The Power of Background (& Settings)

Your Grandpa & Grandma's backyard is a gold mine for a photographer's eye. The entire yard is filled with a variety of foliage, texture and ambience that transforms a run-of-the-mill portrait to something deserving a second glance. I had a blast clicking and experimenting away on you two! Here are some of my favorites pictures taken with a Canon EOS Rebel T5 and a 75 - 300 mm zoom lens:

Settings: Creative Auto, 1/200, 5.0, ISO 100

 
Settings: Portrait, 1/200, 4.5, ISO 100, Light/Scene: Shade

Settings: Portrait, 1/250, 4.0, ISO 100, Light/Scene: Shade

For all of the above pictures, my camera automatically set the shutter speed, the aperture opening and ISO rating based on the subject and background lighting. However, for the last two shots, I selected the Light/Scene setting as "Shade" before I took the picture, which gave the picture a warmer tone than under the default setting.

For comparison, check out the next picture which was taken under the default setting:

 Settings: Creative Auto, 1/160, 5.0, ISO 100

You'll notice that the above picture has a cooler tone than the one shot previously. Also, I discovered that the Creative Auto mode does not allow the photographer to change the Light/Scene setting (though it allows for one to change the ambience). However, the Portrait mode allows one to experiment with different Light/Scene settings.

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