Smile, please - use the latest features on your Canon to take better photos

You have probably seen the Smile Campaign that Canon has been running on TV and in the press for a few months which describes some of the latest features on Canon's digital cameras. This month's How To... looks in more detail at these features and explains about their benefits which let you concentrate on capturing the smiles when you are taking photos. To see the TV ad, click here.

Face Detection
Everyone photographs people. It may be a family group, a few friends, or strangers in a crowd, but a common feature of the pictures will be faces. Canon has been working hard to help you improve your pictures and most of Canon's current digital cameras now feature Face Detection. It is effective because the face is usually the most important part of the picture – the area you look at first.

 

Face Detection searches an image and identifies the size and position of faces by looking for shapes which are roughly oval and have marks which are in the right place for eyes, nose and mouth. But the system is very specific and face detection will not work with cats, dogs or other animals.

Face Detection can be divided into three areas. First, there is Face Detection AF, which helps focusing. Second, there is Face Detection AE which optimizes the exposure of the face. Finally, there is Face Detection FE which helps to prevent overexposed faces when you are using flash.

If you don't yet have a camera with Face Detection, all is not lost. If your subject is not close enough or large enough to become the main subject for the camera, you can use focus lock to ensure that the face is in sharp focus. Similarly, exposure lock can help you to achieve optimum exposure for the subject.