How to Adjust the "Shoot By" and Color Tone Settings on Your Canon EOS Rebel T6/1300D

Being able to preview the possible combinations of settings on your Rebel T6/1300D without having to take a bunch of shots to experiment would be great, yes? Luckily, you can enjoy that advantage in Live View mode.

As you vary the available settings, the Live View display updates to show you how the subject will be rendered. (Note that the Live View preview isn’t always 100-percent accurate, especially in terms of image brightness, but it’s fairly close.) After you choose the settings you want to use, you can exit Live View mode and take the picture using the viewfinder if you want.

The following steps provide an overview of this process. Note that when you shoot in a scene mode that offers both Shoot by Ambience and Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type adjustments (that is, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, and Close-up modes), Canon recommends that you tackle the Lighting/Scene type setting first, so that's the approach you will take in these steps.

1. Set the Mode dial to Close-up mode. More about how things work in the other scene modes later; for now, stick with Close-up.
2. Press the Live View button to shift to Live View mode.
3. Press the Q button to shift to the Quick Control display.
4. Select the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type option, as shown on the left. Remember that this setting is available only in Close-up, Portrait, Sports, and Landscape modes. Assuming that you're using one of those modes, the name of the current setting is shown on the left side of the screen. For example, in the first screen below, the Default setting is selected. The text at the bottom of the screen reminds you that you're adjusting the light/scene type setting.

   

5. Rotate the Main dial to cycle through the settings. Depending on the lighting conditions, you may not see significant changes for some settings. In the example, the Default setting added a slight warm color cast, which you eliminate by shifting to the Tungsten Light option. If your subject is lit by multiple light sources, choose the most prominent one or just keep experimenting until colors look the most accurate.
6. Use the cross keys to select the Shoot by Ambience option.

   By default, the Standard setting is used.

7. Rotate the Main dial to change the setting. As soon as you rotate the dial, you see the impact of the newly selected ambience setting on the scene. For example, on the left side of the image below, the preview shows the result of changing from the Standard setting to the Vivid setting. In addition, the Effect setting, which determines the level at which the adjustment is applied, becomes available.

   

8. Use the cross keys to select the Effect setting and rotate the Main dial or press the left/right cross keys to set the level of the adjustment. The Effect display indicates the adjustment level. For example, in the left screen, the Effect level is Standard; on the right, the setting was raised to Strong (three notches).
9. Exit the Quick Control screen by pressing the Q button. You're now ready to take the picture. Again, you can exit Live View mode if you prefer; the settings you just dialed in stay in force for both Live View and viewfinder shooting until you change them.

Now for the promised details about adjusting these settings in modes other than Close-up:

• Portrait, Landscape, and Sports: Things work just as they do for Close-up mode (described in the preceding steps). However, Landscape does not offer the Fluorescent and Tungsten Light options for the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type setting.
• Night Portrait and Food: You lose access to the Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type option. In Food mode, however, you can adjust colors through the Color Tone option. Use the cross keys to select that option and then press the right and left cross keys or rotate the Main dial to move the slider toward the blue or red side of the color bar, depending on whether you want colors to cooler or warmer.

If you already know what settings you want to use, you can get the job done more quickly by staying out of Live View mode and just using the Quick Control screen to adjust the options. The left screen below shows you where to look for the Shoot by Ambience and Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type options. Again, the latter is not available in Night Portrait mode, and in Food mode, it's replaced by the Color Tone option, shown on the right.

For the Shoot by Ambience and Shoot by Lighting or Scene Type options, you also can highlight the option on the Quick Control screen and then press Set to display a list of all the available settings. After highlighting the setting you want to use, press Set to return to the Quick Control screen.