Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2017 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

If you’ve ever taken your Nikon on holiday (or ‘vacation’, if you talk funny ?? you’ll kno? e?actly ?hat it’? like tryin? to ?t your photography in with all the sunbathing/swimming/sightseeing/ baby-minding/basket-weaving. “What, another photo...? Whe concerned, you are spoiling the party (or at least delaying them getting to one). Sound familiar? If so, then help is at hand: in this issue’s fab main feature (page 16), veteran travel photographer and author Steve Davey reveals the tips, tricks and techni?ues for ?tting in your photography that he’s honed over years of travelling with family and friends (and yes, they are still friends). The travel theme continues with this issue’s Head to Head (page 92), which pits a typical travel lens against two smaller lenses that cover the same focal length…

Travel photographers seem to be a hardy bunch; yomping up the side of volcanoes in the dark, carrying kilos of lenses, camera bodies and a tripod. Always in the middle of the action, they barely seem to sleep – up and out for sunrise, prowling the streets all day and shooting star trails through the night. Obsessed by weather reports, infuriated by scaffolding and often incandescent when a humble tourist walks into their shots, they hang out in markets, backstreets and festivals, and are obsessive and dedicated to their art. When things are going well, they are ebullient and entertaining; when the weather is bad and the photographs not good, they morosely prop up the bar. The results are the iconic shots of world destinations that you see in books,…

Even the keen travel photographer has to work hard to make the most out of a trip abroad. If you are juggling photography with a holiday then you will have to be even more ef?cient with your shooting time, and the old cliché about researching before you leave is all the more important. Before your trip, look into the sort of places and things that are distinctive about your destination, but crucially look for the sort of things that really interest you. You should be aware of practicalities though, and what you can actually expect to be able to achieve. There are certain things that are easy to get out and photograph on holiday. If you are staying at a beach, for example, then there are often ?shermen nearby and…

The mission • Create a ‘colour pop’ effect by selectively desaturating an image Time • 30 minutes Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Lightroom One way to draw the eye to a specific subject in a photo is to preserve that object’s colour information while converting the rest of the photo to monochrome. This spotcolour effect is considered by some to be a bit tacky, but for others it’s a popular creative processing technique that’s fun to indulge in. For example, you can’t wander through London without seeing spot-colour postcards that feature iconic red buses or pillar boxes against a black-and-white backdrop. In this creative walkthrough we’ll use the HSL panel to target and tweak different colour strength (Saturation) and brightness (Luminance) values to selectively…

Nikon School photography workshops cater for every level of photographic ability, whether you are new to taking photographs, a keen amateur or a professional. Nikon School offers a wide range of workshops suited to individuals wanting to learn more about photography or expand their creative horizons. Courses will help you improve your skills, develop your eye for a photo and learn to take control of your camera. Workshops are a mix of easy-to-understand theory and practical assignments. They’re attended by small groups of up to 12 delegates to ensure that everyone can benefit from the expert knowledge of tutors. From understanding your Nikon DSLR and lenses to image editing; from street shots to inspiring landscapes; the school’s workshops cover a variety of skills and subjects. Workshops take place at either…

Profile • Helen Sloan discovered photography after borrowing her father’s camera and gaining work experience at a local newspaper. • Her first paid jobs were shooting circus acts in and around Belfast. • She has also shot stills for several movies, including Cherrybomb and Miss Julie, and TV crime drama The Fall. • Helen has a degree in Fine and Applied Art from the Belfast College of Art and Design. She is also a Nikon UK Ambassador. Series 7 of Game of Thrones premieres on 16 July and Helen Sloan is on spoiler alert as she answers my questions about the Emmy Award-winning fantasy drama. The Irish photographer was an unknown in the rarefied world of film stills photography when she got the job in 2011, but since then her…

When opting to travel light on your holiday, there are a few skills and techniques that will make up for the lack of certain key items. There may be a quality implication at times, but that may be the sacri?ce you have to make. After all, the main reason that professional photographers carry so much heavy glass, tripods, ?ash, re?ectors and ?lters is to get the utmost quality, even when images from a 36Mp camera are viewed at 100%. Not all photographers need this quality, especially if images are to be viewed online, or printed to relatively small sizes. Ultimate quality in all circumstances might take time and equipment, but you can still shoot imaginative, engaging and creative pictures with the minimum of kit. Two legs not three The single…

Having loads of expensive equipment doesn’t necessarily make you a good photographer; in fact a lot of people ?nd that too much gear gets in the way of being creative, and that they often take better pictures on their smartphone. Try to look at your holiday photography as an opportunity to simplify the way you shoot, and to concentrate on the basics of composition, colour and so on. For a more engaging shot, move in close and ?ll the frame. The biggest failing with many images is that they are photographed from the wrong place and with the wrong lens; an interesting subject barely takes up half the frame, with a dull and featureless sky ?lling up the other half. ?oom into the subject, or simply walk closer, and you…

The mission • Shoot a portrait with a tilt-shift lens Time • 1 hour Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Tilt-shift lens • Tripod Tilt-shift lenses are usually thought of in terms of architectural and landscape photos, as the ability they give you to correct collapsing verticals comes in useful for photographing buildings, interiors or wide scenes. However, these specialist lenses can also have an equally interesting impact on other types of photography, such as portraiture. When we turn a tilt-shift lens on a person, we can use the tilt feature to change the angle of the plane of focus, either to intentionally blur parts of the frame, or to extend sharpness across the subject. A tilt-shift lens (or Perspective- Control lens, as Nikon calls…

LETTER OF THE MONTH Going for broke Last month I was at the seaside when I had an accident. My Nikon D7100 fell over the rocks and into a pool by the sea. After putting in a claim with my home insurance I had it repaired by a thirdparty company, but I received an error message when trying to shoot with it. Annoyed that I’d paid £100, I sent it back for them to look at again, and they told me they found no fault. But there’s clearly a fault, even when trying a new memory card. Should I let them attempt to sort it or send it to Nikon, even though I would be charged for this? I’ve already paid my excess and I’m not happy. What’s worse is…

Our globetrotting Contributor at Large, renowned photographer and prolific author Michael Freeman, presents a month-by-month masterclass that’s exclusive to N-Photo, in which he explores his tried-and-tested paths to more creative photography. Michael has published dozens of books on photography, including the bestselling Perfect Exposure. If you enjoy this article and want to learn more, there are 50 more paths to be discovered in Michael’s new book Fifty Paths to Creative Photography (NB: all 50 are different from those that will be featured here in the magazine). This is one path that you’ll be hard put to ?nd anyone disagreeing with – and it extends way beyond photography to just about every creative endeavour you can think of, from writing to music… the power of simplicity. There are lots of good…

Nikon AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G VR II + AF-S DX 55-200mm f/4-5.6G ED VR II EQUIV. FOCAL LENGTH (DX) 27-82.5mm+82.5-300mm MOUNTING PLATE Plastic DIAPHRAGM 7 blades FILTER SIZE 52mm HOOD INCLUDED No WEIGHT 195g + 300g DIAMETER x MIN LENGTH 65x60mm + 71x83mm (retracted) FOCUS TYPE Ultrasonic (motor) FOCUS RING DURING AF Rotates MIN FOCUS DISTANCE 0.25m + 1.1m PRICE £430/$395 (£190/$245+£240/$150) Size/weight Both of these Mk II editions have a retractable design, enabling the lenses to shrink to just 60mm and 83mm long respectively. They’re also very lightweight, weighing less than 500g between them, and they're both small enough to slip into a coat pocket. Convenience It’s no real problem carrying two small lenses instead of one larger, heavier lens. Of course, you need to swap them to switch…

Rotolight AEOS Two-in-one LED light for soft yet powerful illumination £900/$1000 www.rotolight.com Designed for portrait and location photography as well as video, AEOS combines flexible what-you-see-is-what-you-get lighting with a flash-like HSS mode that can freeze movement. The unique bi-colour LED array provides highly accurate colour rendering and stepless colour temperature control, enabling you to precisely match ambient light or create deliberate lighting colour contrasts. This is essentially two lights in one. In addition to providing continuous illumination for video, the HSS flash mode provides short-duration strobe lighting, operating at 250% maximum power with no recycle time and full colour temperature control. Continuous light output is a powerful 5750 lux at three feet, with the light’s round shape producing soft illumination and attractive catchlights that are ideal for portraiture. Not only…

Splash out on a Nikon DSLR and you generally get the option of buying a complete kit that comes with a standard zoom lens. There’s a lot to be said for the likes of the AF-S DX 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II for DX (APS-C) format cameras and the AF-S 24-85mm f/3.5-4.5G ED VR for FX (full-frame) bodies. They’re reasonably compact and lightweight – especially the 18-55mm, with its retractable design – and they deliver good image quality with decent all-round performance. Indeed, you can buy these DX and FX-format lenses separately for around £190/$245 and £440/$500 respectively. However, you could buy better. One thing that all ‘kit’ lenses tend to lack is a relatively fast aperture rating that remains constant throughout the zoom range. The advantages are two-fold. Firstly,…

In this issue’s Lightbox gallery we present a selection of our favourite winning and commended images from the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year competition, all shot by Nikon photographers… 3rd PLACE, FOOD IN THE FIELD Queen of the Fells Robin Goodlad, UK Found only in Cumbria, Herdwick sheep are a unique rare breed, whose slower maturing and much-sought-after meat now has protected status, as it is so vital to the local landscape and way of life. They thrive on the fells, where no other sheep can survive the harsh conditions. Nikon D800, 70-200mm f/2.8, 1/500 sec, f/8, ISO400 OVERALL WINNER, PINK LADY FOOD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2017 Food for God Shoeb Faruquee, Bangladesh A Brahman cook is cooking religious food for devotees to break their 24-hour fast…

When you travel with other people; whether it be your family, friends or signi?cant other, it can be tricky to ?nd the time to take pictures. This is especially the case on a family holiday: if you disappear to take pictures, your partner is literally left holding the baby? There are a few ways that to make sure that you get time to take pictures without offending your travelling companions. One of the best ways is to trade time. If you are on a family holiday, then swap time with your partner. Give them some time to indulge in their passion, whether it be a cookery course, adrenaline sports or simply chilling on their own by the pool. In return, you get to goof off and shoot some photographs without…

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY HOLIDAYS www.digitalphotographyholidays.com DIGITAL Photography Holidays offer travel and landscape photography holidays and workshops to Burma, Cambodia, Vietnam, USA and the UK with award-winning pro Stephen Studd. Small group sizes guarantee personal attention, with tuition tailored to your individual needs, giving you the tools and confidence to explore your creativity, master your camera and produce strong, compelling images. PHOTOGRAPHIC JOURNEYS www.photographicjourneys.co.uk WHERE are you going next? Myanmar, rural India or the Hmong tribes of Vietnam are but a few trips on Photographic Journeys’ destination bucket list. Each carefully planned and unique workshop is created to give you the full sensory travel experience; from the chaos and colour of Rajasthan to the misty dawn light over Inle Lake, Myanmar. Photographers of all abilities get hands-on tuition in small groups by…

The mission • Capture dramatic images of a fire performer Time • One hour Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Speedlight • Beauty dish (optional) • Wireless flash trigger • Remote shutter release • Lighting stand • Bungee cord For this tutorial we’ll be shooting poi, a traditional Maori performance art that involves swinging tethered weights in rhythmic patterns. Poi come in a variety of shapes and sizes. Some have flags on, others have LEDs inside… and then there’s fire poi. We started with a test shot using a LED poi to ensure we had our settings nailed, then moved on to the fire poi to add drama to the final shot. You’ll need a performer to do all the spinning for you, but once…

The mission • Take a shaking dog photo Time • 3 hours Skill level •Beginner •Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed •50mm lens •One or more Speedlights •Wireless flash triggers •Light stands •Backdrop •Tape Those of us with a dog and a Nikon can’t resist snapping up shots of our canine companions. But how many of us can say that we’ve really tried a full-on photo shoot with our furry friends? Well, with a little planning, a splash of water and a penchant for getting wet, you can transform that snap into a seriously refined and beautifully artistic shot. Albeit something of a silly-looking one. Our friend Dorcas brought in her three-year-old cocker spaniel, Ruby, who was perfect for the shoot. She had boundless energy and floppy ears and jowls. But…

Mission: To photograph the wonderful local wildlife Photographer: Richard Lane Age: 43 Location: West Sussex, UK Kit: D3, D500, D800, Nikon 500mm f/4 VR, Nikon 200-400mm f/4, 300mm f/4 Website: www.richardlanewildlifefoto.com Having just returned from a long trip to Kenya photographing the fabulous array of wildlife that it has to offer, I went back to photographing one of my favourite closer-to-home subjects, the rabbit. Crawling through the long grass with my Nikon D800 and Nikon 500mm f/4 lens, I created a natural frame around the rabbit using the foliage [1]. I would have preferred the rear rabbit to be in a better position, but you can’t always get what you want. It was certainly a contrast to photographing lions in Africa. The photo of a fallow deer buck [2] was…

After 13 hard-contested monthly competitions on a wide variety of themes, it’s time to reveal the overall winner of N-Photo Photographer of the Year, and the winners of our Highly Commended and Commended awards. The standard has been extremely high in every round, and whittling the long list of 130+ images down to just ten was a real challenge. The judges spent hours debating, shuffling, promoting and relegating, but in the end, they decided to award the overall prize to Wayne Kliewer, for his stunning photograph of a moment that seems to encapsulate the dog-eat-dog nature – or should that be cormorant-eat-mullet nature? – of life in the wild. In addition to the WhiteWall voucher that Wayne has already won (having placed first with this image in the Wildlife category…

There is more than one way to reduce of the frame. It also usually means having relatively small subject elements, and you can make these smaller by changing your viewpoint and focal length. Where they sit in this plain setting is important, and there’s some advantage in placing them eccentrically, because that gives extra emphasis to the backdrop. Less is more It’s impossible to talk about reducing in an image without tripping over minimalism. “Less is more” became the minimalist mantra, ?rst by the architect Mies van der Rohe, then altered slightly by designer Dieter Rams as “Less, but better”, and happily adopted by creatives everywhere. The idea of distilling the essence of a scene visually has a natural appeal. This photograph of a tea plantation in southern Japan went…