Before you can activate Live View, you have to enable the feature. By default, the camera does not come configured with Live View ready to use. To enable Live View, follow these steps:

Once you’ve enabled Live View, you can activate it at any time by pressing the Set button on the back of the camera. You’ll hear a clunk as the mirror flips up, and then the viewfinder will light up with your current scene. (Note that Live View does not work in Full Auto mode.)

Figure 9-3. The default Live View screen.

The camera shows a fair amount of status information, including your current ISO, number of shots remaining on the card, exposure compensation, shutter speed, and aperture. Just like in playback mode, you can press the DISP button to see additional status information.

Figure 9-4. Pressing the DISP button toggles through other Live View display options.

As with normal shooting, a half-press of the shutter button will meter your scene and display a shutter speed and aperture. However, note that it doesn’t focus.

Focusing in Live View is a little complicated, and you can use several focus methods with Live View. The problem with focusing in Live View is that the camera’s autofocus sensors are located in the top of the camera, where the pentamirror is. In Live View mode, since the main mirror is flipped up, the autofocus sensors can’t “see” out the lens. Therefore, to focus, you have several options.

Manual Focus

If you switch your lens over to manual focus, you can manually focus the camera in Live View, just as you would if you were looking through the viewfinder. However, the LCD screen is not quite as clear and bright as the optical viewfinder, which can make it difficult to see if you’re in focus, so Canon has built a focusing aid into the system. When in Live View, you can press the Zoom In button (the same one you use in playback mode) to see a magnified view of the center of the image. Press it again and magnification will increase. Press it a third time and you’ll go back to the normal view. With the magnified view, manual focus becomes much easier.

Figure 9-5. You can use the Zoom In function to see a magnified view of your image.

However, if you’re shooting in low light, even a highly magnified view can be difficult to see. Fortunately, the XS also offers some autofocus options when working in Live View.

While Live View is very handy for the circumstances mentioned earlier, there’s one thing to bear in mind when using an LCD screen as a viewfinder. As we’ve discussed, your eyes can see a much wider range of tones than your camera can capture, and good photography is often about how you choose to represent these different tones. When you look through a normal viewfinder, you can see the whole scene, just as your eye really sees it.

With Live View, though, your view of the scene is inherently limited to the dynamic range of the camera. For the image shown in Live View, the XS will try to preserve the highlights so that they don’t blow out to complete white. This usually means that shadow areas in your image will go very dark and show very little detail.

Also, bear in mind that Live View is more like a video camera than a still camera. The XS must keep 30 frames per second delivered to the screen, which means it’s not possible for it to take long exposure shots that might reveal brighter shadows. So, while your image may have a very different exposure than what you see in Live View, the camera will have time to do a longer exposure when it actually shoots the shot (of course, this is also true when looking through the normal viewfinder).

Live View’s limited dynamic range can make composition a little trickier because some compositional elements that you see with your eye may be obscured in Live View. With practice, you can learn to work around this, and at first you may not even notice it, simply because you don’t miss what you can’t see. But ultimately, composing with a real viewfinder almost always allows a better view of your scene —and therefore more creative options—than a view on an LCD viewfinder. This is not a deficiency of the XS; you’ll find this problem in any camera that uses an LCD screen as a viewfinder.

Making a successful panoramic shot begins by shooting usable images. A lot can go wrong when you’re shooting a panorama, so you have to take care to shoot your source images carefully to ensure the best result.

First you must choose a focal length. If you choose a shorter (wider angle) focal length, then you won’t need as many shots to cover the width of your panorama. However, as we’ve already seen, a shorter focal length will have a deep depth, which will render many objects in your scene very small. Also, a super-wide angle might confuse some stitching programs.

Figure 9-10. This panorama was shot with a shorter, wider-angle focal length. While a wider angle lets you cover a wider area with fewer shots, it means the distant objects will be smaller.

If you choose a longer focal length, distant objects will appear larger, but you’ll have to shoot more frames, which will increase your chances of making an error and ending up with unusable source material.

Figure 9-11. This panorama was shot with a longer, more telephoto focal length. It took more images to cover the scene, but objects in the foreground and background are larger and more prominent.

Consequently, your best option is to aim somewhere in the middle and choose a moderate focal length that reveals the details you want to see but is still wide enough that you don’t have to shoot a lot of frames to cover your scene. Once you’ve selected a focal length, it’s time to think about exposure.

From a panoramic photography standpoint, one of the things that’s really annoying about the world is that it’s not lit perfectly evenly. This problem is much more pronounced when shooting a panorama than when shooting a single frame.

If you look at most any panoramic scene in the real world, you’ll probably find that one end is brighter than the other. The reason this is a drag for panoramic shooting is that the area that’s brighter will expose differently than the area that’s darker, and when you try to stitch your images together, you could very well end up with weird color bands in the sky.

Figure 9-12. This panorama was not evenly exposed. The vertical bands in the middle of the image are the result of the stitching program trying to reconcile the different exposures.

To compensate for this, you’ll want to use the same exposure for all your shots. This will ensure that all the components of your panorama have the same overall brightness and tone and will stitch together smoothly. On the XS, this is easy to achieve, thanks to the AE Lock button located on the back of the camera.

Figure 9-13. Use AE Lock to ensure all your images use the same exposure.

Using AE Lock

Try this: Point your camera in a predominantly bright direction and half-press the shutter to take a meter reading. Note the shutter speed and aperture that are chosen. Now point the camera in a darker direction and take a reading. The camera chooses different exposure settings, which makes sense since you’re looking into an area that’s darker. Now return to your initial bright scene and half-press the shutter again to meter. After you meter, press the AE Lock button. An asterisk should appear in the viewfinder status display to indicate that your exposure is now locked.

Figure 9-14. The asterisk indicates the exposure is now locked.

Release the shutter button and point the camera at the dark area you looked at earlier. Half-press the shutter button and the camera will focus, but notice that the exposure has not changed. Since the exposure is locked, the XS will use the same exposure settings you used when you metered the bright area. (Obviously, these settings are not ideal, and your final image will probably be dark and underexposed.) Thanks to exposure lock, it’s possible to shoot a whole panorama of images, all with the same exposure.

Exposure Lock Timeout

When you meter with the XS, if you release the shutter button, the camera will remember that metering for about four seconds. Even if you’ve locked exposure, the reading will eventually time out, and the viewfinder status will go dark. So, once you’ve locked exposure, it’s a good idea to keep the button half-pressed or press the button halfway down every second or so to preserve the locked exposure. You might need some time to compose your panorama after you’ve locked exposure, so you don’t want the lock to time out.

In theory, shooting a panorama is very simple. You work from one side to the other, panning the camera and shooting frames that overlap by at least a third on each end. In practice, it’s a bit trickier than this because, to get usable frames, you need to be sure that you’re not tilting the camera when you turn to the next frame. Also, it’s essential that you pan the camera and not your body.

Once you’ve shot your panoramic frames, you’ll be ready to stitch. Copy the pano frames to your computer using your method of choice. If you haven’t already installed Canon PhotoStitch from the EOS Digital Solutions Disk, do so now and then launch the program.

Click the Open button on the left side of the PhotoStitch toolbar. In the Open dialog box that appears, select the file you want to stitch. Hold down the Shift key to select multiple files. PhotoStitch will display your chosen images side by side. You can use the Arrange, Switch, Clear, and Rotate buttons to get the images in the right order, with the right orientation, and use the Enlarge and Reduce buttons to zoom in and out.

Figure 9-15. You begin the process of stitching in PhotoStitch by importing your source images.

Next, click the Merge tab and press the Start button. PhotoStitch might prompt you to enter the focal length you used when you were shooting. The program expects 35mm equivalency, so multiply the focal length you used by 1.6. For landscape panoramas, where you’re panning and shooting, the Panning technique is the best option. Click the OK button, and PhotoStitch will stitch your image. When it’s done, click the Save tab to view the crop of your final image. Stitching always requires cropping, and you can easily adjust the crop by dragging the cropping handles.

Figure 9-16. You’ll need to crop your image before saving.

When you have the crop that you like, click the Save button to save your image as a TIFF, JPEG, BMP, or PICT. TIFF files are best if you want to edit your image further somewhere else.

Your flash works well when you have a subject that’s close to the camera and you want it lit up very brightly, using a light source positioned where you’re standing. But flash photos can often look weird or even outright bad. If you’re not careful with your exposure, then your subject can look harshly lit, while your background may not be lit at all. We’ll discuss flash exposure in detail in the next chapter.

Another problem with flash shooting with the camera’s built-in flash is that it washes out the natural light in your scene. Very often, when you’re out at night, what might strike you about a particular scene are the unique colors that are created under street lights or other lighting sources that appear only at night.

Finally, many times shooting a flash is inappropriate or simply not allowed. Concerts and performances, art galleries, or any situation where you don’t want to be intrusive all rule out flash shooting as a way to get a shot in a low-light situation. For all of these situations—and simply to have more tools in your creative arsenal —you’ll want to learn about other low-light shooting techniques.

You’ve seen how you can increase the XS’s ISO setting to buy yourself more exposure latitude when choosing a shutter speed or aperture, but you’ll most often increase ISO when you want to shoot in lower light. Very often, this won’t be extreme dark but rather just a small change to compensate for lower light indoors. For example, if you move indoors in the late afternoon, even into a room with windows, you might need to increase your ISO to 200 or 400.

On the XS, you can easily shoot at up to ISO 400 without suffering a noticeable noise penalty in your final image. So, if you’re shooting indoors and notice that your shutter speed is staying very low, crank up the ISO to 200 or 400 and see whether that improves things.

In extreme low light—outside at night, in a concert, or in a performance—you might need to go to a higher ISO, such as 800 or 1600. While these settings will yield a little more noise in your image, it’s an attractive noise that looks very much like film grain.

Figure 9-17. If you’re shooting in very low light, you can increase the XS’s ISO

Depending on your final output, you may not even be able to see the noise. For example, if you’re printing at 4 × 6″, a lot of the noise will be sampled away as the image is downsized.

By default, the XS shoots high ISO images with very low levels of noise, but you can reduce this further by changing Custom Function 4, High ISO Speed Noise Reduction to On. This will apply additional noise reduction processing to images shot at higher ISOs. However, because this extra processing takes time, the maximum number of shots you can shoot in a burst will greatly decrease. So, if you’re planning on burst shooting, you’ll want to leave this feature off. Note, too, that this feature disables white balance bracketing.

How do you know when to go to ISO 800 or 1600? The same way that you choose to go to 200 or 400. If you can’t get a shutter speed that’s fast enough to shoot handheld in low light or fast enough to suit your creative goals, then increase the ISO to 800 or 1600.

Unfortunately, shooting in low light is a little more complicated than just choosing a high ISO and shooting away. Your main concern is to be aware of shutter speed. Remember the handheld shooting rule (shutter speed should never go below 1/effective focal length), and keep an eye on the shutter speed in the viewfinder status display. Note too that you can usually hear a slow shutter speed, if you’re paying attention. If the “click” of the camera takes a bit longer than you’re used to, you might want to check in and see what your shutter speed is set to.

Shooting with a Long Shutter Speed

Sometimes the light is so low that you have no choice but to use a slow shutter speed. While this may not make for ideal shooting, a slow shutter speed image is usually better than getting no image at all. When shooting at longer shutter speeds, remember the following:

• You’ll want to take extra pains to shoot a stable shot. Remember your posture, find something to lean on, find a place to set the camera, or carry a tripod.

• Remember that while you might do a great job of holding still, if your subject is moving, it might come out blurry.

Sometimes, intentionally blurring your subject can be evocative, but if you’re trying to document an event, such as a dance performance, then long shutter speeds won’t be appropriate.

If you’re shooting a landscape or other nonmoving subject, then you can choose an extremely long shutter speed. The XS lets you select up to 30 seconds for a shutter speed, or you can use Bulb mode to keep the shutter open for as long as you want.

Figure 9-18. Using Bulb mode, I was able to shoot this extremely low-light shot.

For this image, I used a 90-second exposure. Obviously, the camera must be mounted on a tripod when you’re shooting such a long exposure. Bulb mode was required to get the long exposure, and because I didn’t want to stand there with my finger on the shutter (both because it’s uncomfortable and because it risks introducing camera shake), I used a remote control to trip the shutter. Canon makes both wired and wireless remote controls that are ideal for this type of shooting.

While sporting events are often held at night and while stage performances are often in dark auditoriums, these events are not necessarily “low-light” events. A football field, for example, is usually well lit. However, even with all the floodlighting, you still probably won’t be able to get away with shooting at ISO 100 or even 400. Also, for a sporting event you’ll probably want some motion-stopping power in your exposure and so will be using a longer shutter speed. This means you’ll most likely be shooting at ISO 800 or 1600.

While the XS’s Sports shooting mode is very good, if you want more power, you’ll want to switch to Shutter Priority, crank the ISO up, and set a shutter speed that’s fast enough to freeze the action. Ideally, you’ll have a long telephoto lens with image stabilization. Good sports shots are often the result of anticipation. If you know when the big play is about to transpire and know who the key players are, then you’ll want to get focused on them early so that you can get the shot when the action unfolds. To improve your chances of getting the precise moment of interest, switch to Drive mode, and put the focus mode on AI Servo.

Press the shutter button just before you think the key moment will transpire and burst through. Remember, the camera’s shooting buffer can fill up if you shoot for a long time, so try to keep the length of your bursts low.

If you’re shooting in an auditorium, your lighting challenge will be a little more difficult, because a stage usually alternates between very bright areas and very dark areas. As with sports shooting, your main concern will be to try to freeze action, so set the camera to a high ISO, use Shutter Priority, and choose a shutter speed that’s fast enough to freeze motion—at least a 30th of a second for normal speed motions, faster if performers are moving quickly. In extreme low light, this shutter speed may result in your images being severely underexposed. Don’t worry about this, because you can always brighten the images later using an image editor. This will result in noisier pictures, but the only alternative is to shoot with a longer shutter speed and risk blurring motion.

Both of these situations are well-served by a “fast” lens, meaning a lens with an aperture that can open extremely wide. An f2.0 telephoto, or a super-fast prime, such as the Canon 50mm 1.2, 1.4, or 1.8, makes an ideal low-light event lens.

Low-light situations can play havoc with color, both in your eyes and in your camera. Your eyes, of course, see very limited color in low light. As the light dims, the color receptors in your eyes cease working, and your vision shifts over to black and white only. While your vision won’t actually look like a black-and-white photo, you will have markedly lower color sensitivity than you would in brighter light. Color reproduction is difficult for your camera in low light because low-light situations are usually lit by an odd assortment of lighting types (for instance, the intentionally colored lights in a stage performance), the combination of which plays havoc with your camera’s white balance.

If you’re shooting in JPEG mode, the best thing to do is carry a white card and manually white balance. If this isn’t possible, then plan on having images that will have a very reddish-orange cast. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because it’s close to how our eyes see in low light. Your best white balance choice when shooting in low light is to shoot in raw format, which you’ll learn about in Chapter 10.

Another option is to consider converting your low-light images to grayscale. Since low-light shooting is largely about luminance, rather than color, black-and-white photography is well-suited to low-light subject matter. As you’re out shooting, try to visualize your scenes as grayscale scenes. You can convert your images to grayscale later or switch to the Monochrome picture style you learned about in Chapter 7.