Part II: Beyond the Basics

When you bought your Canon Rebel T3i, you probably thought your days of worrying about getting the correct exposure, achieving focus, and using its more advanced features, like Live View and movie making were over. To paraphrase an old Kodak tagline dating back to the 19th Century—the goal is, “you press the button, and the camera does the rest.”

For the most part, that’s a realistic objective. The T3i is one of the smartest cameras available when it comes to calculating the right exposure for most situations, locking in focus, and shooting video clips. For exposure, you can generally choose one of the automatic modes—either Scene Intelligent Auto or Creative Auto—or spin the Mode Dial to Program (P), Aperture-priority (Av), or Shutter-priority (Tv), and shoot away. Autofocus, too, is quick and easy. You can use One-Shot AF for stationary subjects, AI Servo AF for subjects that are in motion, or AI Focus to allow the T3i to decide which of the other two modes to use, depending on circumstances. Most of the other advanced features are also straightforward to use.

So, why do you need the four chapters in Part II: Beyond the Basics? I think you’ll find that even if you’ve mastered the fundamentals and controls of the Rebel T3i, there is lots of room to learn more and use the features of the camera to their fullest. Even if you’re getting great exposures a high percentage of the time, you can fine-tune tonal values and use your shutter speed, aperture, and ISO controls creatively. Your camera’s high performance autofocus system may zero in on your subject in most situations—but you still need to be able to tell the T3i what to focus on, and when. Other tools at your disposal let you freeze an instant of time, record a continuous series of instants as a movie, and improve your images in other imaginative ways. The chapters in this Part will help you move your photography to the next level by understanding exposure, mastering the mysteries of autofocus, and using the Canon Rebel T3i’s advanced features.