Best lens/settings for outdoor shots (high contrast) with 6D?

Question

I have a 6D I'm just getting started with. When I get a perfect shot (perfect lighting, color saturation, depth of field, etc), I LOVE it! The trouble is, I'm not getting enough of them. Not capturing what my eye sees with good repeatablilty. I have the following lenses for it: The 70-300mm zoom that came with it; a 24-105mm; a 17-40mm ultra wide angle; and a 50mm 1.4 fixed (dumb impulse purchase that I haven't found too useful). I am planning a trip to our tulip festival, and there will be loads of colors and likely high contrast as it will be a mostly sunny day with some clouds. PERFECT, right? Except I find that many times, particularly on my full auto settings, I am not getting the exposures I want! The photos often turn out kinda washed out, without the full saturation I want. And sadly, I'm just not able to compensate for that with the photo editing software I have. As I said, I'm just a beginner and don't want to lug around a manual with me to read while trying to get a good shot, so...anyone have any quick and dirty advice for which of my lenses will be the best to use for distance vs closeup of the flowers, and what settings to use with it? Full auto vs A, AV, or full manual? And if I use full manual, what priority do I want to get the best saturation? Urgh, I hope this isn't too crazy wide-open of a question to be able to get good helpful responses, it's hard to know what to ask. I just want to get some really good, color-rich, good depth and texture photos without a lot of thinking, lol. Thanks! PS-- I'm thinking of selling my 50mm and maybe one of my other ones to get a different one with better ranges. Any suggestions? I tend to do a lot of wildlife and landscapes, if that's any help, and find sometimes that the 300mm doesn't cut it.
Thanks again!

Answer 1

FIrst of all, it takes time to learn how to use a complex camera system well, so don't beat up on yourself a lot or give up on the gear you already have too quickly. Keep taking lots of photos, analyzing them and how you might have made them better. All cameras and lenses have their ideal uses and limits, it's just a matter of learning them and there's no substitute for experience. Get the book "Understanding Exposure"  by Bryan Peterson and read it, study it, learn it. That's the best single book every semi-serious to serious photographer who wants to improve their skills should read.... Might turn out to be the best $18 you ever spend on your photography. 
The various exposure modes each have their uses. I see some people suggest using M (manual) only... but that's slower and limiting and there are times it will prevent you from "getting the shot". Av (aperture priority), Tv (shutter priority) and even P (program) all have their uses. I like to set my camera to M and forget it, but that's really only possible when lighting is very steady and consistent or I have time to carefully set up each shot.
Much of the time I have to use Av or Tv because of variable lighting conditions. This can be because of intermittent clouds changing the intensity of light itself, or because I'm trying to capture shots of a subject that's moving in and out of different lighting. I tend to use Program when I just need a quick shot in different light than I've been working, and don't have time to calculate my exposure and am not very concerned about depth of field (aperture) or freezing or blurring subject movement (shutter speed). All three of these auto exposure modes (as Canon calls them) require experience with and knowledge of how subject tonality effects the camera's reflective metering system and how to use Exposure Compensation to correct for it.
There's a "tool" built right into your camera that can help you learn about the exposure controls and how your choices with them effect your images.... On the top dial there's a "CA" setting, which is a great learning tool that will give you feedback on the LCD screen about your settings. This might take the place of carrying around the manual and consulting it before each shot. Try it!
Personally I don't use the "SCN" or "Green Box/A+" modes, both of which are super auto exposure... That dictate a lot more camera settings than just exposure. These also limit focus modes, file types, color rendition, and more. Av, Tv, P are plenty of automation for me.
A lot of your questions seem to be about lighting. If you ever watch a movie being shot or a pro making still portraits or macro shots, you are likely to see them using some sort of light modifiers.... reflectors to "bounce" more light onto a subject, fill flash to open up shadows, flags to block light, diffusers to reduce contrast and more. Monte Zucker was a master portrait photographer who specialized in available light (no flash) and made use of what he found on location and modifiers such as these... even invented a few of them. These are tools that you might use, or you can learn to look for similarly "ideal" lighting that's naturally occuring and will give you the effects you want.  For example, if shooting close-ups and macro shots of flowers, insects and such, I often look for light shade to work in... or pray for a moderately overcast day (all too rare here in Calif.). Same can be done with portraits and many other types of photography.
To get great color in your images, you should get set up for and learn to do a Custom White Balance. This will insure optimal color in a wide variety of situations. Auto White Balance is very usable, especially in full sun. However, shade or indoors/artificial lighting comes in a wide spectrum of colors and can challenge AWB, or you might prefer it be rendered differently than the auto mode will do. There are a bunch of "preset" White Balance you might use - flash, tungsten, shade, etc. - but setting a Custom WB can very often  give more accurate results. There are WB targets (usually white or neutral gray) that can be used to quickly set up a Custom WB simply by taking a test shot and telling the camera "this is what you should use"  to set WB. There are even "warm cards", which are lightly tinted to cause slight bias toward a little warmer looking image, or in some cases cooler.   
Shooting digitally, a lot of what you want to do can be, or might would even be better accomplished in post-processing..., i.e. at your computer at home. Today with digital photography we all are essentially our own "photo labs", too. More to learn, I'm afraid. There are various image editing and optimization softwares, as well as very helpful things like graphics quality computer monitors and calibration devices. It's hard to take your images to their "best" without some additional "development" at your computer. Shoot RAW for the maximum ability to make adjusments to your images in post-processing. This includes the ability to change White Balance quite freely. But a RAW file is sort of like a negative from the days of film... taking the shot is just the first step, the post-processing is necessary and an important part of creating the final image. (Note: Shooting RAW + JPEG is a good learning tool.... once you can make finished images from your RAW files that are better than JPEGs it's producing itself, you can stop shooting JPEGs at all.)
Sorry, but you aren't going to be able to do this "without a lot of thinking"
However, over time you will find that working with your camera and lenses... as well as everything else that's part of the process... becomes easier and eventually a lot of it will be second-nature. You'll need to do a lot of practice and study at first... and may feel overwhelmed at times. But gradually and eventually you'll  realize that you know exactly what to do to get the images you want in many different situations. Don't be too quick to change or add more gear, because that just means starting some of the learning process over again.
With respect to wildlife photography, yes a 300mm lens on a 6D may not be enough reach a lot of the time. You have several possible solutions: get a longer focal length lens (Canon 400/5.6L is reasonably priced and quite good, but lacks IS so plan on using a tripod or at least  a monopod... Canon 500/4L IS is fantastic, but pretty expensive and quite large... think "tripod only").... Or, get a crop sensor camera (70D for example) to complement your full frame camera. The 300mm will "act like" a longer focal length, when used on a crop sensor camera.
Be warned, though, small wildlife, birds and such, there is no such thing as a "long enough" telephoto. If you have 300mm, you'll want 400mm.... But once you get that 400mm, you'll want a 500mm, etc., etc. Eventually the lenses get very pricey and large, hard to hold steady and even shooting through a lot of atmosphere will reduce image quality. So other solutions you'll probably want to learn inlude stalking skills, use of blinds, calls, decoys, baits to bring subjects closer.  
A lot of patience is needed too. There are times the subject is just too far away and all you can do is sit back and enjoy the show, hoping they'll come closer. Sometimes I've spent weeks or even months acclimating animals to allow me to approach close enough to get the shots I want (Canon EF 135/2L lens on Canon 7D)...
Other times I've found locations where the critters are already relatively accustomed to people and will let me get close (EF 300/4 IS USM lens on 7D)...
Hunger sometimes  outweighs shyness and fear, too (EF 300/4L IS USM on 7D)...
While some wildlife could care less about you and may even give you repeated opportunities to get a good shot of them (EF 300/4L IS USM lens on 5D MkII)...
Hope this helps!
Alan Myers
San Jose, Calif., USA
"Walk softly and carry a big lens."
GEAR: 5DII, 7D(x2), 50D(x3), some other cameras, various lenses & accessories
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