STEP BY STEP FROM RP TO DPP

The Canon EOS RP and Digital Photo Professional automate the whole process for you

01 THE RIGHT KIT

You’ll need the Canon EOS RP to use the automated bracketing feature, along with a macro lens. We’re using the Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 IS Macro STM, though you can use an EF or EF-S lens with the handy mount adapter.

02 KEEP IT STEADY

While you can perform this process handheld if you’re only shooting a few frames, we highly recommend using a tripod for stability. After choosing our shooting angle, we mounted the camera to our Manfrotto Befree Nerissimo.

03 SHOOTING SETTINGS

You want granular control over your point of focus, so select 1-point AF. It’s important to eradicate camera shake as well, so set the drive mode to 2-sec self-timer to ensure that there’s no wobble when you depress the shutter.

04 FOCUS BRACKETING

Now you need to enable the Focus Bracketing option. Start by locating the Focus Bracketing section of the EOS RP’S menu system. You’ll find it in the SHOOT5 menu, right at the bottom. Tap it, or scroll down to it and press SET.

05 BRACKETING SETTINGS

Select the number of shots to take – between 20 and 100 should work for most scenes. Focus increment adjusts how much the focus shifts between each frame, while Exposure smoothing minimizes small changes between shots.

06 FIND FOCUS

Choose the first point of focus by tapping the screen or using manual focus. The bracketed image will be in focus from this point onwards, so typically you should choose the part of the subject that’s closest to the lens.

07 BEGIN BRACKETING

With your initial focus point set, depress the shutter. ‘Touch screen to cancel’ will appear briefly (this is your only chance to stop the process), then the camera will start taking the chosen number of frames, which are displayed on-screen.

08 OPEN FILES IN DPP4

Transfer your images to a folder on your computer and open it in DPP (version 4.10 or higher). Select all the files you want, and then go to the Tools menu and select Depth Compositing>start depth compositing tool.

09 LET THE MAGIC HAPPEN

The Depth Compositing panel will appear – leave the sliders at their defaults, and select where to save the finished image. Click Execute, then OK on the next screen. The process will take a few minutes, depending on the number of frames.