Family Travel Photos – Getting Out Of Auto With #CanonBlogtography

canon rebel settings, canon blogtography, seagull

Taken in Sports mode in full zoom. You can see the feathers!

When I was expecting our daughter, we decided to invest in a good camera. My husband did a lot of research, and we purchased the very first incarnation of the Canon Rebel. That camera has gone on every trip with us, been dropped, gotten wet, been forgotten in highly trafficked public places, and documented almost every memorable and beautiful moment with both our family and our extended family – I think at last count we were at over 25,000 photos.

But, I have a confession to make. For most of his career, my husband was a professional cameraman with a real passion for photography. So almost every beautiful photograph taken with that camera (and on this website) was taken by him. If it’s not-so-beautiful, it’s probably taken by me with my phone and an Instagram filter to help pretty it up. The Canon Rebel Settings have always confounded me… I have a fancy-pants camera, and I always leave it in Auto.

Getting Out Of Auto – Canon Rebel Settings…

But now we have an even fancier-pants camera! I’m delighted that Have Baby Will Travel was asked to participate in Canon’s very first #CanonBlogtography program. Canon’s photography expert, Chris Smith, will be teaching me how to get out of Auto mode on our new Canon EOS Rebel T5i, and I will share my learnings with you. However, we all know that moving targets (ie. babies, toddlers, and small children) rarely stay still long enough to compose a decent shot, so I am definitely grateful for the sophisticated Auto settings that exist on our Rebel T5i – for the past few outings at least I was out of *Auto* Auto, and set it to Portrait, Landscape, etc.

Baby steps, right?

In the meantime, I’d like to share with you some awesome shots my husband took with his our new toy. One of our favourite things to do in Toronto with kids is head down to the Beach and play in the playground at Kew Gardens, and then head to the lake to throw rocks. I think you’ll agree these shots are worth learning how to get out of Auto!

Canon Rebel Settings, Canon Blogtography

“Action Jackson” at the playground…

A faster shutter speed allows you to capture movement by freezing it. Since his foot looks slightly blurred it focuses attention to the look on Bub’s face. I love this shot of him jumping off the play structure. Getting underneath him makes it look like the structure is super high!

canon rebel settings, canon blogtography

Making the lake look lovely…

Zoomed out with a slower shutter speed somehow makes Lake Ontario look as blue as the sky and my daughter’s T-shirt. I also love how she looks all alone on a very busy beach.

canon rebel settings, canon blogtography

Throwing sand, usually a no-no…

Again with the fast shutter speed. Obviously we don’t encourage Bub to throw sand, but in this case I love how going back to a fast shutter speed captures the grains of sand and blobs of mud as he hurls them into the water. A decidedly less peaceful pic than the previous one of his sister.

I’m starting to feel comfortable figuring out the different ways to capture images using manual settings, and we’re both excited to experiment more with all the settings and capabilities of the Canon EOS Rebel T5i – including video!

*The #CanonBlogtography program is sponsored by Canon, but all views expressed are my own.

 

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6 Responses to Family Travel Photos – Getting Out Of Auto With #CanonBlogtography

  1. i love digital cameras, and all they can do! that jumping photo is SUPER fun!

  2. Katie at #

    I can’t even tell you how badly I need to get out of auto. Am thinking about the T5i. I have an old T1i.

  3. The Canon Rebel was my first digital SLR. It is a fantastic camera to learn on. Kudos for taking the plunge to free yourself from auto 🙂

  4. Michael at #

    Love the throwing sand picture. I really must dust my camera off and get snapping this summer 🙂

  5. Love the “Action Jackson” pic! Pinned!

  6. YES!!! I am now going to upgrade my Canon, so happy to have this post as an aspiration. Photos are brilliant, I wish I had a guardian photog at my side like you do!!! Lucky you! Thanks for the inspiration.

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