The Canon EOS Digital Rebel XS/1000D Companion

Using Scene Modes

Now you've seen how the XS's Full Auto mode works. Since Full Auto mode takes care of all the critical decisions regarding camera settings, it's an ideal mode for snapshot shooting and for getting used to the camera. Before you go off shooting, though, let's take a quick look at some other auto features that you might find useful while getting started.

On the Mode dial, you'll see a bunch of little icons underneath the Full Auto option. These are the XS's scene modes.

Figure 1-11. These options on the Mode dial are scene modes, which bias the camera's decisions under specific conditions so that it calculates more appropriate exposures.

Scene modes are also fully automatic, but each one biases some of its decisions in a certain way to make it more appropriate to particular types of shooting.

Portrait mode

Portrait mode is ideal for shooting—you guessed it!—portraits. What makes a portrait different from any other type of shot? Typically, in a portrait you want the background blurred out to bring more attention to your subject. Portrait mode biases its exposure decisions to attempt to blur the background.

Figure 1-12. In the upper image, I shot with deeper depth of field to reveal details in the background. In the lower image, I shot with shallow depth of field to blur the ...