Canon ESO 450D questions

[ideasguy]

The manual with my new camera is my book at bedtime now, and its pretty easy to ?navigate?.
In an email, Eric H has suggested I download the pdf version, as it is searchable.
Good idea I replied!

For Canon ESO 450D users, what mode do you find best for a) flower photos and b) garden photos?

Ive used Manual today and played with the F stop at 5.6, then turning the knob to allow the camera to zero to determine the shutter speed
Results are good, but the pink colours are a little pale.

Since they are RAW, Ive been adjusting and the adjustments can point out which settings are best.
e.g. Picture Style

Am I right in saying that the Digital Photo Professional program allows you to change the settings ?retrospectively? in RAW images?

I.e. If I took a photo on Faithful then found that it looked better in Neutral, then I could save the photo in that style, exactly as if it had been taken using that setting?

[Eric Hardy]

I generally find "faithful" gives me the best results for flowers and gardens but you are right in saying that you can change the settings retrospectively in RAW. That is the beauty of it. You can even adjust the colour saturation.

I almost always use Aperture Priority (Av on the dial) and adjust the aperture with the wheel keeping an eye on the exposure time. The great thing about the 18mm - 55mm IS lens is that I find I can hand hold it at 1/20 sec or even 1/15 sec. In churches I find I can even go slower than that if I brace myself against a wall.

It is a good idea to have the manual as bedtime reading!

You sometimes comment on my whites. I keep my exposure almost permanently on - 1/3 EV which is adjusted by pressing the Av button on the back and turning the wheel. Where there is a lot of contrast such as churches where you have bright windows and dark shadows I sometimes set it to underexpose even more so the windows aren't burnt out. In RAW you you can always bring the brightness up again. Underexpose and you can always rescue things. Overexpose and the detail has gone for ever. You will probably find your pink less pale then. A useful tool in Adobe Elements which comes with the camera is "Enhance....Adjust Lighting....Shadows/Highlights" where you can lighten shadows without affecting the highlights. You can also tone down the highlights too with this tool if you want to.

Eric H

[Lyn and Malcolm]

As you know I am not a canon user.
I shoot Jpg and raw together, never use the raw as takes too much time to fiddle, but they are there just in case.
Very rarely use auto focus.
Aperture priority mostly, but keep the speed up to 1/200sec if poss.
White balance on auto, lcd screen doesn't seem to give correct colour but the actual image is ok.

Malcolm