Canon EOS Rebel T5i/700D Digital Field Guide

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The Canon Rebel T5i has many helpful features to support you to take beautiful photos and video of nature, wildlife, travel, family and friends. Here are five tips to help you use the Canon Rebel T5i more effectively.

1. Night photography. An excellent advantage the Canon T5i has over other cameras is the Handheld Night Scene mode. This mode allows you to hand hold the camera in the evening or night requiring minimal light sources. A good use of this mode is photographing an evening street scene. The flash is not available for the Handheld Night Scene Mode. If you wish to photograph people using flash at night, make sure to switch the camera to Night Portrait Mode.
2. Use the touch screen. The Canon T5i has a touch screen to adjust camera settings, trigger the shutter or review your images. It is a convenient option and one you will find natural to use as you become familiar with your camera. Touch features also work for shooting video.
3. Picture Styles. Create your own picture styles. The Canon Rebel T5i has seven picture style options, plus three custom definitions. A picture style sets image characteristics such as favoring or enhancing specific colors within a photo based on the type of scene you are photographing. If you are unsure which style is best, the Auto setting will select the best Picture style suited for the scene the camera detects. You can create your own Picture Style based on your preferences using the menu options on the camera or the Picture Style software the comes with your camera.
4. HDR Backlight Control. Use this option to improve shadow and highlight control. If you find the main light source, such as the sun, behind your subject use this mode to help improve subject exposure.
5. My Menu. Take full advantage of the my menu option. The Canon T5i has a lot of options and the my menu setting allows you to register your favorite or most commonly used features in one location, in the order you prefer. This is a time savor when you need to make adjustments quickly.

Take time to explore your camera regularly. Over time photographers become accustom to specific camera settings and forget about many of the other useful options available on their camera. Try different modes in both the basic and creative sections of the camera dial. Test filters available on the T5i on different types of scenes to see if and how they enhance your photographs. Don’t be afraid to be creative.

I took this photograph in the early evening using an off camera flash to create side lighting. Using a flash outside helps to pop the subject from the background. In this case, the key to creating such a blue sky is having the sun behind me. I also used a high aperture number to balance the bright sky background light with the flash. ISO 400, f/22, 1/200 second. 12-24mm lens at 24mm.

This image was created in the forests of northern Michigan. I used the cameras vari-angle LCD screen to frame the image holding the camera just above the fern to create depth to the photograph. I had to work quickly and take a lot of images to get few good ones before the subject flew away. A fast shutter speed is helpful in a situation when your subject will move at any moment. 100mm macro lens. ISO 800, f/2.8, 1/1600 second.

The flower image was created using a 100mm f/2.8 macro lens with a wide-open aperture to decrease the depth of field. When taking macro photographs consider using the Close-up mode on the Canon T5i dial. You will want to take a lot of photographs when shooting macro photography. This is because it’s not easy to capture a good point of focus on your subject with such a shallow depth of field created when using macro lenses. ISO 200, f/2.8, 1/3000 second.