with Flash Exposure Compensation 242Locking the flash exposure 244Exploring more flash options 245Chapter 8: Manipulating Focus and Color 249Reviewing Focus Basics 249Adjusting Autofocus Performance 252AF Selection Point: One focus point or many? 253Changing the AF (autofocus) mode 255Choosing the right autofocus combo 257Manipulating Depth of Field 257Using A-DEP mode 263Checking depth of field 264Controlling Color 265Correcting colors with White Balance 265Changing the White Balance setting 267Creating a custom White Balance setting 269Fine-tuning White Balance settings 271Bracketing shots with White Balance 274Choosing a Color Space: sRGB versus Adobe RGB 277Taking a Quick Look at Picture Styles 279Chapter 9: Putting It All Together 285Recapping Basic Picture Settings 285Setting Up for Specific Scenes 287Shooting still portraits 287Capturing action 293Capturing scenic vistas 297Capturing dynamic close-ups 300Coping with Special Situations 302Part IV: The Part of Tens 305Chapter 10: Ten Fast Photo-Editing Tricks 307Opening and Saving Images 307Removing Red-Eye 312Cropping Your Photo 314Adjusting Color Saturation 317Tweaking Color Balance 320Adjusting Exposure 322Three-point exposure control with the Level Adjustment filter 322Gaining more control with the Tone Curve Adjustment filter 325Sharpening Focus (Sort Of) 328Shifting to AutoPilot 331Adding Text 332Chapter 11: Ten Special-Purpose Features to Explore on a Rainy Day 335Changing the Function of the Set Button 335Customizing Exposure and Focus Lock Options 338Disabling the AF-Assist Beam 340Reassigning the Flash Button 341Adding Cleaning Instructions to Images 342Turning Off the Shooting Settings Screen 345Creating Your Very Own Camera Menu 346Creating Custom Folders 348Tagging Files with Your Copyright Claim 349Setting Up an Eye-Fi Memory Card 351Installing Eye-Fi software 352Using Eye-Fi 354Coming to grips with transfer speeds 356Index 357