Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2019 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

In the interview hot seat this month, globetrotting wildlife pro Tom Mason talks jaguars, bears and penguins… See page 94 Photography is all about capturing light, but what do you do when there isn’t enough of it – or it’s not falling in the right place? Make your own, of course! So this issue we present our guide to flash – from using the pop-up unit atop many Nikons, to using dedicated Speedlights, multi-flash setups and advanced tricks. By the time this issue hits the shelves the Six Nations will almost be at its climax – and with 2019 being a Rugby World Cup year, our Apprentice learns to shoot a top Premiership clash. Memory cards come with a bewildering array of specs and price tags, so we cut through…

Photography is all about capturing light and shadow. Essentially, we have a box with a hole in it to let the light in. The light is focused by placing shaped glass over the hole, and inside the box is a light-sensitive medium, traditionally in the form of film, but these days an electronic sensor. Most of us, when we first get our camera, learn about its controls and grasp the fundamentals of exposure – determined by the size of the hole and how long it is open for. But getting any kind of exposure means that there needs to be enough ambient light in the first place. So if light levels are low – such as at night – there may simply not be enough to record an image. Similarly,…

The light from your flashgun only reaches so far, and the further a subject is from the light source, the less brightly they will be lit. That much may be obvious, but light fall-off is more rapid than you might think, because it’s governed by something known as the ‘inverse square law’… The inverse square law is defined as: “A law stating that the intensity of an effect, such as illumination or gravitational force, changes in inverse proportion to the square of the distance from the source.” This essentially means that for every doubling of the distance of your subject from the light source, it only receives one-quarter of the intensity of the light. So a subject two metres from a light source doesn’t just receive half the light of…

* The mission • Capture fantastic portraits in low light Time • One evening Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Flashgun • Softbox • Light stand • Wireless flash triggers We joined Nikon School UK for its course on low-light portraiture. The first thing we learnt was about light, and namely four distinct aspects: quality, quantity, direction and colour. Starting the workshop in Nikon School’s studio in the Centre of Excellence, we saw there were several different light sources in the room to contend with – overhead spotlights, fluorescent lights and daylight coming through the windows – giving a mix of colour temperatures. Flash aimed straight-on at our subject eliminates shadows, but power is important The most flattering light for our portrait subject is soft…

* The mission • Retouch and enhance a portrait in Photoshop CC Time • 20 minutes Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Photoshop CC Retouching can be a sticky subject. People naturally want to look their best – just look at the popularity of face smoothing modes in selfie cameras. But there’s a line where things stop looking natural and start to look fake. This is why Photoshop remains the best tool for retouching. We have complete control over the look of the image and, because we can make our adjustments on separate layers, we have the freedom to undo or tone things down if the effect begins to look a little over-the-top. There’s always a temptation to remove imperfection, but often if we reduce…

EXPOSURE 1/1250 sec, f/4, ISO5000 Lens 70-200mm f/2.8 Our Apprentice says… I had previously been opening my lens to its widest aperture but Tom explained that stopping my 70-200mm down from f/2.8 to f/4 would allow a little more depth of field, so that the entire player I’m focusing on is sharp from front to back, while still blurring the background pleasingly. I’m delighted with this shot as it not only has both the passing and receiving players in the frame, but, as it was shot square-on to the action, both are beautifully sharp – as are the tackling opposition players. Sport VR mode Tom says… Some high-end Nikon telephoto lenses have an additional Sport VR mode. While normal Vibration Reduction counteracts involuntary movement in handheld shooting, it is best…

EXPOSURE 1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO5000 LENS 500mm f/4 Framed by Every N-Photo Apprentice gets their best photo from the shoot produced as the wall art of their choice, worth up £100 – such as a stunning 90x60cm framed print. www.cewe-photoworld.com/nphoto Our Apprentice says… Rugby is a brutal game, with bonecrunching tackles that aren’t for the faint-hearted, which I feel this shot encapsulates. I picked this shot from the sequence as it captures the Bath player flying through the air as he makes the tackle, frozen by the fast shutter speed. I’m also really pleased that both he and the ball-carrier are nice and sharp, due to my side-on viewpoint, while the other players drop a little out of focus. Our Pro says… Eddie was a brilliant Apprentice who had all…

When the sun is low it can be a challenge to capture a bright sky without losing detail in a backlit subject’s shadows. Instead of trying to reveal missing shadow detail we can embrace a high-contrast lighting scenario and create a striking silhouette. By underexposing backlit subjects to produce pure black pixels we can emphasize its shape and form, such as buildings and trees. Silhouetted shapes can also add a sense of drama and mystery to a photo. By setting your Nikon to Spot Metering mode you can ensure that you’ll capture all of a bright sky’s highlight detail. You can then manually increase the shutter speed (or close the aperture by a stop or two) to underexpose the shot so that the backlit subject should be free of any…

Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G ELEMENTS/GROUPS: 7/6 OPTICAL STABILIZER: No MIN FOCUS DISTANCE: 0.45m MAX MAGNIFICATION: 0.15x FILTER SIZE: 58mm INCLUDED ACCESSORIES: Hood, pouch DIMENSIONS (DIA X LENGTH): 72x53mm WEIGHT: 185g PRICE: £169/$217 Build Although being virtually identical in size to the f/1.4 lens, and having the same diameter filter thread and cap, the f/1.8 lens is noticeably more lightweight at 185g, compared with 280g. Both have ultrasonic autofocus systems with manual override. Sharpness Sharpness is excellent in the central region of the frame, but drops off more towards the extreme edges and corners than with the f/1.4 lens, throughout the comparable aperture range. Even so, sharpness across the frame is impressive for such a ‘budget’ lens. Bokeh Being two-thirds of an f-stop ‘slower’ than the f/1.4 lens, this one naturally…

Kamchatka, in the Russian far east, is a land of pure and wild nature. In the south of the peninsula is Lake Kuril, the largest sockeye salmon spawning site in Eurasia. Thanks to that fact, many brown bears come and feast on countless fish to gain weight before their winter hibernation. In recent years I’ve been guiding photography workshops here every August. Last year, I spent 20 days at Lake Kuril, taking the shots you see. Of course there are new and different challenges every year. In 2018 the challenge was there were few salmon due to climate change and overfishing. I’d always dreamed of travelling to Kamchatka since seeing a National Geographic special many years ago as a child. Getting to Lake Kuril in southern Kamchatka isn’t easy. It…

As far as headline specs go, the Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S seems like just another 50mm standard prime, if a wellspecced one. The 12-element optical stack includes two ED glass elements as well as two aspherical elements to boost contrast and vibrancy. Features With a large maximum aperture comes shallow depth of field effect, so nine rounded aperture blades shape passing light as smoothly as possible for attractive bokeh in out-of-focus areas. At 87mm long and 76mm in diameter, the Z 50mm is noticeably bigger than a good old F-mount AF-S 50mm f/1.8G, but compared with some F-mount 50mm alternatives from Sigma and Tokina, it’s still pleasingly portable. The 415g weight is also reasonable, especially since the overall build quality is excellent and the lens feels like a high-quality…

Almost every Nikon DSLR has a built-in pop-up flash, and for many of us it’s our first foray into flash photography. It’s the most convenient way of providing extra light to our scene. To start with we should think of flash in two distinct modes: manual and automatic (known as ‘TTL’). Manual flash mode requires the photographer to determine the flash power output. These power levels are measured in fractions, so full power is 1/1, which is then halved to ½ power, ¼ power and so on – usually down to 1/128. The downside is that you have to adjust the power yourself, and without prior calculation, it’ll take a few test shots before finding the correct flash power. But it provides consistent power once set, unlike TTL mode. Standing…

Once we have our flashguns off-camera and can trigger them remotely, the next step is to modify the light in some way. The light from a bare flashgun is quite harsh, as it’s a small light source, so produces sharp shadows. While this is useful for certain situations, like documentary, press photography and generally any situation that requires a clear and brightly lit image, it doesn’t make subjects look their best when trying to craft the light. So let’s take a look at a few different types of light modifiers and see when you would use them. Softbox With the flashgun placed at the small opening at the back of the softbox, the box itself contains a silvery interior lining designed to reflect as much light forward, out of the…

Back light Positioned at the back, behind the subject, this adds a highlight around the back. There are many variations on this positioning: the hair light is used high, above the subject’s head and aimed downwards to illuminate their hair; while the rim light provides a sliver of light across one side of the body. This generally is the least powerful light, but can also sometimes be the same power as the fill light, depending on the style of the photographer. Some photographers also prefer to spin this light around to illuminate the background, hiding the light either off to one side, or directly behind the subject. Fill light This light fills in shadows deemed too dark by the photographer, adding detail in areas otherwise hidden from view due to…

* The mission • Learn to read and interpret the histogram Time One hour Skill level • Beginner• Intermediate• Advanced Kit needed • DSLR or camera with a histogram display A histogram is a chart that represents a quantity of something over a given range, and in terms of photography we’re talking about quantity of light over a given tonal range (from black to white). The photographer’s histogram is split into four distinct sections. Starting from left-to-right, we see Blacks, Shadows, Highlights and Whites, respectively from darkest to lightest. If you want to view the histogram on a photo you’ve taken, head to Playback display options on your Nikon and tick the Overview box, then click OK. Then simply open an image you’ve taken. Next, click up or down on…

The mission • Capture vibrating paint on a speaker with a DSLR and a Speedlight Time • Two hours Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Loudspeaker or amplifier • Tripod • Speedlight • Wireless trigger • Cling film • Watercolour paints Sometimes joy comes from creating a great image. Other times, the end result is more of an added bonus, and instead it’s the process behind the image that’s the most joyous part. This project definitely falls into the latter category… It can result in wonderfully vibrant photos, but the technique is just as compelling. That’s because in this project, we get to make paint dance! You get this unique effect by placing drops of paint on top of a speaker, then playing a song…

EXPOSURE 1/1250 sec, f/4, ISO5000 Lens 70-200mm f/2.8 Our Apprentice says… Bath put plenty of tries on the opposition, but capturing them is decidedly difficult! You’ll need the player to touch down close to where you happen to be, but for the first half all the action was at the opposite end of the pitch, and in the second half all the scores seemed to be in the far corner. And, of course, many tries are obscured by a mass of bodies desperately defending the try-line. Luckily, Tom Homer crossed the whitewash unobstructed just metres away in this shot, which I captured at the short end of my 70-200mm zoom. Expert insight Processing images Tom uploads his images on the fly, and will whittle 2000-3000 shots down to around 50…

John Jones sends in his portfolio of night-time photos which, for him, aren’t quite hitting the spot when it comes to the final photograph A camera has always been with me in some form or other, but I only started taking photography seriously around 18 months back, after seeing some amazing photos on a local social media group. It inspired me to improve my photography. While I do feel that I have a better understanding now with camera settings, I am yet to be 100 per cent happy with my images. I always feel I am missing something. I do plan my shoots in advance now. For example, take the image of the fireworks taken from Little Orme in Llandudno [3]. I had planned this location a few weeks before…

Back in the early days of digital photography, you’d have to spend an arm and a leg just to get a memory card with the pace of a snail and a paltry capacity of around 128MB. Today, cards with massively fast transfer speeds of 300MBps or more are widely available; offering cavernous storage of up to 512GB, with even largercapacity cards on the horizon. One thing remains the same: the fastest, highest-capacity cards can be fiendishly expensive. So what kind of card should prove adequate for your needs, without forcing you into spending over the odds? Naturally, digital cameras themselves have come a long way over the last couple of decades. While early DSLRs, like the Nikon D1, only had around three megapixels, some of the latest Nikons have almost…

Z SYSTEM FULL-FRAME MIRRORLESS NIKON Z7 A DEEPLY IMPRESSIVE CAMERA, that combines the resolution, speed and build quality of a high-end pro DSLR in a compact body. It may be the company’s first-ever full-frame mirrorless, but it’s so polished and well designed that you’d think that Nikon had been making them for years. TESTED IN ISSUE 94 PRICE: £3400/$3400 NIKON Z6 IT MAY SEEM LIKE a lesser Z7, but the Z6 improves on its sibling with incredible high-ISO performance, insanely fast 12fps continuous shooting and the ability to shoot uncropped 4K video – at two-thirds of the price. Unless you need ludicrously large images, this is the mirrorless of choice for most of us. TESTED IN ISSUE 94 PRICE: £2099/$1997 ENTRY-LEVEL DSLRU NIKON D3500 NIKON HAS REFRESHED AND rejuvenated one…

Monochrome Monday Here are your best monochromatic photographs, submitted to us over the past month Workshop Wednesday Wednesday is an opportunity to ask questions, share ideas and help others in the N-Photo community… How do I get my bird photos to look better? I’m getting lots of pink and purple outlines around them when I shoot up at the sky. Matthew Byne via Facebook Tutorial Tuesday This month we… Learn how to restore and repair old photos, just follow the link: http://bit.ly/restoreoldphotos Throwback Thursday Some of our readers’ favourite shots from the past Sunshine Saturday Sharing Sunday Nikon Quiz Friday Question: What year did the Nikon F3 make its debut? Congratulations to everyone who answered this correctly via Twitter and Facebook. Answer: The year that the Nikon F3 made its…

HIGHLY COMMENDED Three Kings Wim Van Den Heever, South Africa * Wim came across these king penguins on a beach in the Falkland Islands just as the sun was rising. They were caught up in a fascinating mating behaviour – the two males were constantly moving around the female using their flippers to fend the other off. Nikon D810, 24-70mm f/2.8, 1/250 sec, f/11, ISO50 Resting Mountain Gorilla David Lloyd This baby gorilla clung to its mother whilst keeping a curious eye on David. He had been trekking in South Bwindi, Uganda, when he came across the whole family. Attentively following them, they then stopped in a small clearing to relax and groom each other. Nikon D500, 300mm f/4, 1/350 sec, f/9.5, ISO5600. Shy Pedro Carrillo, Spain The mesmerizing pattern…

After upgrading to an external Speedlight, the next step is to take this device off-camera; with it stuck on your hotshoe you can only ‘bounce’ the light, rather than reposition it. So at the end of the day, you’re going to get very similar results every time. Taking the flash off camera makes it far more versatile, as you can position it exactly where you want to for creative effect. You’ll need some method to fire your flash remotely, though, and this is usually done with wireless triggers. These come in three main types: optical, infrared and radio triggers. Optical triggers use the flash light itself, and so the in-built pop-up flash can be used to fire additional off-camera flashes. But infrared and radio triggers require a transmitter and a…

You’ve got to the point where you’re triggering Speedlights off-camera, and getting great results. However, there’s more to flash photography than getting the right power and light placement. This is where advanced flash techniques come in. Whether it’s utilizing high speed sync to enable the use of flash at high shutter speeds, determining whether the flash fires at the beginning or the end of the exposure, or pulsing the flash throughout a long exposure to record several images in a single frame, these advanced modes enable you to get really creative with your flash photography. Let’s see what’s on offer… High-speed sync Usually, you can only use flash at relatively low shutter speeds, known as the flash sync speed, which is usually 1/200 sec or 1/250 sec, depending on your…

* The mission • Take natural-looking shots of captive big cats Time • Four hours Skill level • Beginner • Intermediate • Advanced Kit needed • Medium telephoto or standard zoom Wildlife doesn’t get wilder than lions, tigers and jaguars, oh my. But jetting off to Africa, Asia or South America to go on safari isn’t cheap, and there’s no guarantee of you coming across these fierce felines if you do. Wildlife parks, on the other hand, offer assured access to these amazing animals, but the drawback is that there’s a physical barrier between you and them. No bad thing, considering these are predators that could consider a photographer to be a snack, but by following our tips, you can take brilliant natural-looking images that look like they could have…

EXPOSURE 1/1250 sec, f/4, ISO5000 Lens 500mm f/4 Our Apprentice says… Getting a shot of the conversions proved almost as tricky as capturing the tries; as the kicker ran to attempt the conversion the opposition players would run forward, getting in the way. I managed to get this shot of Freddie Burns sandwiched between the two Gloucester players, who being so close to my shooting position are blown completely out of focus, framing the fly half perfectly. Tom explained that it was vital the that the ball was in the shot too – by the next frame it had disappeared. Pick the best shot Tom says… Always shoot in Continuous High mode – combined with Continuous AF – and fire off bursts of shots. My D3Ses can rattle off nine…

* LETTER OF THE MONTH The student becomes the master As a follow-on to the Apprentice feature on Fine Art Architectural Photography (N-Photo 94) in which I was the Apprentice, I’m very pleased to let you know that one of the pictures taken on that day of a long exposure of the Royal Crescent has been awarded third place in this year’s competition run by the Museum of Bath Architecture. Credit where credit’s due… the cropping was advised by the professional photographer of the day, Ben Brain, so many thanks to him! Peter Connell That’s great news Peter, and we’re so pleased you not only enjoyed your day with N-Photo, but it helped you rank so highly in the competition! Ben tells us he also entered the competition – and…

Profile • Tom Mason is a 25-year-old wildlife and nature photographer from the UK. • He is a contributor to numerous British magazines including BBC Wildlife and a blogger for the national retailer Wex Photo Video. • Tom shares his tips and tricks for improving wildlife photography on his YouTube channel: tommasonphoto.com/youtube. • Tom also enjoys giving lectures on behalf of major photo brands, including Nikon and Manfrotto, and gives talks to schools and colleges www.tommasonphoto.com We’re only in mid-January, at the time of this interview, but Tom Mason is already working abroad. He’s in Cork when we speak, returning to an ongoing project photographing the otters that frequent the river bisecting Ireland’s second city. Then in March he heads back to the UK for The Photography Show, where he…

There was a time when even the best camera backpacks were so obviously full of camera gear, that photographers might as well have written ‘rob me’ on their foreheads. Luckily, disguises for photography gear have become more creative recently, with plenty of brands available. The best camera backpacks will also typically offer to carry not only a DSLR body and a couple of lenses, but a tablet, laptop, and sometimes a drone! Before you pick a camera backpack you like the look of, consider what you need it for. Are you going to go hiking? Then comfort and waterproofing are important. If you’re going to be touring in a vehicle and merely walking short trails from car parks to observation points, those things aren’t so crucial. If you travel light,…

When it comes to data transfer speeds, manufacturers often give an ‘x-factor’ rating. This is specified as a multiple of 150 kilobytes per second, the basic read speed of data from a compact disc. There are 1024 kilobytes in a megabyte, so a memory card with a 600x speed rating would have a transfer speed of 600x150/1024, or around about 88MBps. That’s not the whole story, however: the quoted figure is often for read speed, and the write speed can be significantly slower. A clearer indication is given by a rating that simply states the transfer speeds, ideally for both reading and writing. Decent sustained write speeds are essential for recording 1080p and 4K video. However, they can also be important for stills. So, if you’re capturing long sequences of…

ON SALE THURSDAY 11 APRIL 2019 FAST TELEPHOTO ZOOMS Eight constant-aperture medium-tele lenses put through their paces THE EXPOSURE TRIANGLE Explore the relationship between shutter speed, aperture and ISO PEOPLE IN LANDSCAPES Our Apprentice shoots scenes with personal points of interest *All content subject to change…