Canon software
Canon has a number of software programs that are freely available to any Canon user. The two main programs that I use are EOS Utility and DPP, or Digital Photo Professional. EOS Utility 2.5.1 is Canon's current method for establishing a connection between a Canon camera that shoots tethered and a computer, whether Mac or Windows-based. As of this writing, the current version of DPP is 3.5.2. You can set EOS Utility and DPP to communicate with each other. Thus, if both programs are open and set...
Initial Requirements of Architectural Photography
Get wide. The huge physical size of large buildings, often without room to back up, as well as the physical limitations of small interiors with the same problem of not being able to get back far enough, often combine to demand a very wide-angle lens, yet come up with an image without the distortion that is typical of wide-angle lenses. Aim for optical perfection. Architectural images should be as optically perfect as possible. Some of these areas of perfection include the following Straight...
Canon offcamera shoe cord
OC-E3. This cord allows you to connect the 1Ds Mark III and a single flash to each other, allowing use of the flash off of and away from the hot shoe. This is useful when you're looking for more dramatic lighting angles, bouncing off side walls, and so on. Finally, along with other manufacturers, Canon offers an external battery back to enable more captures without changing batteries. This is the Compact Battery Pack 6.2 The ST-E2 Speedlite Transmitter on top and the OC-E3 off-camera shoe cord...
Beauty and Fashion
I really can't speak much about fashion, as I rarely shoot it, although I know fashion work that I love. For me, as a viewer, it's a combination of beauty and personality I'm not a fan of the drone look, whose aim is for the model to be out of the way of the clothes. But if you add a concept, elegance, a story I'm in Heaven. Have you ever seen Richard Avedon's photo of a woman in a gorgeous gown standing next to an elephant Every time I see that image, it feels fresh to me. 9.18 An Aja moment....
SetUp Menu 1
Set-up menu 2 covers a variety of options, from setting the brightness of the rear LCD to choosing how to control an attached Canon Speedlite. The following list outlines each option available from this menu. LCD brightness. This allows you to set the rear LCD brightness, choosing from seven levels. By pressing the SET button you see the current playback image along with a vertical black-to-white step-scale. When evaluating exposure through playback, be sure to check the histogram rather than...
Photographing People on Location
I'm a big fan of using the EOS-1Ds Mark III on location to photograph people, as I've already mentioned. Its ability to work in low light and mixed color temperatures, as well as the implementation of highlight priority, combined with the use of L fast lenses, opens up a wide range of shooting opportunities. One technique already demonstrated in Chapter 7 on lighting is the use of Kino Flo fluorescent lighting, particularly in my case, Diva-Lites. It's not that I have anything against strobe...
Tethered Shooting Pros and Cons
There are many reasons for shooting tethered, and a few reasons not to do so as well. The big reason in both cases is that, by shooting tethered, you're able to share the live or incoming images with other members of your creative team, including the art director, stylist, and client. Some photographers feel a loss of control going this route, while others prefer it. Personally, I'd rather receive the input up front than find out after the fact what the art director or client really wanted.
Iridient Digital RAW Developer
Perhaps not as well known as some of its counterparts, RAW Developer produces beautiful imagery. If pure image quality is your goal, then RAW Developer is certainly a contender. It has some unique tools, such as a lightness curve adjustment, independent cool warm tint control for shadows, mid-tones, and highlights, and perhaps the best sharpening and noise reduction algorithms of all the programs. The RAW Developer interface contains one main floating palette that contains a number of tabs,...
Tethering for Advertising
While different photographers have their own opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of tethering in terms of the creatives' and clients' input, I believe tethering is here to stay for many advertising assignments. I'd also, personally, rather make the requested change during the shoot than find the client is displeased after the fact. Tethering is finally getting much more stable for most camera systems. On the Macintosh, the release of Mac OS X 10.5.6 suddenly created a huge...
SetUp Menu Nmt
Set-up menu 3 offers ways to save and register camera settings, clean the sensor, and upload new firmware. The following list explains the various options in more detail. Save load settings on media. All camera settings can be loaded to one of the memory cards, or downloaded from a memory card. This is a great tool in two situations first, to apply your camera's settings to another IDs Mark III body if, for example, you are renting a second body, need to send yours in to the shop, and so on....
Live View
The 1Ds Mark III uses its own flavor of Live View, along with the 1D Mark III, the 40D, 50D, and 5D Mark II. Live View allows realtime viewing of the image, either on the rear LCD screen or on a computer video display when the camera is tethered by USB cable to the computer with EOS Utility active. By tethering to the computer, you can view a much larger image to evaluate details of the image composition, focus, prop placement, and so on. You can activate a grid overlay both on the rear LCD and...
Picture Style Modes
As described in Chapter 2, Picture Styles affect JPEG capture primarily, and only apply in RAW captures if the images are processed using Canon's DPP software. One use for Picture Styles on assignments is to create a nicer-looking image that is closer to your vision of the final processed image, so that the client or art director can see it more easily, whether on the rear LCD screen or on the computer monitor, if tethered. Often punching up or bringing down saturation will help tune an image...
My Menu Settings
This menu setting allows you to set up to six menu items and or custom functions. It's a wonderfully fast and easy way to access these functions, much quicker than wading through the menu system, even one as nicely designed as the 1Ds Mark III system is. Highlight tone priority High ISO speed noise reduct'n Once you've added your chosen items, you'll find them listed on this screen. The bottommost item is called My Menu Settings. It is here that you control My Menu. Select the My Menu Setting...
Reflectors
Reflectors are shells that fit over the front of a strobe and are normally made by each individual strobe manufacturer for their particular units. There are a range of reflectors, from small units used to control just a bit of light fall-off when bouncing into ceilings, to long, narrow reflectors meant to throw a narrow beam of light a long distance. When reflectors are listed, normally the angle degree spread is listed alongside the unit. A light reflector commonly used these days is known as...
One final note
It's often the little things that count. One small but important weakness with tethering with the EOS-1Ds Mark I and Mark II was that the FireWire cable always fell out, as there was no good way to secure it. Some photographers tried gaffer taping it down, while others used rubber bands a few products came out, but nothing really worked. With the release of the EOS-1Ds Mark III as well as the 1D Mark III , Canon came up with a smart and professional solution a plastic piece that prevents the...
General troubleshooting
These suggestions apply in all situations, and are a great place to start troubleshooting any computer-related problems you might be experiencing. Suggestions are based on my Mac experience, although I'm sure that many also apply in the PC-Windows world. Restart the capture program. Turn off the program and turn it back on this is sometimes all you need to do. Log out. Quit all programs, log out and log back in to the Finder, and then turn the program back on.
Custom Functions Menu
The Custom Functions menu is the eighth of the nine menu screens. The Custom Functions are organized into four areas C.Fn II Image Flash exp Disp These functions allow you to customize the camera to your preferences, in terms of camera operations as well as adjustments that affect image parameters. Because the Custom Function menus contain up to 17 choices, I find it most helpful to refer to tables for each menu, allowing a quick overview and fast selection. Table 2.1 covers C.Fn I, Table 2.2...
Macro Twin Lite MTEX
Designed for macro work, the unit consists of a controller that mounts on top of the camera in the hot shoe, and two mini-flashes that are mounted on a ring that attaches to the front of the lens and can be adjusted to any position around the ring. Macro Ring Lite MR-14EX. Canon's other macro light solution, this is a circular lighting ring that mounts in front of the lens, with the controller once again mounted on the hot shoe. It's E-TTL controllable E-TTL is explained later in the chapter ....
Preset White Balance settings
Daylight. 5200 Kelvin. Based on a sunny, clear day at noon. Shade. 7000 Kelvin. Based on being in the shade on a clear, sunny day thus, a lot of blue light. Cloudy. 6000 Kelvin. As you'll notice, this falls between Daylight and Shade settings. Tungsten Light. 3200 Kelvin. For traditional, indoor lighting. Although often warmer appearing that is, a lower temperature , it's a good quick choice when shooting indoors under tungsten light, and often offers a better look than remaining on AWB....
Landscape and Nature Photography
One thing I've learned is that the more time you spend in one place, or keep returning to one place, the more is revealed to you. I'm fortunate to live in San Francisco, and so every day offers a continuing lesson in how each day is visually wonderfully unique. Although many think of landscape or nature photography as a relaxed and slow type of experience, which it certainly can be, chasing the light is always an adventure, not to mention the physical work often involved in getting to the right...
How To Tether Mark Iii 1ds With C1 Pro
All in all, I'd have to say that Capture One Pro, from the company Phase One, has the best and most mature tethering system, which works with Phase One camera backs as well as many brands of cameras, including Canon. For months, the EOS-1Ds Mark III could not tether to Capture One. No one really knows if this was a marketing move to help sell Phase One camera backs or plain lack of manpower at Phase One to get the job done. The good news is that Capture One 4.6 now works with the 1Ds III, 1Ds...
Gasoline generators
Gasoline generators offer the ability to power items other than strobes, such as computers and monitors. The brand I know is Honda, and my guess is that their generators are ubiquitous. You can rent or purchase them in sizes ranging from 500 watts to 6,500 watts. Generators need to supply clean sine-wave current so that any electronic equipment is not damaged. When used with expensive AC power packs, some folks believe it best to use a gasoline generator with twice the wattage capacity as your...
Cleaning the Sensor
Sensor dust used to be a major problem with earlier iterations of the EOS-1Ds , just like it is with most, if not all, digital cameras that lacked some type of sensor cleaning system. Due to the sensors' build-up of electrostatic charge, they attract dust like magnets attract iron. By incorporating the Self Cleaning Sensor unit as well as Dust Delete data, Canon has all but eliminated this problem. I've owned my EOS-1 Ds Mark III for about a year now, and so far, no dust has been detected on...
Lens Choices for Advertising and Editorial Photography
Due to the improved abilities of the 1 Ds Mark III sensor to pick up fine detail, it picks up lens imperfections more easily as well. Because of the increased quality demands of advertising work in particular, I'd suggest L primes as your first choices, especially the following Any Canon tilt shift lenses tReference For more details on specific lenses, see Chapter 5. Canon L zooms can be great, but you must be careful. The 16-35mm II lens is strong after 20mm, I'm told, but not great below...
Filters
Although so much work can be done in the digital post-production world, there are still solid reasons for using physical filters, particularly graduated filters. These filters work in a matte box in front of the lens and gradually transition from a chosen neutral density ND value to clear. There are color graduated filters as well. You choose which ND filter to use, and also if the transition is narrow or wide. Usually, the longer the lens, the narrower you want the transition to be, and the...
Camera Case
The standard case I use covers most assignments. Here's what I carry, which is good for most portrait, advertising lifestyle, and event assignments that I cover. And yes, this all fits in the one case, though normally one or two lenses are removed as per the requirements of each assignment. Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III body with two rechargeable batteries Canon EOS-5D battery with two rechargeable batteries, L tripod plate, AA battery insert Assorted masked focusing screens Assorted CF cards in...
Vibrationless Shooting
Vibration is always an issue when you are going for the sharpest images possible. This includes the vibration transmitted by the photographer as well as the vibration created by the camera due to mirror slap, when the mirror races up to move out of the way at shutter release. The rule of thumb is to never shoot with a slower denominator than the focal length of the lens for example, with an 80mm lens, don't shoot below 1 80 second. Although I've shot much slower with the 1Ds Mark III with good...
AI Servo Auto Focus
AI Servo is Canon's method of automatic continuous focusing, used for focusing subjects that are constantly changing their distance from the camera. The AI stands for Artificial Intelligence, as the camera's computer uses an AI program to not only find focus but also predict where the subject will be when you take the photo and set focus accordingly. There are two methods single point AF AI Servo, and AI Servo combined with Automatic Focus point selection. In single point AF AI Servo, you...
White Balance Modes
You can control White Balance in your images by choosing one of nine mode choices in the 1Ds Mark III six presets, Average White Balance, Custom Color Temperature off a white tone recorded image, and manual selection of the Color Temperature in Kelvin. You can also shift any designated setting with the White Balance Shift tool in Shooting Menu 1, as previously noted. AWB. As noted in Chapter 2, Average White Balance usually works surprisingly well on the 1Ds Mark III. Particularly when shooting...
Wedding Specifics
Weddings, in particular, offer multiple challenges, creatively, technically, and socially. These include ongoing lighting changes, being in the right place to capture the story, and maintaining a welcoming and fun relationship with the bride and groom Here are just a few to watch out for in particular Brides in white dresses and grooms in black suits or tuxedos says it all. This is just the time for using Highlight Priority. The goal, of course, is to retain detail in white as well as black...
Sending only small JPEGs to the computer
Here's one way to shoot tethered and get very quick previews on the computer monitor using the EOS-1Ds Mark III tethered to EOS Utility and DPP on a recent-generation Apple computer. The EOS-1Ds Mark III allows you to record to both CF and SD cards at the same time. One option is to have both cards record all incoming images simultaneously, with each card set to whatever file size is desired. In this case, you'll save to RAW on the CF card card slot 1 and Small JPEG on the SD card card slot 2 ....
Viewfinder Readout
The viewfinder of the IDs Mark III represents a major advance over the IDs Mark II. It provides the highest magnification and widest coverage of the EOS-1 series cameras to date, including film cameras, and accomplishes this along with 100 percent coverage. The bottom line is that it's a pleasure to compose through. There are many data readouts on view within the viewfinder, although they don't intrude on your concentration when shooting if you need them, you have them. The main readouts are...
Exposure bracketing
As noted in Chapter 1, press the Mode and AF-Drive buttons simultaneously to activate Exposure Bracketing, and turn the Quick Control dial to set the range of exposures. And don't forget your custom choices, available in C.Fn I- Exposure 3.9 Image exposed to retain highlights with its histogram 3.9 Image exposed to retain highlights with its histogram C.Fn I, Item 4 Exposure Bracketing auto cancel. Choose if you want exposure bracketing to cancel when the power switch is set to 'Off' C.Fn I,...
Exposure Metering Modes
There are five principle exposure modes Evaluative, Center-Weighted Averaging, Partial, Spot, and Manual exposure settings. There are also ways to modify exposure, bracket exposure, and evaluate exposure during image playback. The following section describes what they are and offers suggestions on how to use them. But first, here are a few initial recommendations Check the histogram. Checking the histogram display after exposing the image is the best way to evaluate exposure, and much better...
Automatic Focus
In this mode, the camera chooses the autofocus point. Autofocus is activated by pressing the AF Point Magnify button and turning the Main Control dial until the outer ring of focus points all light up simultaneously. Once you've done this, the camera will choose the focus point by itself. Although this is not as predictable as single point focus, it's sometimes quite useful, for example, when you're shooting fast action shots with a lot of people in them. I use this function at times when I'm...
Manual focus
Some professionals still prefer Manual focus as the best way to obtain the most accurate focus. This certainly works with objects or subjects that are not moving however, it is more difficult with moving subjects. It's a lost craft for many photographers, and many autofocus lenses don't have the right action or 'feel' for successful manual focus. It's also quite difficult to focus with the standard focusing screen that comes with the camera however, other screens exist that are easier to...