Canon Digital Learning Center

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

Halloween is right around the corner, and what a great holiday for photographic inspiration: From cute kids in costumes to spooky haunted houses; eerie glowing jack-o’-lanterns to pastoral pumpkin patches – Halloween offers an endless variety of unique subjects.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

The term “senior portraits” can mean different things to different people. Some people may think of portraits of senior citizens and others may think about portraits of kids who are graduating from either high school or college. In the world of professional photography, senior portraits generally refers to those who want their portraits before they graduate school. And most of the time, if they are hiring a professional photographer to take their senior portraits, they are not looking for the “cookie cutter” photo of themselves in a fake tux or dress for the yearbook. They (or their parents) are looking for a creative photo to truly show who they are.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

When we were little, every summer my Dad would take my sister and I backpacking. He carried all the gear, while we were left to carry the most important things: our stuffed animals and water bottles. One year, driving back at night after a long day of backpacking on our way out of the mountains in the Eastern Sierra, California, my Dad pulled over to watch a meteor shower. We laid on the ground looking up at the sparkling night sky. There were so many meteors, one after another. I was in awe and amazed. When we saw a shooting star, my dad would say, “Make a wish.” I was so happy that night because I got to make dozens of wishes!

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

Summertime is a great season to create beautiful outdoor portraits. With warm weather and abundant sunshine, summer can be one of the best times of year to photograph portraits on-location. These tips will help you capture a season of stunning portrait images.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Laura Tillinghast

Photography is all about light, but understanding how to approach lighting for portraits can be intimidating. While there is a lot to learn, these lighting concepts are very easy to grasp once you start putting them into practice. The aim of this article is help you choose where you want to get started with natural light portraits.

Bryan often notes how just about any focal length can be useful for landscape photography. In this CDLC article, landscape photographer Erin Babnik supports that idea with intriguing landscape images taken with ultra-wide angle lenses, super telephotos and everything in between.

by Erin Babnik

There is a lot of truth to the old idea that we tend to see the world in terms of what we know about it. If we know that a location offers a photogenic vista to the north, then it can be easy to overlook the wonderfully gnarled trees to the south. Similarly, the compositions that photographers see most easily are usually those that fit well within the average field of view of two human eyes at a standing height—it’s the way of seeing that we know best. With only a little shifting or focusing, our eyes at that height can take in scenes that fall within the range of a 24-105mm lens quite nicely, and it is no wonder that focal lengths in this range are most traditional for landscape photography. Nonetheless, compositions that fall well outside these limits have the potential to evoke the more abstract qualities of human perception, such as the ability of our brains to combine certain visual stimuli and to isolate others. For the photographer who would like to emphasize the ‘mind’s eye,’ extreme focal lengths have a lot to offer.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Jennifer Wu

It is 4:00 am and my chirping alarm clock abruptly awakens me. Heading out to photograph the fall colors at sunrise, I notice the car temperature reading 16°F. With a sudden drop in temperature and stormy weather from the previous day, I hope the leaves haven’t turned black from the freezing temperature.

Arriving at the lake, twilight begins and the deep blue sky just starts to get light. I am anxious to discover the fall color conditions. Walking to the lake, I see a beautiful moonlit image before me of fall colors plus the delight of the first dusting of snow for the season! I’m happy that the snow dapples the mountains and doesn’t cover them completely in white.

Seeing the moon shining on the mountain peaks, I quickly set up to capture the moonlit landscape, placing some rocks in the foreground of the icy lake. I press the shutter for my first shot of the day knowing it will be my favorite and sunrise isn’t even for another half-hour. What a wonderful morning!

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Jeff Swinger

There are few places I’d rather be than sitting on an end line or kneeling on a sideline, as long as I have a camera in my hand.

Some of my favorite moments have been on the sidelines of a football field, in the dugout for a baseball game or with my toes in the sand at a beach volleyball match. But that doesn’t mean it has always been a major league game or an Olympics. Sports come in all shapes and sizes and there is speed, impact and drama at all levels. Some of my most memorable photos were from high school games, which I have shot hundreds of over my newspaper career. I started when I was just 14 years old with a Canon AE-1 Program and a 70-210mm lens, taking pictures at soccer games and of BMX riders in the woods behind my house. I realized then that I wanted to be a photojournalist and really wanted to shoot sports. I got my first job at a small newspaper and shot a ton of high school athletics.

• Canon Outdoor Sports Lens Recommendations
• Canon Indoor Sports Lens Recommendations

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Rudy Winston

There’s no question that the completely electronic viewfinder in some recent interchangeable-lens cameras — think of “mirrorless” cameras, like Canon’s EOS M-series models — brings some cool features to their users. Some of these include the ability to see the effect of changes in camera settings, like exposure or white balance, and to see additional information like histograms and so on, before a picture is taken.

But there’s a lot of benefit to the traditional “optical” viewfinder, used in EOS digital SLRs like the EOS Rebel T7i and EOS 77D. We’ll look at those benefits in this article.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Rick Sammon

Having just returned from another photo-successful safari to Africa, where I photographed the handsome lion that opens this article, I thought I’d put together some thoughts on how you can make a photo safari a photo success. After all, a photo safari to Africa is an once-in-a-lifetime experience for many travelers; so coming home with a selection of great photographs that tell the story of the amazing adventure is a top priority – in addition to having fun!

The Canon Digital Learning Center recently posted tips for photographing different events: graduation, bridal and baby showers. Check out the links below for more information.

CDLC Articles

• Tips for Great Graduation Photography
• Tips for Photographing Bridal Showers and Baby Showers

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

By Jennifer Wu

In awe of the spectacular colors, I dreamed of seeing the northern lights and photographing them. I called a friend, asking him to go with me to Alaska and though auroras were on his bucket list, he wanted his first trip to Alaska to be in summer. I promised rugged Alaskan landscapes with fall colors like summer, but with even better colors and he agreed! I hadn’t been to Fairbanks, Alaska before, but I was sure it would be grand. Arriving, we were greeted with a snow-covered landscape. “Where are the fall colors?” he asked and I quickly promised him that the northern lights would be spectacular.

The first two nights were completely overcast with no sign of the lights. By the third night we could only see a hint of green color through heavy clouds. With a promising weather forecast on the forth night, we drove north along the Haul Road to a mountain pass and waited in the bitter cold, hoping for clear skies and auroras.

The moon had set below the horizon, darkening the star-filled sky. At 1 a.m. the clouds finally cleared and the auroras appeared! They were dim at first, but at least visible. We photographed the light show as it danced in the night sky. It was more than I could have imagined! Curtains of light formed, swaying with rhythmic motion, dimming and then glowing more intensely. Excited, I watched a dream coming true. Now, my friend can’t wait to return to photograph more of these "fall colors!"

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

By Loren Simons

For years, I’ve been searching for the perfect camera. Now, as a disclaimer, I don’t actually believe such a thing exists. Rather, there is a perfect balance of technology and physical size for my own intended purpose of everyday carry.

I categorize myself more as a cinematographer than a photographer, but I’ve always wanted a camera I could utilize as a director’s viewfinder for location scouting, as well as something that had the capability of capturing stunning candid photos for use in a look book or simply to share on social media. At the end of the day, I firmly believe that the best camera is the camera you have with you. Some may say, just use my trusty smartphone. However, I’ve rarely connected emotionally with an image produced by a small sensor the same way I do with images captured by more traditional cinema or larger format photography sensors. Aesthetically, achieving the shallow depth of field on a small sensor camera is much more difficult with current technology. I’ve used all of the fancy depth mapping and dual lens tricks that very smart people have built to try to simulate the depth of field achieved by a proper camera. However, whether it’s strange edge artifacts or just a much less pleasing focus roll off, those images just never felt right to me.

This same small-sensor aversion is also what kept me away from Canon’s original G Series and other PowerShots. However, with the introduction of the larger 1” sensors in cameras like the G Series, XC10, and XF400 I saw the beginning of a move in the direction I had always been hoping for.

Canon PowerShot G1 X Mark III – B&H | Amazon US | Adorama

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

The term “cross-type AF” has been used since the late 1980s in the camera industry, but perhaps not always with supporting information to clearly define what is meant by it. In this article, we’ll attempt to explain more clearly what the term means, and why it remains an advantage in SLR AF systems to this day.

Want to know how many cross-type AF points your camera has? Check out our Camera Specifications Comparison Tool to find out!

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Rudy Winston

Here’s a relatively new Canon feature in mid-range and upper-end EOS DSLRs that I think flies a bit under the radar for many photographers. But every time I use it, I’m grateful that we have it as an option. I’m speaking of Canon’s “AE Lock with Hold” feature, which is an option within the camera’s Custom Controls (in the Custom Functions menu) on the following cameras:

• EOS-1D X Mark II; EOS-1D X
• EOS 5DS; EOS 5DS R
• EOS 5D Mark IV; EOS 5D Mark III
• EOS 6D Mark II; EOS 6D
• EOS 7D Mark II
• EOS 80D; EOS 70D

Want to know more about one of these cameras? There's a treasure trove of information available right here.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

When it comes to real estate photography, nothing will have a more positive impact on your target audience than an eye-catching image or video. If you’re a photographer hoping to take your real estate or architectural photography to the next level, here are some helpful tips!

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

A wide variety of photographable wildlife is available to everyone, in fact many may live close to your home. How do you find suitable spots where photographable wildlife is plentiful?

Start with the Internet
A tremendous amount of wildlife information is easily found on the Internet. Search for potentially wildlife-rich places in nearby national parks, nature centers, lakeshores, state and city parks, seacoasts, public swimming areas on local lakes, boat docks, fishing lakes and hunting areas. And don’t forget local, state, and national wildlife refuges. Most of these places are open to the public.

This is one of the most beautifully illustrated CDLC articles I've seen in a long time. [Sean]

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Erin Babnik

One of the greatest rewards of photographing landscapes is the transformative experience of being outdoors. Regardless of how well the photography goes, spending time in beautiful or invigorating environments is time well spent. Nonetheless, most landscape photographers would prefer to return from an excursion with new additions to the portfolio to show for it, and that desire can make exploring new areas seem like an imprudent expense of time. Focusing on results can lead to a creative cul-de-sac, however, sometimes causing a photographer to privilege scenes that are ‘safe bets’ instead of taking risks with unknown territory. Although playing it safe with familiar locations can bring desirable short-term results, the greatest rewards come from venturing outside one’s comfort zone and into situations that encourage personal discovery. Exploring new terrain is one of the greatest habits that a landscape photographer can form for the purposes of creative growth, not only because exploration is challenging, but also because it is exciting and extremely fun.

The Canon Digital Learning Center has posted several articles on the newly announced Speedlite 470EX-AI flash and EOS M50 MILC.

Canon Digital Learning Center Articles

• What's New: Speedlite 470EX-AI -- Basic Information
• What's New: Added Control with Speedlite 470EX-AI's Personal Functions
• What's New: Speedlite 470EX-AI's Revolutionary A.I. Bounce
• What's New: EOS M50 Autofocus
• What's New: 4K Video on EOS M50

Preorder the Canon Speedlite 470EX-AI and EOS M50 here.

From the Canon Digital Learning Center:

by Liza Gershman

On a professional commercial or editorial shoot, food stylists prepare food to make it look “real,” or better than real, which requires quite a few tricks. Setting the scene and telling a story is also the job of the stylist team, and once that has been created then the photographer and photo assistant handle the lighting, composition, and framing. If you are photographing for a blog, magazine, or cookbook, working with a great food stylist isn’t always possible, but using these helpful tips when photographing food will enhance your imagery.

Think of the food before you even begin to photograph and plan the steps that it takes to create a successful food image.

Ask yourself, what is the size, shape, height and dimension of the food? What makes the subject special or unique?