10. Advanced Techniques

Discovering the Creative Diversity in Your DSLR

We have focused on a wide variety of features, but before we wrap things up, I’d like to discuss some other features that you may find valuable in your photography. Though you may not use these features frequently, they may help you pull off the shot.

Poring Over the Picture

The speed of the 5D Mark III’s autofocus provides the ability to capture candid moments such as the one that occurred at this bus stop. By presetting the shutter speed and aperture combination to ensure a good exposure and a sharp photograph, I was able to bring the camera quickly to my eye, frame the shot, and make the picture.

High dynamic range (HDR) photography provides an opportunity to make a very different style of image, in addition to capturing important shadow and highlight detail in a high-contrast scene. Whether you produce HDR in-camera or use software on your computer as I did for this image, you can discover fascinating new ways of interpreting a scene, beyond the simple snapshot.

Copyright Information

Controlling the uses of your images is an important consideration for any photographer, whether professional or amateur. One of the ways that the 5D Mark III helps you with this is by giving you the ability to embed copyright info into the data file of the photograph or what is often referred to as IPTC data. This makes it very easy for someone who finds your image to look up your contact information if he’s interested in using your image for publication.

This doesn’t mean that a copyright symbol will be embedded on the actual photograph. Instead, the copyright information, including the image creator and copyright details (Figure 10.1), will be accessible through a photo-editing application such as Photoshop and will provide a resource for people interested in finding out who created the photograph.

Figure 10.1 Embedding your copyright information in the data file of your image can help provide people interested in your image valuable information regarding the ownership and the availability of that photograph.

To Set Up the Copyright Information on Your Camera, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the Setup 4 menu screen. Press the Setting button.

2. Use the Quick Control Dial to select Enter Author’s Name. Press the Setting button.

3. Press the Quick Control button to access the text palette, which will be highlighted by a blue box. Turn the Main Dial or Quick Control Dial to select a character. Press the Setting button to add the character. If you make an error, press the Erase button.

4. Press the Menu button to finish entering the author’s name.

5. Use the Quick Control Dial to select Enter Copyright Details and press the Setting button.

6. Press the Quick Control button to access the text palette, which will be highlighted by a blue box. Turn the Main Dial or Quick Control Dial to select a character. Press the Setting button to add the character. If you make an error, press the Erase button.

7. Press the Menu button to complete entering the copyright details.

Rating Images

Rating images has always been an important part of organizing images on a computer. When you enable this function (Figure 10.2), the 5D Mark III allows you to assign a rating to an image even before you’ve downloaded the files to your computer. Your image browser or photo-editing application will recognize this rating. You can apply from one to five stars to an image.

Figure 10.2 The rating of your images can provide you a simple way for finding a single photograph from an extensive shoot. Once embedded in your file, an editing program such as Photoshop or Lightroom will recognize the rating.

Rating a preferred image in-camera can help to guide you to your preferred image when it comes time to select and edit your images.

To Rate Your Images, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Playback button and turn the Quick Control Dial to cycle through the recorded images or video clips.

2. Press the Rate button to assign a ranking. Each press of the Rate button will increase the rating count by one, up to a total number of five.

Updating Firmware

Occasionally, Canon releases firmware updates to correct bugs, as well as to add features to your 5D Mark III. These updates are available for free download from the Canon website (http://usa.canon.com; Figure 10.3). If you find that your camera is using a firmware that isn’t current (Figure 10.4), you can easily install a more recent version. The downloaded firmware update can then be saved to your memory card and installed on the camera to complete the firmware update.

Figure 10.3 Updating the camera’s firmware can remedy minor bugs, as well as expand the capabilities of your camera. Periodically visit the Canon website to check on new firmware releases.

Figure 10.4 The Set-up 4 screen will reveal the current version of the camera’s software and serve as the starting point for updating your camera.

To Check the Camera’s Current Firmware Version, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and rotate the Main Dial to access the Set-up 4 menu screen.

2. Turn the Quick Control Dial to access the firmware version number.

3. If this version is not the latest one listed on the Canon website, follow the steps in the next section to load the latest version.

To Update the Firmware Directly from Your Computer, Follow these Steps

1. Go to Canon’s digital camera page (www.canon.com/deos-d/) and find the link to the Canon 5D Mark III.

2. From the Drivers and Downloads section, download the firmware update file that matches your operating system (Windows or Mac).

3. Extract the downloaded firmware file as per your operating system. (The firmware will be automatically extracted if you’re using a Mac.)

4. Copy the uncompressed firmware file to a formatted, empty SD or CF memory card.

5. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the Set-up 4 menu screen.

6. Rotate the Quick Control Dial and select the firmware version. Confirm your current firmware version. If it needs to be updated, press the Setting button.

7. The camera will confirm the current version of your firmware. To update the firmware, turn the Quick Control Dial and select OK. Press the Setting button.

8. The camera then asks you to select the new firmware version, which will already be highlighted in a yellow box (assuming it’s the only firmware version on the memory card). Press the Setting button.

9. After you are asked whether you want to update the firmware, turn the Quick Control Dial to select OK. Press the Setting button.

10. When the firmware update is complete, press the Setting button.

Mirror Lockup

If you’re planning on taking a photograph with a long shutter speed, you’re probably planning on using a tripod. Without the use of a tripod, camera shake is guaranteed. Using a tripod during long exposures is one way to ensure that the images are extremely sharp. Another factor that can affect the sharpness of the image comes from the mirror in the camera, which moves as it gets out of the way of the shutter. It doesn’t seem like much, but that little slap of the mirror hitting the inside of the viewfinder housing can be enough to create vibrations during the exposure.

For the absolute sharpest images, you can set the camera to raise the mirror prior to exposing the photo. Unlike the regular process of exposure—where the mirror moves at the same time that the picture is taken—the mirror is locked into the raised position until the shutter is activated, thus further reducing the possibility of camera shake.

To Set the Mirror Lockup Feature, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the Shoot 1 menu screen.

2. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Mirror lockup. Press the Setting button.

3. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Enable. Press the Setting button.

4. Exit the menu and set up your shot.

5. Press the shutter button completely to raise the mirror.

6. Press the shutter button a second time to activate the shutter and take the picture.

To further reduce the possibility of camera shake, use a shutter release cable or set the self-timer to 2 seconds. In self-timer mode, the mirror will lift when you press the shutter button, but the camera will fire automatically after 2 seconds, so you don’t have to touch the camera again. Also, remember that the mirror lockup feature will remain active (even after turning the camera on and off) until you disable it in the menu.

Bracketing Exposures

There are a variety of reasons why you might want to take several versions of the same scene, but with different exposure values:

• You might want to ensure that you have a single image that has the best exposure.

• You might want images with different exposure values so that you can merge select areas of each image into a final composite.

• You may want to use all the images to produce an HDR image to expand the dynamic range of a photograph beyond the limits of the camera’s sensor.

Bracketing allows you to program the camera to take two, three, five, or seven photographs at different exposure values (Figure 10.5). The camera handles each change of exposure automatically, eliminating the need for you to make an adjustment for each individual photograph.

Figure 10.5 Producing multiple images at slightly different exposures can be a valuable tool for ensuring a good exposure or when creating HDR imagery.

The amount of exposure adjustment between individual images and the number of total images that you want for a bracketing series will depend on how wide an exposure range you believe you need to capture. For example, a very high-contrast scene might call for full-stop exposure changes for a total of five frames.

To Set Up Exposure Bracketing, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the Shoot 2 menu screen.

2. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Exposure Compensation/AEB. Press the Setting button.

3. Turn the Main Dial to select the increment of exposure change in 1/3-stop increments up to +/−3 stops. Press the Setting button to enable bracketing.

4. Press the AF mode selection/Drive mode selection button and select Continuous or Continuous High. (This allows the camera to take each image in rapid succession and stop when the bracket is complete.)

5. To disable autobracketing, turn off the camera or access the Exposure/AEB screen and turn the Quick Control Dial to set the camera back to recording a single image with no exposure change. Press the Setting button.

You can choose how many exposures will be created as part of the bracket. The 5D Mark III improves on the three-exposure bracket of the 5D Mark II and now makes it possible to do a five- and seven-exposure bracket, which is an advantage for photographers who shoot HDR images.

To Set Up Exposure Bracketing, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the C.Fn1: Exposure menu screen.

2. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Number of bracketed shots. Press the Setting button.

HDR Photography

High dynamic range (HDR) photography has become a popular type of digital photography for its ability to produce images that retain shadow and highlight detail in high-contrast scenes (Figure 10.6). Multiple images of the same scene using different exposure values are combined into a single image using software such as HDR Efex Pro, Photomatix Pro, or Photoshop.

Figure 10.6 High-contrast scenes are ideal situations for creating an HDR image because of its ability to retain detail in both the bright highlights and the deep shadows.

Depending on how the files are processed, the image can appear very natural while capturing a wider tonal range than could be captured by the camera in a single exposure. The images also can be rendered to produce a very stylistic version of the scene. The latter has become quite popular and is the look that many people associate with HDR photography.

The 5D Mark III offers the ability to produce several different types of HDR images in-camera, eliminating the need for a computer or software. Though it doesn’t provide the flexibility and control found in most HDR software, it is an easy and convenient way to produce a HDR look.

The camera features five different rendering effects for HDR images (Figure 10.7):

• Natural: Preserves the wide tonal range of the scene, retaining important details existing in the highlights and shadows.

• Art standard: Produces a more painterly effect by reducing contrast and gradation. The subject outlines have more clearly defined edges.

• Art vivid: Color saturation is increased above what appears with the art standard effect, creating a more graphic art look.

• Art bold: Achieves the greatest degree of color saturation to create a look similar to pop art.

• Art embossed: Produces the flattest-looking image, with color saturation, brightness, contrast, and gradation decreased considerably. It can produce an image that looks like a faded photograph, but with pronounced outlines of the subject.

Figure 10.7 The choice of the HDR effect can result in an image that looks realistic to painterly. If you want greater control over the look of your HDR images, you might consider investing in HDR software.

To Set Up for HDR Photography, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the Shoot 3 menu screen.

2. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select HDR mode. Press the Setting button.

3. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Adjust Dynamic Range. Press the Setting button.

4. Select Auto or one of the full-stop exposure-bracketing options. Press the Setting button.

5. Turn the Quick Control Dial and select Effect. Press the Setting button.

6. Use the Quick Control Dial to select the preferred Effect. Depress the Setting button.

7. Turn the Menu Dial and select Continuous HDR. Press the Setting button.

8. Turn the Quick Control Dial, select Every shot, and press the Setting button.

9. Use the Quick Control Dial to select 1 shot only if you want to produce only one HDR image or Every shot if you want to create several different HDR photographs. Press the Setting button.

10. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Auto Image Align. Press the Setting button and choose Enable.

11. Use the Quick Control Dial to select Save Source Images. Press the Setting button.

12. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select All images, which will save all the original files, as well as the final HDR image, or select HDR image only to save only the HDR image.

Multiple Exposures

Multiple-exposure capability has been introduced with the 5D Mark III, providing another creative outlet. Though combining multiple images has been possible using applications like Photoshop, you can now achieve it in-camera. There is a certain level of unpredictability about this feature, but that’s probably part of the allure because it provides a great opportunity for experimentation and playfulness, which can include photographing the subject both in focus and out of focus (Figure 10.8).

Figure 10.8 A simple multiple exposure can consist of taking an in-focus and out-of-focus image of the same subject. This creates an interesting painterly effect, with a graphic subject and good color.

When the function is accessed through the camera’s Menu screen (Figure 10.9), you have the flexibility to produce a single multiple exposure or a series of them, depending on how you set your camera.

Figure 10.9 By activating the multiple-exposure function, you can expose a single frame multiple times to achieve a creative juxtaposition of imagery.

Using the Live View mode allows you to actually see the previously shot image(s) laid over the subject or scene you’re about to photograph. This gives you incredible control over the look and composition of your final photograph.

The multiple-exposure setting provides several rendering options for you to choose from (Figure 10.10):

• Additive: The exposure of each image is added cumulatively to the image. For this setting, it’s important to apply some negative compensation to each image based on the number of images used for a multiple exposure (2 images = –1 EV compensation, 3 images = –1.5 EV compensation, 4 images = –2 EV compensation).

• Average: Based on the number of exposures shot for the multiple exposures, the camera will automatically reduce exposure compensation for each frame.

• Bright and Dark: The brightness or darkness of the initial image is evaluated and overlaid with another image. Depending on whether you choose the bright or dark setting, the preferred tones are retained. This can result in an interesting blend of colors as the level of luminosity changes in areas of the frame.

Figure 10.10 The camera provides several options for creating distinctive looks to the multiple images combined in-camera.

To Set Up for Multiple Exposures, Follow these Steps

1. Press the Menu button and turn the Main Dial to access the Shoot 3 menu screen.

2. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Multiple Exposure. Press the Setting button.

3. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select On: Function/Control or On: Continuous Shooting. (Live View is available only with On: Function/Control.) Press the Setting button.

4. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Multiple Exposure control and press the Setting button.

5. Use the Quick Control button to select your preferred effect: Additive, Average, Bright, or Dark. Press the Setting button.

6. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Number of exposures. Press the Setting button.

7. Turn the Quick Control Dial to create multiple exposures of up to nine images. Press the Setting button.

8. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Save source image. Press the Setting button.

9. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select All images (to save the individual files and the completed multiple exposure) or Result Only (only the final multiple exposed file is saved). Press the Setting button.

10. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select Continue Multiple-Exposure. Press the Setting button.

11. Turn the Quick Control Dial to select 1 Shot Only (to create a single multiple exposure) or Continuously (to produce a series of multiple-exposure images).

My Menu

There are many items in the menu that you can change, but some you’ll change more frequently than others. The My Menu function allows you to place six of your most used menu items in one place so that you can quickly get to them, make your changes, and get on with shooting. I frequently include access to the controls for formatting the memory card, checking the battery status, autoexposure bracketing, and picture style (Figure 10.11). Depending on what I’m photographing, I may change some of these settings to suit the demands of the shoot.

Figure 10.11 By placing my most frequently accessed controls in My Menu, I avoid having to navigate the extensive screens found on the 5D Mark III, which saves me lot of time.

Chapter 10 Assignments

Many of the techniques covered in this chapter are specific to certain shooting situations that may not come about very often. This is even more reason to practice them so that when the situation does arise, you’ll be ready.

Adding Your Copyright Info

Input your copyright information so that all your images identify you as the photographer. Use your image-editing software to access the IPTC data to confirm that the data has been embedded.

Checking and Updating Your Firmware

Check the version of the firmware that is currently running on your camera. If there is a more up-to-date version, download it from the Canon website and install it into your camera. Make sure to fully charge your battery before attempting to update your firmware.

Nail the Exposure with Exposure Bracketing

Photograph a high-contrast scene that you imagine would be difficult to meter. Enable the autoexposure bracketing feature and produce a series of exposures. Vary the degree of compensation between frames, and try a series of three, five, or seven exposure brackets.

Enter the Magical World of HDR

Find a high-contrast scene with bright highlights and deep shadows and enable the HDR function of your camera. Create different versions of the subject using the five different built-in rendering styles.

Experiment with Multiple Exposures

Create a series of multiple-exposure images. Experiment with taking in-focus and out-of-focus images of the same subject. Also, try to combine very different subject matter into a single image. Remember to try the three rendering options and compare your results.

Share your results with this book’s Flickr group!

Join the group here: www.flickr.com/groups/Canon5DMarkIIIFromSnapshotstoGreatShots