Canon EOS Rebel T4i/650D Digital Field Guide

Chapter 3: Choosing the Right Settings for Your Camera

You’ve probably noticed all of the buttons on the back of your camera and are wondering what they do. This chapter covers the functions of many of these buttons, including how they adjust the exposure, focus, white balance, and drive modes. Your camera has a full line of modes to help you take great photos. Certain modes are better for particular situations, so it’s important to understand what they do and how they benefit your photography. Some types of photography require fast shutter speeds, while others look better with a shallow depth of field—all of which are handled effectively by your camera’s 14 exposure modes. Focus modes help keep your subject in or out of focus (depending on the desired result), while white balance can give you the best colors in a scene. Flash modes help you control light—the most important element in photography.

This image uses the foreground and a shallow depth of field to lead your eye to the tomatoes.

The Basic Zone Modes

Your camera has some excellent options to help you take the best image for different types of photography. Portraits, landscapes, and sports require preferred settings to capture the best image. The automatic modes are easy to recognize because they use icons representing the type of photography for which they are best used.

3.1 The basic zone modes make it easy to ...