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15 Great Photos Shot With A Canon Rebel T2i / 550D (And How They Were Taken)

// May 3rd, 2010 // Great Photo Collections (And How They Were Taken)

Canon have surely created a winner with the Rebel T2i (known as the 550D in Europe). Building on the already fantastic performance of the 500D, the new model has received great reviews around the ‘net, and will no-doubt be in the minds of a lot of prospective DSLR owners.

So, with that in mind, I thought I’d feature some great photos that have all been taken with the T2i / 550D, along with some information on how they were taken.

By Paul Hudson

An apt way to kick-off this 550D / T2i collection is with a great self-portrait. A large aperture of f/5 means the photographer himself is a bit blurry, drawing our attention to the sharp camera – the true subject of the photo.

By David Watson

The range of colours taken in this shot are just gorgeous, and it works to keep your eye moving across the shot, from one colour to the next. As virtually everything in the shot is the same distance away from the camera, the choice of aperture (in this case, f/5.6) does not really matter, as a large or small aperture would still keep the majority of the photo in focus. Composition, and the great skill of the photographer to ‘see’ that this would make such a good photo, is more important than the technicalities of the shot in this instance.

By The Nameless

This is a great composition, with a kind of ‘X’ shape created by the kissing couple and the streetlights. A wide aperture of f/2.5 has created a lovely blurred background, and this wide aperture, combined with a relatively high ISO of 800, meant the shot could be taken without flash and still be sharp.

By Robby Ryke

What beautiful light! Perfectly metered to keep those luscious reds and oranges in the sky, with a fast shutter speed of 1/500 sec. A relatively small aperture of f/10 means a good amount of sharpness throughout the shot too.

By Thiago C Almeida

A wide 18mm focal length makes the most of this unusual perspective, including the virtually-perfect symmetry of the two escalators. Black and white really works to turn our attention to the composition and texture, too. A lovely shot.

By Michael Batfish

What a lovely portrait! This shot shows off the T2i / 550D’s very impressive ISO performance, as this was shot at a very high ISO of 6400 – and yet the shot is very clean, with not much ‘digital noise’ at all. A high ISO was needed to get the fast shutter speed of 1/80 sec, as, even with a wide aperture of f/5.6, the room was just too dark to take a sharp shot without raising the ISO so high. (By the way, I did a tutorial on how to take sharp photos in low light without a flash)

By Dailymatador

I want to take a photo like this! The streaks of light, which are actually cars’ headlights, are captured by using a long exposure – in this case 4 seconds. The wide focal length of 23mm canptures the whole scene, and the mid-range aperture of f/7.1 ensures a good amount of sharpness throughout. If you want to try something similar, make sure you use a tripod to keep your camera steady during the long exposure.

By Robby Ryke

A wide aperture of f/5.6 ensures the subject is sharp whilst the background is blurred, expertly drawing our attention to the magnificent butterly. A quite quick shutter speed of 1/80 sec means the creature is nice and sharp, and it was probably a cloudy day, or later in the afternoon, so the relatively high ISO of 1000 was needed to get such a shutter speed.

By Thiago C. Almeida

With the World Cup just over a month away, I had to include a football shot – and this is a great example. The key to catching this action, and freezing it so well, is to use a fast shutter speed, and this shot was taken with a fast 1/2000 sec setting. A wide aperture of f/5.6 and medium-high ISO of 400 was needed to get this fast shutter speed. As someone on this image’s flickr page says, the shot has captured a story, with clear emotion seen on the man on the right’s face. Beautiful light too.

By Dave Dugdale from LearningDSLRVideo.com

An unusual scene, and what sharp focus on those beautiful cats eyes. Such a small depth of field, which draws our attention so well to those eyes, was created by using a wide aperture of f/1.8. A prime lens was used for this shot (a prime lens is one with a fixed focal length), such as the Canon 50mm f/1.8 which I use (available at Amazon US for under $100, and at Amazon UK too).

By KielerSonne

This sunrise shot compliments the sunset one from earlier, and, once again, this has been expertly metered so the exposure is perfect for the sky – all those luscious blues, oranges and reds are captured due to a fast shutter speed of 1/200 sec. A small f/14 aperture ensures focus throughout, and a wide focal length of 18mm captures the whole scene. Gorgeous.

By K1mb3rlyb

I had to have a doggie shot in here somewhere, and this is a brilliant one! A fast shutter speed of 1/400 sec was used to freeze a lot of this shaking-dog action, and this was a perfect choice – as even though it could been frozen even more with a shutter speed of 1/1000 sec or 1/2000 sec, that would have resulted in a more ‘static’ shot – the slightly slower shutter speed means we get a little bit of blurring, and this helps to show the sense of movement perfectly.

By Thiago C Almeida

Another beautiful shot, capturing character and action perfectly. Because the action is moving towards the camera, rather than across it, a relatively slower shutter speed of 1/320 sec can be used to freeze the movement. The wide f/5 aperture means our focus is drawn to the sharp kids in play. (By the way, I’ve written a guide on how to blur the background in your photos)

By Joakim Johansson (Alendri)

A low composition, with the sun captured perfectly behind the head of the plant,  ensures we get an unusual viewpoint of a common subject. A fast shutter speed of 1/500 sec is used to keep detail in that lovely blue sky, and a small aperture of f/14 means focus is sharp from the weeds in the foreground, to the tree in the background.

By Nicholas Kennedy Sitton

There weren’t any technical details available about this shot, but I just had to include it as it’s just brilliant. I can only presume that a fast shutter speed and wide aperture was used, and was perhaps pre-focused, but it’s the artistic merit, and originality, that makes this such a great photo anyway!

All of these photos were taken with the Canon Rebel T2i / 550D, which is available from Amazon US and UK.

Seeing as you made it all the way to the bottom, you may like to follow me on twitter. And, if you liked this post, you may also like some more ‘Great Photo Collections (And How They Were Taken)‘.

My Canon EOS Rebel T2i / 550D Digital Field Guide Review may also interest you.