Rebel t3i settings for outdoor family pics

[dzalar]

I would like to take some outdoor pictures of family. Having trouble trying to figure out settings on my t3i

[ebiggs1]

Or, you can just set your Rebel T3i in P, for "professional" mode and shoot away.   It will do an amazing job.  You can try several different positions (lighting) for you and your subjects.

The biggest mistake people make is putting the subject too close to the background.  Like a stone wall or tree or something.

Alos you don't want to be too close to your subjects.

[dzalar]

thank you everyone for all of your suggestions. I appreciate them

[dzalar]

I thought a forum was for people who wanted to help others. Thank you to those with suggestions as I have used the manual just needed some help "tweaking".

[BillyJack]

Don't pay us old farts no never mind! Ask away!

[ebiggs1]

"I thought a forum was for people who wanted to help others."

It is.  Don't mind those people.

They are on every site and I really don't know why they bother.  Forums are places to discuss and debate virtually everything. If you want to read a manual, you don't want interaction with other like minded folks.  If you do, you get on a site like this one.

Nothing wrong with the manual but sometimes they are so convoluted and poorly written, you can't understand them.

[dzalar]

Thank you! Happy Holiday's 🙂

[Kelly767]

RobertTheFat:

I happened to be doing some research on something I wanted to learn more about and I stumbled onto this page. I'm new to photography and even though I read through the manual I still have some questions. I typically don't ask questions on forums though because of people like you. There's always one that gives a snarky response. Sometimes reading the manual isn't enough...I like to hear it explained in different ways until I fully understand it. Asking people and talking to others about it is beneficial and they might have suggestions that the manual does not. It's perfectly acceptable to ask questions! Maybe it would be better "IYHNNTSDSAAA" (If you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all). Thank you to those that had helpful responses!

[ebiggs1]

By all means ask away. I am all ears, er, I mean fingers. 

[RobertTheFat]

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@Kelly767 wrote:
RobertTheFat:

I happened to be doing some research on something I wanted to learn more about and I stumbled onto this page. I'm new to photography and even though I read through the manual I still have some questions. I typically don't ask questions on forums though because of people like you. There's always one that gives a snarky response. Sometimes reading the manual isn't enough...I like to hear it explained in different ways until I fully understand it. Asking people and talking to others about it is beneficial and they might have suggestions that the manual does not. It's perfectly acceptable to ask questions! Maybe it would be better "IYHNNTSDSAAA" (If you have nothing nice to say don't say anything at all). Thank you to those that had helpful responses!

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The original question (Feel free to go back and read it) was ridiculously general and implied that the questioner had made no effort to find and assimilate even the most elementary information contained in the manual. Those in this forum (including me) are happy to try to answer questions, but we do not constitute an introductory course in photography. I think it's perfectly reasonable for us to expect that a questioner will have at least tried to find relevant information in the user manual and to ask questions that indicate his/her having done so. If that expectation is snarky, then so be it.

[Waddizzle]

I would use manual mode with a shutter speed between 1/320 and 1/1000, combined with a f-stop ranging from (depending upon your lens) f/4 for close ups to f/8 for more distant, wider view shots. Put the ISO into AUTO, and let the camera pick that for you. Try to go with the faster shutter speeds, as long as the ISO is 100-400. Make ISO-800 your maximum setting, and use it as a signal to dial down the shutter speed to let in more light, which should reduce the ISO down to the 100-400 range again. Your goal is to grab as much light as possible (wide open aperture-low f/stop), as quickly possible (fastest shutter speed as practical), with the least effort as possible (lowest ISO values). Learn to observe the light meter in your viewfinder when you partially depress the shutter to auto-focus.