Canon® EOS Digital Rebel XTi/400D Digital Field Guide

Introduction

One of my favorite photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson, said in his book The Mind's Eye: Writings on Photography and Photographers, "Of all means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes forever the precise and transitory instant. We photographers deal in things that are continually vanishing, and when they have vanished, there is no contrivance on earth that can make them come back again... for photographers, what has gone is gone forever."

In this quote, Cartier-Bresson encapsulated the immediacy of photography, its singular ability to capture a fleeting moment in time, and the need to capture moments before they're gone forever. Regardless of the subjects that you most enjoy photographing, the ability to capture timeless moments is what both photography and this book are about.

You may already know that the Digital Rebel XTi/400D makes digital photography easy and fun. If you're ready to take the next step in becoming more familiar with the camera and developing your skills as a photographer, then this book can help you to achieve both. I've packed the book with easy-to-use techniques — techniques that can help you to make pictures similar to those that you admire and wish that you had taken.

Figure QT.1. An inexpensive, basic 50mm lens provides great results. Of course, a good and happy subject helps, too.

And, if you are holding a Digital Rebel XTi in your ...