Becoming a Canon Power Shooter

A really good question was raised in one of the Flickr Canon groups about the difference between Exposure Compensation (EC), Shutter Speed (Tv), Aperture (Av) and ISO. While I won’t discuss all of them in detail, I want point out how useful the EC feature can be in difficult light situations.

I’ll be the first to admit, that in many regular shooting situations, I will keep my camera set in Program or AV mode and just fire away. But in these Summer months, you often find that sun is high and the shadows are wide or deep. When you meter subjects backlit by the sun or who are in a shaded areas, your camera simply doesn’t meter well.

In these situations, if your Rebel is set to Program mode, you simply should take a few test shots of the subject, click the Info button twice on the back of your Rebel and check the Histogram. If you haven’t learned to use the Histogram, it can be very useful to do so especially if you can’t quite tell how over or under exposed your a photo is by viewing it in the LCD screen.

If your test shots are too dark or light, the Rebel’s Exposure Compensation can be helpful. The EC button is on the back of your camera next to a little square with a + and - sign. This same button is also used for adjusting your Av. Though the Rebel’s manual says different, I suggest first holding the EC button down with your thumb, and then press the shutter button half way to focus and frame your shot, instead of the other way around. (I find when I press the shutter first, I sometimes lose my focus or composition when I take a second to get my thumb on the EC button, which is small and in a very awkward place. I think it should be on the top right side of the camera.

When you press half down on the shutter, the EC indicator will appear. Turn the camera’s dial to the right for positive exposure, (i.e. adding more light to the camera) and to the left for negative exposure (i.e. less light into the camera.) You’ll also notice that in many situations, the camera set in P mode will readjust the Av and Tv settings. Now fire a few more test shots to see if you have captured a better exposed picture. Again, the histogram can be of aid.

Unfortunately, the EC feature in the Rebel does not provide a preview of how much lighter or darker or how much contrast your picture will be. I had a compact Olympus camera that did that and it was very helpful. But by taking a few test shots, you will get a since of what you need to do to get a better exposed shot.

Technorati Tags:
photography, canon rebel xt, canon 350D, digital photography

I can't say enough about Flickr's Canon user groups.There are at least 15 of them, some small and others very large. Specific for Rebel Shooters, there's of course the group aptly titled 350D XT Users. You have to be Flickr member to join, but quite frankly, if you have a Rebel XT shooter, you should already be a Flickr member–free or paid.Though there are many other Rebel XT forums on the net, the sweet thing about Flickr Canon groups is that you can subscribe to them as RSS feeds, which means, if you don't know, you will get updates on the discussions, particularly questions you post to the group. I subscribe to three groups, and have yet to feel overwhelmed with messages. If there's a discussion thread that I'm that interested in, I simply click it as read and move on. But I like to keep tabs on the treads and provide some imput because I appreciate the feedback I get when I post a question.

Many of the questions and topics raised in these groups I will explore further in this blog. There's always some discussion or even debate around lens choices, RAW vs. JPEG, or 20D vs. 30D Canon cameras. All of the great discussion, but as a Rebel shooter and blogger, I'm going to focus on many of the basics of getting the most out the camera.

I going to do a few audiovisual tutorials, post them on YouTube and link them to this site. My goal is to point features and techniques for those using the XT for the first time.

If you plopped down nine hundred bucks for your XT, you best want to know as much as you can about it.