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No.1 for canon dslr users Issue 156 • Sept 2019
essential landscape photo guide
new canon skills Improve your confidence when taking scenic shots with 23 great tips
IR on a budget
Capture and create incredible infrared images
new canon projects Balancing-act illusions in digital photography
super test
EOS Dslrs vs mirrorless Eight of the latest Canon cameras go head-to-head
We are the first generation without Apartheid. The trauma in our parents is still so great Ilvy Njiokiktjien – news and documentary photographer
expert advice
child’s play Canon pro tips for taking better family portraits
theApprentice
canon PRO Name:
Catherine O’Donnell
APPRENTICE Name:
Louis Taylor Camera:
Canon EOS 5D Mk III Louis is 55-years old, lives in South Wales and describes himself as a hobbyist photographer. He’s been a PhotoPlus subscriber for several years now and enjoys photographing his daughter playing golf, but would love to take more portrait pictures in general. Louis feels that he lacks the confidence to take on paid family portrait photoshoots and has concerns over the business side of things of photography.
Camera:
Canon EOS 5D Mk III Catherine is an award-winning portrait photographer that’s been published in magazines globally. She’s known for her laid-back approach to family portraiture, which helps her capture natural poses and special moments that don’t look forced. Being a mum of two keeps her on her toes, but also gives her ample opportunities to perfect her portraits – making her the ideal person to help Louis improve his portraits! www.catherineodonnell.co.uk
Family business
Canon pro Catherine O’Donnell takes our reader to Waterperry Gardens to improve his portrait photography 8
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In association with
FACTFILE Waterperry Gardens For our Apprentice shoot this month we visited the stunning Waterperry Gardens in Oxfordshire. The garden was opened to the public in the mid 1970’s, and is steeped in horticultural history. Over the past 48 years they’ve been developed into the renowned gardens they are today. With eight acres of vibrant herbaceous nursery beds and a picturesque pear orchard, it was the perfect backdrop for our family portraits. The grounds are also home to a quality plant centre, garden shop, gift barn, gallery, teashop and museum. So whether you want to try out some portraits yourself, or make a day of it and go for an adventure, give Waterperry Gardens a visit. www.waterperrygardens.co.uk
the print specialists
The Canon Magazine
cewe are a European market and technology-leading innovative photo and online service provider. With over 50 years of experience, they are renowned for their dedication to outstanding print quality. Based in Warwick, their state-of-the-art production facility houses the very latest in printing technology, and delivers millions of photo products each year. From photo books to prints, and wall art to gifts, we help you to bring your memories to life. www.cewe-photoworld.com/photoplus 9
theApprentice TECHNIQUE ASSESSMENT
Catherine gave Louis some pointers on how to set up his camera for perfect family portraits Go into Manual mode for consistent exposures Catherine mostly works in Manual mode on her Canon 5D Mark III. This means that she gets consistent exposures during a shoot, even when the background or clothing changes. She checks her pictures on the back of the camera regularly to make sure they’re correctly exposed and sharp. She also shoots in the Raw format to give her that extra editing flexibility with the exposure and white balance back at her computer.
Choose the right focus mode Setting the right focus mode will depend on whether the kids are moving or staying still in a group shot. If they’re moving about a lot Catherine uses AI Servo to continuously focus on them, but if they’re relatively still then she’ll switch over to the One Shot mode. In this mode the camera focuses just once when you half-press the shutter.
Get low so you’re eye level Family portraits generally look better when shot at eye-level, so you’re not looking down or up at your subject. This might mean you have to get down on one knee, or lie prone on the ground to get the shot – it’s a good idea to wear clothes you don’t mind getting a little dirty on these kind of shoots… Shooting at eye-level will make the background further away too which makes it easier to throw it into a pleasing blur when using a wide aperture like f/1.8.
top gear #1 5D Mark III
Catherine’s 5D Mark III body is still going strong after many years of service and remains employed as her primary body on shoots. The full-frame sensor gives a great depth-of-field and its resolution of 22.3Mp is perfect for family photos – the larger resolution from newer models would fill memory cards faster too. She’d rather put the money towards better L-series optics until her current 5D body bites the dust.
EXPERT INSIGHT
Follow the leader Kids will be kids and just want to run around – so let them! You can get some fantastic impromptu shots when they’re running around, climbing trees, swinging from the branches and just generally having fun. Shoot photos with them leading the way and going where they want to go and you’ll soon win them over. After this you’ll find it much easier to round them up for family group photographs later on. You just need to strike the right balance between fun and posed shots – the last thing you want is bored, irritable children.
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In association SHOOT WITH withA PRO
HOT SHOT #1
Catherine’s comment The first family we shot was the Van Bommels, and five-year-old Max, and his younger two-year-old brother, Jack, wanted to run around. I don’t like to force things, instead I believe you get better pictures if you go with the flow, rather than telling the kids what to do. Here, Max laid on the floor and we turned it into a photo opportunity. Louis and I got low to the ground so we were eye-level with Max, and his parents even managed to tease a cheeky smile out of him.
HOT SHOT #2
Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Exposure
1/800 sec, f/1.8, ISO200
Louis’s comment At the start of the day I was quite happy watching Catherine go about how she would do the shoot as if it was a paid job – it was interesting to learn from her laid-back shooting style that made everyone in the family feel at ease. At this point,Jack was still running around while we were trying to photograph Max in the picture above. But Catherine saw an opportunity to take this shot of Jack as he had a big grin on his face. It’s a lovely moment and just goes to show that sometimes you have to think fast to get the shot!
Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM
Exposure
1/800 sec, f/1.8, ISO200
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newcanonskills
SHOOT
LANDSCAPE Photography 23 great ways to improve your landscape shots
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Shutterstock / Andrew Mayovskyy
landscape photography
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Timing is everything
With landscape photography the conditions can change dramatically from one moment to the next. One minute the sky might be full of cloud; suddenly a small break allows dramatic light to pour into the scene… Then it’s gone as quickly as it came. Being in position and set up ready to shoot when these situations arise is part and parcel of landscape photography. One way to maximize your chances of good light is to shoot around sunrise and sunset. Known as the golden hour, the short period before sunrise and after sunset is when you’re most likely to see richly coloured light. But even at these times conditions can change quickly and you have to be ready. In a shot like our main image, the frames before and after can look different. This moment can be over in a flash, so you have to be ready with your kit set up and settings figured out.
The Canon Magazine
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newcanonskills 02 Maximize image quality
Image quality is important regardless of the subject, but for landscapes, where you have the time to slow down, the best image quality possible is essential. To do this, shoot at ISO100 or 200, or the lowest setting for your camera. Shoot in Aperture Priority at f/11 or f/16 to take advantage of the sharpest aperture on the lens being used, and to help create a large depth of field. The camera will select the appropriate shutter speed for a correct exposure automatically. Exposure times will often be too long to hand-hold the camera, which makes a tripod a must-have accessory. Set the metering mode on your Canon to Evaluative or Centre-Weighted to achieve an exposure as close to perfect as possible. If the image looks too light or dark, use exposure compensation to override the camera exposure to correct it. Take a look at tip four to learn about focusing.
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Blend day and night
Digital photography allows us to achieve visually exciting images. One great way to capture a landscape is to shoot both the day and night and then blend the images. Shoot on a tripod and make sure it and your camera and lens don’t move or re-focus between the shots. Shoot in Av mode at around f/8, and take a shot in the day, at last night and at night. Once you have your three to three images, open the day shot first in Photoshop, and copy and paste the other images on top as layers, then you can use layer masks and the Gradient tool to quickly blend at least two of your images together, and then paint over parts that you want to see using the Brush tool on the masks.
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landscape photography
Focusing your camera lens is one of the most challenging aspects of landscape photography – after getting to a glorious location and experiencing amazing light, of course. The thing about focusing, despite what some people might tell you, is that it’s actually really simple, and there are two straightforward approaches you can try to make the task much easier for yourself. One popular method is to turn on Live View and zoom the screen into a point that’s roughly one third of the distance into the scene and manually focus on this point. Another trick, and one that may seem haphazard, is to set the focus on the lens barrel to just before infinity (as shown above). It may need tweaking slightly, but it’s a quick and easy way to focus perfectly.
Alexwise
04 Focus with ease
05 Take to the skies
Drone photography has taken off in recent years – no pun intended. Thanks to falling prices and advanced systems helping novices to fly safely without crashing, drone photography is now accessible to all. Of course, a large dose of common sense is required when
you pilot an aerial device that can injure people. But in scenic locations with few or no people around, drones allow you to get a unique perspective on the landscape below. Most drones made by DJI and Mavic allow you to shoot stills in Raw, and will hover in the same spot while shooting three bracketed exposures.
Stefano Sala
Petr Jilek / Shutterstock
07 Try a telephoto lens
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Shoot wide open
Achieving a large depth of field is a mantra you’ll hear over and over again when talking about landscape photography. This is a decent rule of thumb for many shots, but it’s not always the best or only option. For images where there’s foreground interest, such as wild flowers or cracked earth, knocking the background out of focus, so it’s recognizable enough to add context but not sharp enough to demand attention, is a great technique. Focus on the foreground object and set the aperture to f/2.8 or f/4.
The Canon Magazine
It goes without saying that an ultra wideangle lens, such as 10-18mm on APS-C cameras and 16-35mm for full-frame, is an essential piece of kit. But relying solely on this focal range will severely limit your ability to capture every scene at its best. Wide-angle lenses are best for landscapes where there’s strong foreground interest or lead-in lines close to the camera. Telephoto lenses are great for scenes where the main subject, like mountains, has no foreground interest and is quite some distance from the camera. Another advantage of telephoto lenses is that they can create the illusion of perspective compression, making elements at different distances from the camera appear closer together. A 70-200mm f/4 lens is ideal because it’s small and light.
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The Mission Shoot and edit a trick balancing portrait effect Time needed One hour Skill level Intermediate Kit needed • Tripod • Two chairs • Step ladder • Photoshop CC or Elements
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The balancing act
James Paterson uses a combination of excellent shooting skills and Photoshop magic to create a unique precarious portrait
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ne of the most fun things you can do with Photoshop is blend photos into an entirely new image. This can lead to all kinds of weird and wonderful results, but it’s not all about making double exposures, or blending a crocodile with a kitten, or sending your granny to the moon. Sometimes it can be just as eye-catching to craft a subtle composite from slightly altered versions of the same scene.
This is exactly what we’ve done here for our precarious portrait. We need a series of shots with slight changes – one of the subject perched on a ladder, another of the stack of chairs, and a couple of frames to fill in the gaps. By shooting these frames all in the same alignment with a tripod – and with very careful positioning – the Photoshop side of the project becomes surprisingly quick and easy. It’s a case of combining our frames using automated tools, then
painting simple layer masks to blend the different versions of our scene into one seamless image. As is often the case with Photoshop trickery, the real skill lies in the shooting technique. Get things right in-camera, and the rest is simple. We’ll explain how to shoot the frames for this effect, then guide you through the Photoshop workflow. Even for a Photoshop novice it’s rather easy, and the layer masking techniques can be used for all kinds of image editing projects. www.digitalcameraworld.com
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Video also online http://bit.ly/pp_156_1
creative composite project Project 1
On location Get set up Here’s what’s going on behind the scenes of our trick balancing act portrait 01 Tripod
We need to take a series of shots for this effect and it’s vital that the camera stays still throughout so that they’re all in alignment. As such, a tripod is a must. It’s best to shoot on an overcast day so that the lighting stays similar during the shoot.
02 Camera exposure
The exposure and focus point should be consistent over several frames. So after focusing, we switch to manual focus to lock it. We need to work out a manual exposure, we settled on 1/200 sec, f/2.8, ISO800 for our project.
03 Chairs
Our chairs are kept to one side, ready to be substituted for the ladder once we’ve shot our model. At no point does she balance on them, that’s where the Photoshop trickery comes in. Try different kind of stacks, but make sure you stay safe.
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04 Low angle
A low camera angle emphasizes the height of our subject, pushing her upwards in the frame. It also strengthens the depth of the scene here by allowing us to blur the road in the foreground and frame our subject against the treetops in the distance. The Canon Magazine
05 Step ladder
A step-ladder provides a solid platform for our subject to perch on. Crucially, it’s thin legs don’t cast too much of a shadow on our scene. Helpfully, it’s roughly the same height as our stack of chairs, which makes it easier to combine our shots later in post.
06 Subject
We asked our model to safely balance on the ladder with legs dangling out. This way, we know there’s only one point of contact between her and the scene. A side-on pose emphasizes the position and makes it easier to separate her from the ladder.
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Theprointerview
STORy BEHIND THE SHOT
THE KISS Under Apartheid, interracial relationships were forbidden… Post-Apartheid, the ‘born-frees’ are the first South African generation permitted to love and marry anyone regardless of their race. Ilvy met this couple, Wilmarie Deetlefs (24) and Zakithi Buthelezi (27) in Johannesburg. “They met on the Tinder dating app and they were very much in love,” she says. “He is from quite a wealthy family, his grandfather was in parliament with Nelson Mandela. Wilmarie is from a smaller town and a conservative family.” When Ilvy first met the couple Wilmarie had not told her parents about her new boyfriend. “He did and they loved her,” she continues. “I took this photo while they were on a night out in Johannesburg. They were kissing and that to me tells a lot about the way things should be, or about the way Nelson Mandela wanted to see his country.”
ILVY NJIOKIKTJIEN 66
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ILVY NJIOKIKTJIEN For the past decade Ilvy Njiokiktjien has detailed the lives of the first generation of South Africans growing up free of the oppressions of the Apartheid regime. She tells Keith Wilson how her work reveals the realities of life for the ‘born-free’ generation
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n May 10, 1994 Nelson Mandela was elected South Africa’s first black president, thereby bringing an end to Apartheid, a system of institutionalized racial segregation that determined people’s rights by the colour of their skin. The realities of segregation meant ‘Blacks’ and ‘Coloureds’ had to carry legal passes in ‘White’ areas; schools, workplaces, transport and even beaches were divided by race. White minority rule was guaranteed by denying the vote to the non-white majority. But all that changed when the vote was finally granted to all adults regardless of race and Nelson Mandela’s African National Congress (ANC) party won a resounding majority in South Africa’s first fully democratic elections. In the 25 years since that momentous day, the first generation of free-born South Africans have come of age in a country now referred to as the ‘Rainbow Nation’. Born Free: Mandela’s Generation of Hope is Ilvy Njiokiktjien’s 01 Love across the divide
Wilmarie Deetlefs, 24, together with her boyfriend Zakithi Buthelezi, 27, on a night out in Johannesburg, South Africa
The Canon Magazine
Lens
Canon EF 35mm f/1.4L II USM
Exposure
1/40 sec, f/1.8, ISO2500
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CANONSCHOOL
DIGITAL SLR ESSENTIALS In this edition of Digital SLR Essentials we explain all you need to know about the different types of viewfinders
View to a thrill
What’s the difference between an optical viewfinder vs an EVF vs Live View?
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s you’ll see from this issue’s DSLR vs mirrorless Super Test (page 98), the fundamental difference between Canon’s EOS DSLRs and EOS M and R mirrorless cameras is the mirror – or the obvious lack of it, in the latter’s case… An EOS DSLR has a large mirror in front of the imaging sensor; light rays coming through the lens are reflected by this mirror, up to a pentaprism (a sold block of glass) or a pentamirror (a set of small mirrors), which in turn reflects them into the viewfinder. This is known as an optical viewfinder (OVF). A mirrorless camera doesn’t have a mirror assembly, and this enables it to be designed smaller than a DSLR would be. The optical viewfinder is
replaced by an electronic viewfinder (EVF) which, like the rear Live View screen, shows the photograph being recorded by the imaging sensor. Of course, all EOS cameras, regardless of whether they have an optical or electronic viewfinder – or no built-in viewfinder at all in the case of some EOS M models – feature a Live View display. Live View essentially removes the element of doubt, as it gives you a full preview of the scene ‘as the camera sees it’, complete with the effect that Picture Style, white balance and Auto Lighting Optimizer settings have on the image. If you make an adjustment to these settings, the change is visible in real time, and what you see is (more or less) what you will get.
Marcus Hawkins Photo expert Marcus has been passionate about photography for more than 25 years. A former editor of our sister publication Digital Camera, he has written about photography and cameras for a wide range of clients, including Canon and Jessops, and uses a Canon EOS 5D Mk III.
INFO
Tapping the INFO button with the Live View display activated allows you to cycle through the range of information screens. You may be able to customize the information that is displayed via the yellow Set-up menu
ISO
WB SET
Preview
The camera is only able to display an image and histogram based on a JPEG, even if you shoot Raw
AF
Grid display
You can activate a grid display in the red Shooting menu to help with composition
Vari-Angle touchscreen One of the problems of using the rear display is that, in order to see the screen, you have to hold the camera in a way that isn’t exactly stable. A camera that has a Vari-Angle touchscreen make difference, as you can hold the camera tightly to your body for extra support and still monitor what you’re capturing. It’s useful for adding a bit of extra stability when shooting videos and makes it easy to shoot from low or high angles. It’s still better to lock the camera on a tripod for shots that require precise focusing, as it’s easy to accidently shift a handheld camera back and forth.
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Viewfinder 101 The pros and cons
Small screen time The pros and cons of electronic viewfinders n electronic viewfinder (EVF) brings a number of potential advantages over an optical viewfinder. As it’s essentially a miniature version of the rear display, you’re able to see the effect that important camera settings have on the image before you take it. You’re also able to view the live histogram, allowing you to make accurate exposure adjustments, and you can even quickly access the camera’s menu options, should you wish to quickly change the camera setup. While you can do all of this using a camera’s rear screen, one of the benefits of using an EVF – aside from not having to take your eye from the viewfinder – is that you’ll have no problem seeing the image when you’re shooting in bright light. You can support the camera properly when you’re
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working without a tripod too, improving your chances of taking sharp images. But EVFs are not without their drawbacks, chief of which is that they draw more power than a regular optical viewfinder. While this doesn’t impact day to day shooting, it might be a concern if you’re travelling. There is one easy option though: always have a spare, fully charged battery to hand. More problematic is that you can’t see anything in an electronic viewfinder unless the camera is powered on. One recent development which is now available on a number of mirrorless cameras is the option to turn the rear touchscreen into a large autofocus trackpad when you’re using the EVF. By touching the active part of the screen with your thumb, you’re able to drag the AF point(s) to where you want on the image.
Viewfinder sensor
This activates the viewfinder when you bring it up to your eye, but you can set the camera Available on a few mirrorless up so it’s always on or off EOS cameras, this feature allows you to ‘thumb’ the AF point(s) around the image
Touch & Drag AF
Customize the display You can fine-tune the EVF in the Setup menu. For instance, on the EOS RP you can opt to have fast-moving subjects displayed more smoothly (at the expense of battery life), and have the shooting info rotate when you shoot vertically.
Intelligent optical viewfinders Advanced DSLRs fuse a traditional viewfinder with an LCD device espite the apparent disadvantages with optical viewfinders, there’s a lot to be said for them. Yes, unlike EVFs, they are unable to show you how the camera interprets things, and yes, they get dark when light levels drop; but they are easy on the eye. An optical viewfinder has better clarity, and it doesn’t
D
The Canon Magazine
suffer from time lag or refresh rate problems; the live feed in an EVF can look like a stopmotion movie when you move the camera and fire a burst of shots. You also get an instant view with a DSLR. These days, optical viewfinders are far from passive bits of glass. The ‘Intelligent Viewfinder II’ available in advanced cameras
such as the 7D Mark II and 5D Mark IV includes an LCD overlay which keeps you up to date with various camera settings, such as the shooting mode, white balance and AF mode, so as long as you know your way around the camera buttons and dials, you can make adjustments without taking your eye from the viewfinder.
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SUPERTest
The contenders
Canon EOS 250D/Rebel SL3 £519/$549
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Canon EOS M50 £489/$629
Canon EOS 77D £680/$699
Canon EOS M5 £599/$579
Canon EOS 6D Mk II £1249/$1299
Canon EOS RP £1399/$1299
Canon EOS 5D Mk IV £2499/$2799
Canon EOS R £2349/$2999
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DsLRs vs mirrorless
canon DSLRs vs Mirrorless Do Canon EOS DSLRs have their backs up against the wall in the mirrorless revolution, or are they still the better buy?
C
anon first dipped its toe in the waters of mirrorless digital system cameras back in the summer of 2012. The launch of the EOS M (Electro-Optical System Mobility) was effectively a mirrorless version of the EOS 650D digital single lens reflex camera. Without a reflex mirror assembly or viewfinder, it was indeed very much smaller, slimmer and lighter, while still qualifying as a ‘system’ camera, thanks to having interchangeable lenses. Although it helps with downsizing, most of us struggle to shoot naturally without a viewfinder, especially under bright sunlight. Sure enough, the current EOS M50 and M5 mirrorless cameras have a built-in electronic viewfinder, and one is available as an optional extra for the M6. A bonus of electronic viewfinders is that they give a live preview of the effect of exposure and white balance settings but, despite having very high pixelcounts, they still tend to lack the clarity of an SLR’s optical viewfinder. Naturally, Canon has much more experience in making DSLR system cameras, stretching all the way back to 1959. EOS 35mm film cameras arrived in 1987 and went digital in 2000. Nearly 20 years later, Canon DSLRs have evolved into fabulous cameras. By contrast, Canon’s EOS R and RP full-frame mirrorless system cameras have been around for less than a year, and are still in their infancy. Let’s see how the range of APS-C format and full-frame system cameras stack up against each other, throughout the price range.
The Canon Magazine
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