Creative photography V projects to try yourself How to master your lenses, flash and filters Expert step-by-step workshops to follow . . Get the best fr Expert guides to improve a your Canon DSLR your photography i Step-by-step workshops * Free video guides + Pro tips and tricksWelcome to Canon Advanced Handbook Welcome to the Canon Advanced Handbook - your guide to help you master your Canon EOS DSLR and get to grips with the more advanced aspects of photography. If you've picked up this handbook, you'e likely to have a decent grasp of how 10 control your Ganon camera, but may still be relying on auto modes to capture a good exposure. In the Camera Skills section, we have a variety of articles to help you break from the auto settings to learn how to use manual modes for better results, as well as the A to Z of the Canon EOS DSLR System, plus top tips on how to make money from your photography. Once you've learnt these techniques, turn to the Photo Projects section, packed with fantastic tutorials for you to try. I full of inspizing ideas, with simple step-by-step guides. In che third and final section, Camera Workshops, you have a comprehensive 26-part course full of essential photography techniques, and all explained in easy-to-follow lessons. We hope you enjoy reading this revised edition of the Canon Advanced Handbook. Don't forget to download your free resources, including video guides and tutorial files, Turn to page 210 for more details4 L FUTURE 4 rCanon AdvancedCONTENTSCamera Skills AtoZoftheCanonEOSDSLRsystem 10 Dial for Manual x Make Cash with your Canon & Photo Projects Camera Workshops Thelight fantastic 48 Howdol troubleshoot ry EOSD-SLR? 106 Polarizing patterns 52 Howcan|makethemostofPictureStyes? 10 Hovercraft 56 What'sthepointofimageEXIFdata? 14 Misty minimalism 60 —_Howdol beat camera shake? us Miror, mirror. 64 What's depthoffieldallabout? 122 Splash without fash 68 Shoot iong-exposure seascapes 126 Holeinone 72 Howcan|shoottop-quality HD video? 130 Get thepartystarted 76 — HowcanlsetupandcontolmyD-SiRfaste? 134 Catchin’ a wave 80 —_Howcanl set up fornightphotograpty? 138 Groundrules. 84 — Whichmeteringmode shouldluse? 142 Pop-up portraits 88 Howdolusemyin-camera CreatveFiters? 146 ‘Autumn abstracts 92 Howdoluse my camera'sHOR mode? 150 Joinedat thelip 96 Howdolset mycameraup for close-ups? 154 Moonlighting 100 Howdol makemycamerafocus aster? 158 How do luse flash in daylight? 162 Howdol preperefortravelphotograpty? 166 Whats dynamicrange? 170 How can getmore from white balance? 174 Isthereany point inusing optical fiters? 178 ‘Should bother with WHI? 182 Howdol set my DSLR or ciferent subjects? 186 What's the trick tolongexposures? 190 Howdo Itake even sharper photos? 194 What doesthehistogramtelme? ‘198. Do really need Manual mode? 202 Howdol getmere rommeteringmodes? 206 Free videos How to view your video guides 210 Ccanch Advanced Hancock 1Pe aS med Camera Skills AtoZ of the Canon EOS DSLR system Dial M for Manual Make Cash with your Canonfe} Sy ce iat a 5 @ S = fad aoCoa) a VA OF THE CANON EOS DSLR SYSTEM From Autofocus to Zoom lenses: learn all about the cameras, ee Re ee OE Cee ea Pe econ ee eer ed potreere ane ietty lenses, flashguns, GPS units, Risener essen] Pe eee oe Taree eco ey eae oa ren sca ‘camera's shutter button to editing and printing out your photos. In this guide you'll discover all you need. ert Ss eS ae ees settings, autofocus and other shooting settings, and tps on using the LCD and Se eee cn Ee a nag [BF lenses, lashguns and flash settings, printers, and Canon’ Digital Photo eee eee teat et Over the next 13 pages well equip you ‘with keys sis, and share our top tips, Oe Sat eer Erne ete CadCANON EOS SYSTEM A-Z fee VT C0) (O10 Smeets Oring AC | ct Ic cteelenaretvaniel Re et eee Es Poerrcemerieer Peers ete eer ores NStatpcn stat Ee een kenny rere Pore en eer ee en oy eet Petar bool Pe paren rte eee ete ens een erat oe {o Ato, so the camera wil selec the AF point Ecree ea een eee cen eT ea oT * erreseonsei nent eaten Ee eee ete es eee ae eet cee ee em eee Perth erm renner tere ere emer am ETT LT on) eee eee pense hese {iDsteaner dens enero SINGLE-POINT AF SS [pier ira Seniesa porate rae W, forbade wl ye crn EA UD ee ee ee een ea ee ee eee ry ‘exposures of the same scene: overexposed, underexposed, and standard for what the ‘camera thinks isthe ‘correct’ exposure. This improves your chances of getting a perfect ‘exposure in tricky lighting: you can also combine shats fora high dynamic range image. SRA SO Bi or J EIBULB MODE - = reel ae et cee va ee ces smns byt Set eer en settee cote eee ean Cre " STIS VaaNVOCONTROLYOURCANON ISO speed setting increments Ce eee) ee eee erate Bracketing sequence lel mel a olcla. cic eel) Safety shift Sue OMIT Th ston of modes nigh Cer ee etcetera cet at bosentan tt Ce Nasa Petre rer Deco Tee nee Pestemern eerste Stereo U is for... USB ifyou wan wage eetaR ee remotely nt dor Waa are USB cable (provided cameras include options for in the box with the stewing the pee pire shes, ten metres is probably Stylemenu cron. sare ane WER oocyte Sei aee ene ee cat and open Canons aoaeremmacnntm aca /ionn Pew tetany pee settings/Remote y ies nperoance hen uig shooting’ and you'll DUA exh edt soning then be abe to control Z tanbecatoled ba the camera direct tthe sibel ing tg eed from the computer. The ‘ities reer al oF EOS SDS, SDS Rand and Dears 7D Mk are compatible With SuperSpeed USB 300, thus enabling faster transfer of image files tocomputers when shooting tethered. Ccanch Advanced Hana aCONTROLYOURCANON Visto... Viewfinder information ‘The ‘Intelligent Viewfinder in the OS 1D X, BOS 5D Mk Il, EOS 7D MkI, EOS 70D, EOS SDS and EOS SSDS R models uses a transmissive LCD that enables the cameras to display additional useful information within the viewfinder, including AF points, Zone, Spot or Expansion AF points and a grid when required. When the camera fs turned off the display will appear milky due to light scattering, but ‘once the camera is powered on the display becomes clear. To avoid the sereen becoming cluttered you can choose what information the Neate LCD displays, or even to have it show none a ll, iro ON Pr id ee ee ee Ce ere Help ‘TheIntligent Viewfinder can csplaya You can talor what information is splayed inthe camera's wide array of useful shootinginformation — viewfinder, or even tunitoff ntl if you prefer White balance ay ROHS 2 Yodel ante ean uci ster ‘noused though not al mstors wl provie these arethen tema toga eto aig called reader nec itt pea GOOCT, Wing th ES bat Canon Advances HandbookCANON EOS SYSTEM A-Z ce} Z = 4 a a cS SYNC Spee g is for... a a = Rea depth of field, or to freeze the id Hie seererinrit ara On CPt eeaer tire Peep ceri mmm tegen tieet toc Sar a mm ern eC Piste oes cea eerecaree catty Peer erre etpee eeletpel eo en peyton ieee rts oe ane oe Te Te A Rarer ena irene ec Peete mmr ott Piet ae ee em Cee reduced, Ifyou needto shoot at equivalent of one fl-power flash Perreau ern meron cree ioired Seton Pereira peer err em eer acetic alouaeen erent are erm Serre a sunsets) Red darkens dark blue sky and Penta ueec eat ors eros ee eee! brighter Youcan ees Ceca eg veering rn Zisix...Z00m lenses S a Cee ores Penal Rosca e at eu Pree aie] Cas fea eee RC Teg penne Pe ete Poets Pee acy rien focal length, all Canon zooms offer hee ee ed Peet at Pic erg mony Re eeu ere cas ees Cre Fa]MAN) CAMERA THE CANON CHALLENGESTIS vaavo a aN <<) \V 2 nly robots rely on the automatic modes on their Canon DSLRs and editing software, right? Real photographers ‘use manual options to really take control of their photography... Well, maybe its time to think again, Over the next 19 techniques challenges, youl discover who's really calling the shots: ou or your camera. We compare key automatic EOS camera options with their manus ‘counterparts, and go head to head with Adobe software's auto corrections. From shooting modes to exposure, focusing to processing, we reveal when. it’s best to control your DSLR manually and when ‘you can rely on auto settings.CAMERA Shooting Modes This is it. The cream of the Basic Zone auto scene modes taking on the manual Creative Zone options. . Portrait mode vs Aperture Priority Portrait mode sets a wide aperture ‘onthe lens ((/2.8 in our example) toblur the background, bumping up the ISO, as necessary, to ensure the shutter speed is fast enough to give sharp handheld results. Itmay also trip the pop-up flash, even if you don’t want ito. You don't have Any control over the array of AP points in the viewfinder either. This 'means that the camera may not pick ‘outa person's eyes, so you can end. up repeatedly half pressing the shutter release until it locks on, ra \\ ‘Aperture Priority gives you allthis control, and makes it easier to brighten up your image with exposure compensation, 100, We chose an aperture of /56 tobring more ofthe facial features into fous ~ and we made sure that WINNER: ‘we focused on the eyes, too... ee i eee eee Saree = ay — ene rie MAN Canon Advanced Handbookve View focusing and recording t Raw images (on newer DSLRs) ‘makes Close-up mode more ‘useful thant seems However, Program mode gives you more contol over depth of fled A CMTE | Close-up mode Fs vs Program Using the Close-up mode on our 6D, the aperture was locked at {/5.6, with the ISO fluttering between 100 and 1600 in an attempt to give a fast enough shutter fects of camera shake. The builtin cameras would be fired if it couldn't do this. Again, with no control over the AP points, the autofocus was largely all over the shop. However, switching to Live View gives more freedom where focusing is concerned, For general close-up ‘work, the auto option here ise’ half bad WINNER: CAMERA Mae ee a a a vs MANUAL ADJUSTMENTS Lightroom offers plenty of automation to make your oo ee eer eee ee eter trac See Pe ee a Ta ee eee ey Ce ees OTs Ccancn Advanced Hancbook DIALM FOR MANUAL Landscape mode vs Manual ‘As you'd expect, Landscape mode isall about giving you narrowish apertures fora decent depth of field Tewill set a shutter speed according to the conditions and lens being used, increasing the ISO to give you reasonably fat shutter speeds ~ sometimes sacrificing image quality asa result. As you can see in our ‘example, you cant become an autopilot when Bs ‘using this mode and ithas a tendency to Os underexpose scenes with bright skies ans WINNER: MAN STIS vaaNvoCAMERA Exposure Who's reallyin charge when it comes to nailing exposure you or your EOS? Let the challenges commence. a 5 right? Well, what if tha par ofthe Evaluative metering stbjeccis very bright or very dark? 0 ‘This can lead othe rest ofthe vs manual override scene being underexposed or tverenposed, Large areas that are light in tone or dark in tone can throw the exposure out 00, and its only by overriding the exposure by dialing in compensation, using exposure lock on another part of Takinga manual cr ee exposure reang, The cameras defaule multi-zone Evaluative metering pattern ‘measures brightness across the picture, but then biases the exposure towards the AF points thathave (or almost have) achieved POST ton nin thu focus. In theory, thisis great. Te {Ne Seene or shooting in Manual area you want to be well exposed yaa a is likely tobe the in-focus subject, WINNER: 2 ‘Canon Advanced HandbookDIALM FOR MANUAL CHALLENGE 7 CAMERA ore ee) hd Poe cn ear Fete a ed Min, shutter spd. Auto Min. shutter spd. Ace) Ed Tir) nL ea RS eS See ray Se ees became Tere tiie Ccancn Advanced Hancbook ‘close one, this. ETTListperect and needs some astment to get the best results ~itssghly underexposed the flower here ~ but Its very fast and comenient E-TTLflash vs Manual flash E-TTL flash is easy to live with day to day. It generally does a good job of ‘balancing the exposure ofa backlit subjece with a bright background and its level of ‘il on bright days looks natural although on dull days we ‘often tone it down by 1/3 or 2/3 stop. Itean be fooled by light or dark subjects too, leading to alittle underexposure or overexposure. You can fix this with flash exposure compensation, but switching to Manual flash gives you consistent output, regardless ofthe subject. But you need to [Keep an eye on how far the lash is from the subject. Overall, E-TTL wins WINNER: Peer porinry shadow tall here eer eo totheright while roy brings back more Cal cers coreg in Photoshop, where the tonal pushing and pling eee eet ‘the histogram, But again, they provide a great base {or further furan’ tweaks, particulary if you apply ‘them as adjustment layers in Photoshop. Ps aaa 2CAMERA Focusing Think you're a sharp-shooter? Focusing is the toughest challenge yet, so keep calm and carry on reading. Accuracy test: One-Shot AF } vs manual focus In good light and with plenty to “bite onto, One-Shot AF i rapid and, seemingly, accurate, But check your {mages at full size and you may be disappointed, The thing i, there's a Jot that can get in the way of AP accuracy: the lens might suffer from back focusing or front-focusings the AF point may cover a number of, details and lock onto the wrong ‘one; zooming the lens may cause the focus to shift. Using Live View in ‘magnified view isa different beast altogether, as what you see is what you get. So, witha litle aid from the camera, Man wins this one, WINNER: Vere eg een eos eae ears ec tens Seer cee ae Teen ree ae eet ae Se ee eee cee ne ected Ce ae ener a ere aetet ris eee eee tet A aDIALM FOR MANUAL fe) = Fd m a 5 2) B re = 7) Using back: button focusing to essentially switch between | Servo AF and One-shat AF onthe iy takes some geting sed to, butt works treat ands more rolable than Al Focus Reaction test: Al Focus AF vs hack-button focusing AL Focus AF switches from One-Shot to Al Servo when the camera deteets movement, then switches back again. As atest of its effectiveness, we compared it with a SD Mark Il set to back-button focusing. With the AF mode set to AI Servo and focusing deactivated from the shutter button but instead controlled with the AF-ON back button, this effectively mirrored AI Focus mode, In our tests, Al Focus couldn't detect movement quick enough and simply couldn't keep up. WINNER: MAN er Rcerernonrcinc nero CHALLENGE 14 cane Ato Apr cked ts AF point cae ito Apts locked Cee Ua ara Vs manual Sota trowdhregounicet Rea A AF point selection eee eT Having all the AF. pois acted in the viewfinder means that the the cess thing tothe lens or an aten of movement orhigh eaten nd that dat always comespod with the subject rdeval we wanted be ener cl Sharp. Using auto AF point selection to act as ane for senior ‘moving targets canbe useful bu there's aston SOMMER ESANERIEE | chance ic will lock ono background details oo By pc eoecenieate Manually selecting the AF pint makes a rT rms? huge difference fr creative focusing. WINNER: MAN Ccancn Advanced Hancbook a1ra & < Fs Fa 2 & vsCAMERA Image settings g. It’s a dirty job, but someone's gotta do it. And he means you! Or, erm, the camera. Let's see who's best. Ta Auto picture Atopearsy pester a eacae a Sagtonto he camer style p Te Auto picture style option generates a colour, contrast and sharpness profile that the camera Aetermines is optimized forthe scene you're photographing. And you know what? Tt doesn't do bad job at all. If there's a blue sky or greenery in the frame then it boosts the colours, although they can look more natural than with the often overcooked Landscape pieture style. Indoors, the results are closer tothe Standard setting. Despite the Auto setting delivering slight variations from one picture tothenext and being rubbish for movies (where you need consistent results between clips) we this one to the camera. WINNER: CAMERA Ca (ay AUTO WHITE BALANCE vs WHITE BALANCE PRESET ores ros rece colour casts inthe majority of shooting situations. But in our experience it can struggle in overcast condition, eee ree os Cee eet ene without itl white balance compensation, Rete ot eect Ce eer Sen ry Canon Advanced HandbookDIALM FOR MANUAL Raw vs JPEG Ifyou care about picture quality and you'd like to give yourself more flexibility when it comes to editing your pictures, then you need to shoot Raw, But there's lot tobe said for shooting JPEGs. Straight out of the camera, they'e less noisy and have more punch. You can also print and share them much quicker. Raw files need an additional layer of processing. You can do ths in-camera with compatible bodies, bt the adjustments are limited, Sul, were sticking with Man+ Rav files asthe winner here, The creative, lossless processing options and increased dynamic range are to0 good to miss. WINNER: ea ‘We put the Auto Grayscale Mix ‘option in Adobe Camera Raw (and ean ee ‘wile a te uninsp Seat rend peers eee ey td oro cd Eee ene cans ety etter Pee eects ee Perret soeer res Pa eed fora good starting point fr further coe os Ccancn Advanced Hancbook HDR vs exposure blending In-camera HDR can be a bit ‘Marmite’- you'll either love or loathe the results. But atleast more recent EOS cameras, like the SD Mark Il, give you the option of saving the original, bracketed exposures as Raw files too, enabling you to do some good, ok-fashioned blending in Photoshop. Cheating? A case of Man + Computer vs Camera? Well atleast we didnt use any dedicated HDR software. WINNER: youneed HOR images quik, then youlhave touse the in-camera option, but ts net s good as dong it marualy THE VERDICT Tea prety even match, but inthe end Man beats Camera thas to, or wee all docmed! There's no denying bow some ofthe auto options ean make ‘your life easier though, and overlooking them in favour ofthe fully manual approach may bealittle shortsighted, Auto SO and AI e Servo AF were the stand-out automatic ‘options, delivering reliable ce results. But, even then, they still needed human inpucto Dring them, ‘completely Lup to speed, 3PROSECRETS Ce ace eS my pee a ae Ba i? we es ae eT ce rte ay) Take your hobby.to.the next level with expert... advice and success stories from the very “ Transform ifyou ‘same approach. reed tore-siz, rotate or re-shape your layers to it TRY IT OUT... IN REVERSE INVERT THE SHOT Hyousti wana lay aound vith ourimage inPtashp, swap te black background for Aplin white one-its quick to {ol Gotolnage>Aaustmerts> Invert or hit Command on your veytoardYoumight needtocean peta dt mars Ccanch Advanced Handbook Pa Ps iS fc) rs} rs Pa 3 5 By 8 rcPHOTO RESOURCES AVAILABLE ON FILESILO THE MISSION Make your subject appear to float with Photoshop yer masking sls ‘Time needed Onehour Sk evel, Intermediate Kitneeded Tripod «Sturdy support + Uns (cptiona) v Hover-craft Learn how to create an incredible levitating person viewers think, ‘How did they do that?” The answer {is surprisingly simple and, lke all the best Photoshop techniques, ‘the real sill begins in-camera. ‘To create a seemingly levitating gure we capture two versions of the scene ~ one with the person. perched on a stable support like a bench or ladder, and the other of, the empty scene. Both versions need tobe in perfect alignment. his is one of those photo tricks that makes So the actual camera technique is dead easy, we just use a tripod and take two shots - one of our subject, another without them or their perch. Then we piece it together in Photoshop, which = even fora complete Photoshop novice ~is a pretty simple job. ‘But if we leave ic there, then it's just an effec for the effec’ sake. ‘The real skill here isin crafting atmosphere around the effect. ‘That's how we draw the viewer in, Avisual tricks fun, buta story is even more appealing. There are lots of ways todo this— atmospheric lighting, deliberate composition, purposeful posing, use of props all of these factors can enhance the effect. Even the weather can be useful heavy rainfall here meant we had to abandon the shoot after just afew frames, but it also ereated beautiful backlit raindrops and watery lens flare, which all adds tothe mood. ‘Canon Advanced Handbook