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

EXPOSURE MODE Sujata says… Jessica had set Aperture Priority mode but I suggested she use Manual instead, as we’d mostly be shooting into the light, which would confuse the semi-auto modes. While the light meter provides a guide to exposure, you’ll need to review your shots and adjust it yourself. PIN-POINT FOCUSING Sujata says… When shooting at wide apertures, focusing is critical. Set your Nikon to AF-S autofocus mode, so that focus locks on to your static subject, combined with Single Shot shooting mode, and use the keypad on the back of your Nikon to position a single AF point on your subject’s eye. AIM TO UNDEREXPOSE Sujata says… I encouraged Jessica to underexpose her shots by a stop based on the subject’s skin. As we were shooting into the…

my cewe wall art Canvas has long been the material of choice for portraiture, used by the great artists since the days of the Renaissance. And it’s just as versatile today for displaying digital portraits shot on your Nikon as it is those created by the strokes of a paintbrush. With a huge range of style and size options, there’s no better way to commit your photos to canvas than with CEWE. CEWE CANVAS PRINTS CEWE’s canvas prints offer unsurpassed quality. They are digitally printed using a modern, high-quality 12-colour process that offers vibrant colours and a reflection-free finish, while UV-resistant ink means your canvas will be durable and stay beautiful for years to come. CEWE canvas prints are made with 340gsm premium polycotton canvas with a subtle textured finish…

When we talk about landscape photography, the landscape itself only plays a part in shooting successful and striking outdoor images. The light, weather, composition and photographic technique that you use all play a huge role in the success of any shots in this genre of photography. You’ll have to know how to predict the weather, tides, and sun position, as this will better your chances of being in the right place at the right time. Then there needs to be an understanding of how the settings and controls on your Nikon affect the end result. You will also need to know how to compose shots to make the most of every opportunity that mother nature presents you on your trip. With any outdoor shoot that’s not the whole story, as ‘lady…

The Mission – Add a splash of life to your still-life photography Time – One hour Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Standard lens – Studio lighting kit (or flashguns) – Diffuser – 2 x bottles – Clear varnish – Water-filled glass tank – Glycerine – Additional props Still-life photography allows us to take control over every aspect of our image. We can arrange our props how we like and change the lighting to our heart’s content, until we achieve the image we want. With the camera on a tripod, we can tweak compositions, and shoot in moody low light, if we desire – with a static shot, shutter speed becomes irrelevant. However, we’re going to show you how to add a little expression to a still-life shot by…

The Mission – Use the Dehaze command in Camera Raw to add a stylish punch to your Raw files Time – 15 minutes Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – Adobe CC As the name suggests, the Dehaze command reduces atmospheric haze in landscape photos. Found within Camera Raw and Lightroom (as well as in Photoshop’s Camera Raw filter) the command is a simple slider that not only lets you reduce the haze, but also enables you to go the other way and make your images look even more hazy. Of course, the Dehaze effect isn’t a magical trick that actually eradicates haziness. Instead, it works by applying a boost in contrast and sharpness to a specific part of the tonal range – the part that mostly ties in with…

1 Unnatural frame By framing our subject so that it’s surrounded by leaves or other debris, we can create a seemingly natural frame that draws the eye to the important part of the image. This usually involves seeking out natural elements, like branches, that can be composed to create a frame, but here we’ve set up our own instead. 2 The subject Our subject is Clavell’s Tower near Kimmeridge bay in Dorset. A straightforward shot of the tower from this angle is rather boring, especially with that dull grey sky beyond the building. By constructing our frame, we can introduce other strong shapes and greater depth to our initially simple composition. 3 Frame-maker kit We brought along a few clippings from the garden to make our frame, including the ivy…

Living in a place with windmills on my doorstep, it may seem strange to travel to another country to shoot windmills. But the mills of Holland are on a much grander scale than the ones near my home in Norfold, and many are still lived in. The Netherlands are only a 40-minute flight from me, and after driving around this compact country for a week, I wondered why I didn’t make the short hop more often! It’s packed full of photographic possibilities, but is most famous for its tulips in spring, which is why I’m here. I spent the first few days shooting the iconic locations of Amsterdam, such as the Rijksmuseum and the Dutch architecture reflecting in the canals. One evening, I arrived early to a classic location along…

1. Like in a Fairy Tale BY SARA JAZBAR This image uses infrared photography in such an imaginative and unusual way. Getting the white balance right when working with infrared is difficult, especially with the skin tones. Yet the photographer has managed to combine infrared technology with portraiture and still maintain a warmth in the skin. The connection captured between the couple is both intimate and genuine. Camera: NIkon D600 Lens: 35mm f/1.4 Exposure: 1/160 sec, f/13, ISO100 2. In The Moonlight BY HARDIK GAURAV The decision to shoot from an elevated viewpoint gives the image a bird’s eye, wide-angle view that shows the whole party having fun – creating a unique wedding shot that captures the atmosphere of the evening perfectly. Shot using available light, the bride’s white dress…

Jimmy Colton is my dear friend and I’m so happy for him. He is semiretired from our industry, but is still quite active and produces pictures of the month, and content for Zuma Press. But he’s moved to Florida, and is also expressing his creative instincts by making pottery, which is beautiful. But I do, and always will, miss his presence in our industry as a picture editor. A recent example of his brilliance is his latest blog, Have You Ever Thought About Plumbing As a Career? The title comes from a legendarily tough critique offered to a young aspiring photog by a picture editor who was obviously a devotee of ‘tough love’. Whether these words were said is a subject of debate. But I can say I’ve overheard some…

Star Letter Tighten the screw Iam a landscape photographer who is lucky to be able to shoot in Iceland on a regular basis, and I mostly use a tripod. I have various tripods from the Benbo 2, to a less-heavy Manfrotto 190, along with quality ball heads. The problem is out on location when I want to take portrait-framed landscape shots; the camera (a Nikon D800 with a 24-70mm lens) can slowly drift on the ball head’s plate, especially when adjusting various Lee filters. It might be because I am cold, and my hands don’t work so well in the low temperatures. It might be because the camera is relatively well used, along with the ball head plates. I have searched the Internet for solutions and found some quite expensive…

B+W XS-Pro Digital ND MRC Nano £52-226/$67-270 www.manfrotto.co.uk Screw-in filters may not quite have the kudos of a square or rectangular filter system, but B+W’s round XS-Pro filters certainly aren’t short on features. Their MRC Nano (Multi-Resistant Coating) helps shed dirt and water, and we found it does indeed do a good job of beading away rain drops. Further coatings reduce reflections, while Schott glass increases optical clarity and colour fidelity. Thread diameters range from just 30.5mm all the way up to 95mm, and you can have two-, three-, six- or 10-stop densities. Whichever option you go for, you get an exceptionally shallow frame depth that makes these filters great for use with ultra wide-angle lenses. However, our samples weren’t quite so great in the image quality tests. The three-stop…

Noticeably smaller and only about two thirds of the weight of the competing Nikon 80-400mm, the Sigma weighs in at just over a kilogram. The zoom and focus rings work as you’d expect, but the zoom mechanism is designed so that you can also operate it with a push-pull ‘trombone’ style action. The lens hood is specially shaped to enable a natural hand grip for this purpose. The optical path includes four SLD (Special Low Dispersion) elements. Unlike in the other Sigma lenses featured, this one’s zoom lock can only be engaged at the shortest focal length. A tripod mounting ring is not supplied, or available as an extra. Performance Although downsized in price as well as size, there’s no shortage of highperformance features. You get the same range of…

Tamron’s first 150-600mm lens was a good buy at the price, but the G2 edition is better in every way. The optical path has been redesigned and features three LD (Low Dispersion) elements rather than one. A new mix of coatings features both regular and nano-structure varieties, and a fluorine coating is added to the front element. The G2 also features more extensive weather-seals and better overall build quality. An innovative zoom lock mechanism enables you to lock the zoom ring at any desired focal length. The autofocus system is faster and more accurate, and the Vibration Compensation is more effective, with a 4.5-stop rating and three operating modes, compared with just one in the original. These now include static, panning and ‘exposure only’ modes. Performance While the autofocus and…

With its 10x zoom range, this lens lets you shoot from a standard focal length to extreme telephoto, without having to change lenses. As such, it follows in the footsteps of the ‘Bigma’ 50-500mm but is bigger and 40 per cent heavier, at 2700g. The optical path includes three top-grade FLD (‘Fluorite’ Low Dispersion) elements and one SLD (Special Low Dispersion) element. Fluorine coatings are applied to the front and rear elements and the lens is extensively weather-sealed. As with other Sigmas here, dual AF modes include an ‘MO’ (Manual Override), where you can override AF even when using the camera’s continuous AF mode. The dual-mode switchable stabilizer has static and panning modes, but custom modes let you raise or lower the appearance of stabilization in the viewfinder. Performance Autofocus…

Spring is well and truly upon us, so we’ve taken the opportunity to give N-Photo a bit of a spring clean. We’ve tweaked the look and feel of the magazine, introduced brilliant new columnists Tom Mackie and Paul Wilkinson, and included a set of collectable tips cards to tuck into your camera bag. We’d love to know what you think – so do let us know what you like, and anything we didn’t get quite right. We head into the great outdoors for our landscapes lead feature, where seasoned pro Chris Rutter explains everything from planning and prep, through composition, exposure and dealing with whatever the weather may bring, to post-processing your pictures. Never work with children and animals, they say. We set out to prove this old adage wrong,…

COMPOSE THE SHOT Sujata says… The most important thing is to compose the scene around your subject. I used the fence as a leading line, and positioned Jessica so the trees would diffuse the low sunlight behind Lucy and Frankie, softening the early evening light into a golden glow. BRING IN THE ANIMALS Sujata says… I instructed Jessica not to move an inch as mother and baby were replaced by Elaine and a bucket of feed! Sheep were then encouraged into the area, and I told Jessica to wait until one of the sheep raised its head, before taking the second shot. MERGE THEM TOGETHER Sujata says… Keeping the same angle of view and camera settings means that the two images can be merged seamlessly in Photoshop. With the sheep…

Come Back Home LINN YAN KHA The lines, shapes and textures in this shot are great, and having the figures there gives scale and direction. The shadows and figures in the frame lend a simplicity that would have been missing if any of those elements had altered. Camera: Nikon D7100 Lens: 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 Exposure: 1/320 sec, f/11, ISO250 Madness NIKOLAY NIKOLOV The rush felt by Nikolay must have been immense, making it hard to keep still while capturing this shot of a jackal, but he landed it perfectly. “I do not know how to describe the adrenaline I felt when it came close to me and looked straight into my eyes,” says Nikolay. Camera: Nikon D7200 Lens: 300mm f/4 Exposure: 1/1600 sec, f/8, ISO2000 Sound Battle HARRY EGGENS Spotted in…

We’re taking our daughter to see The Lion King, and we’re passing time before the show starts. The tickets are tucked inside my camera bag, along with my trusty Pentax, loaded with film. This is 2002, after all. The camera bag is on the floor under our table. I reach for it and it’s no longer there. Our house keys, my wife’s purse, the tickets and the camera inside it have been stolen. A great day out quickly turns into a stressful evening. A few weeks later I head into the London Camera Exchange with money from the insurers. I haven’t yet been paid for any of portraits I’ve taken – it’s just a hobby. I knew buying another film camera would be a short-term solution. As an ex-drummer, I…

The Mission – Switch between vertical and horizontal orientations quickly and easily with an L-bracket Time – 30 minutes Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – L-bracket – Tripod Photographers who make a living from their images often shoot in both landscape and portrait orientation for one reason: it doubles their chances of sales. This is because people buying shots for use in print are mostly looking for a photo that’ll fit onto a single page, which demands it’s longer on the vertical edge, or to go across two pages, which has to be longer on the horizontal. Tripods are mainly designed for shooting horizontally. Once you’ve set up the legs so it’s level, you screw the base plate into the camera and it sits on top, the centre of…

Where to get Capture NX-D IT’S MADE FOR NIKONS, AND IT’S COMPLETELY FREE! – As new Nikons are introduced, Capture NX-D should be the first software to support them. Another advantage is that it replicates Picture Controls and other settings. Capture NX-D is available as a free download from the Nikon website at http://nikonimglib.com/ncnxd Sometimes our attempts to capture the perfect moment can be thwarted due to a lack of time. Take the inset ‘before’ image. Having just arrived to shoot the castle, I noticed a cyclist was about to peddle into the scene – having a person in shot would add foreground interest to the image and help give a sense of the ruined building’s scale. I snapped a shot before the cyclist disappeared around the bend but, being…

Camera: Nikon D850 Lens: Nikon AF-S 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR Exposure: 1/200 sec, f/11, ISO500 Mission: Produce a series of owl shots that show the majesty of these nocturnal birds of prey Photographer: Gary Davis Location: Hampshire, UK Kit used: Nikon D850, Nikon AF-S 500mm f/5.6E PF ED VR, Benro tripod and gimbal head My interest in photography began when I was 14 – I was developing my own blackand-white pictures in the bathroom. My mum was never happy about the smell! Following further education in radio and television, I then had a career in video and events, but I went back to photography 10 years ago – specializing in wildlife. Wildlife photography is my passion and I aim to bring it to wider audience and help expose the…

Q I’ve bought a macro lens for my D750, but I can’t seem to get sharp close-up shots, even when using a tripod. Are there any tips that you can give me? Steve Watts A Getting sharp images when shooting extreme close-ups is quite a challenge. Even with a narrow aperture of around f/16, depth of field is small, so you need to focus very accurately. Another problem is that any slight movement in the camera or the subject can ruin sharpness. Try using the Exposure Delay mode of your D750. This delays the shutter opening for a number of seconds after the reflex mirror flips up, avoiding vibrations from ‘mirror-bounce’. Alternatively, shoot in Live View mode with a self-timer delay or a remote controller. Shooting in Live View also…

Camera: Nikon D5 Lens: 500mm f/4 Exposure: 1/1600 sec, f/4, ISO1000 What’s in a name? Well, if you google the name George Turner, you could be looking up the late Victorian artist, a Scottish rugby player, a Liberal Democrat politician, or a professional slot car model maker. But key in ‘George The Explorer’ and there, straight in at number one, is the subject of this interview. Of course, this was not the name he was given at birth, but George is pleased he has adopted the moniker of ‘The Explorer’ since he became a professional photographer, because it’s made his name as memorable as his pictures. When we speak, he’s just returned from Norway, a country he visits about half-a-dozen times a year, photographing the wildlife and scenery from Oslo…

This kind of action sits in a strange limbo area between important and insignificant, because it happens in only a small part of the frame. Apart from a simple difference of scale from normal ‘action’ shots, there’s the much more important matter of the relationship between the small action and the larger setting. Which has the priority, and how do you expect the viewer to look at the frame? ‘Ornament’ may sound trivial – it’s a carefully chosen word – but like the sort of ornament we’re familiar with, in say architecture, jewellery, and design in general, it can play an important part in the photograph. Ornaments are never really there by accident. In these days when clean modernist simplicity still tends to hold sway, it might sound a little…

Apart from the notable exceptions of the 24-70mm f/2.8 and forthcoming 58mm f/0.95 Noct, Nikon has been restrained with the aperture ratings of its S-line lenses for the full-frame Z system. The 35mm and 50mm primes are rated at f/1.8, rather than f/1.4, and the first 24-70mm offering, as well as this new wide-angle zoom, are f/4 not f/2.8. Some say these apertures are pretty meagre for up-market optics but they make sense, enabling the lenses to be compact and lightweight, and a perfect match for mirrorless Z series bodies. The 14-30mm S-line lens delivers the same maximum viewing angle (114 degrees) as the acclaimed Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED for full-frame DSLRs, along with a bigger overall zoom range. It’s much smaller, not only due to being an f-stop…

Announced eight months after the competing Sigma 100-400mm this Tamron is similarly compact. It’s 17mm longer but a bit lighter – both lenses weighing just over a kilogram. Build quality is superb, considering the price, with a magnesium alloy barrel, comprehensive weather-seals and a fluorine coating on the front element. The optical path includes an LD (Low Dispersion) element and nano-structure coatings to minimize ghosting and flare. Switchable static and panning stabilization modes are there but, unlike in the Sigma lenses, there’s only one autofocus mode. The AF/MF/Limit switch can limit the autofocus range on whichever side of the cut-off point you’re on when you engage it. An optional tripod mount ring is available for £109/$129. Performance Autofocus is fast, based on a dualmicroprocessor system. Stabilization is worth about four…

You don’t often find a own-brand Nikon lens packed with swanky, late-generation tech for almost the same price as some competitors. Sturdily built with a weather-seal ring on its mounting plate and supplied with a tripod mounting ring, this has a lot going for it. The ring-type autofocus system is quick and quiet, and the dual-mode VR (Vibration Reduction) system is rated at 4.5-stops. Normal mode includes auto panning detection, whereas Sport mode applies stabilization only during exposures. This leaves the viewfinder image untouched, making it easier to track moving objects. Like the Sigma and Tamron lenses here, the aperture is electromagnetically controlled, enabling greater exposure accuracy in rapid continuous drive mode. Performance Sharpness and contrast remain excellent, even when shooting wideopen, throughout the zoom. Autofocus is rapid and the…

Nikon’s original 80-400mm VR lens had one of the slowest autofocus systems we’ve ever seen and relatively ineffective VR. This revamp addresses both of those issues, with fast ring-type ultrasonic autofocus and later-generation stabilization. The autofocus system has switchable modes for giving priority to either AF or manual override, as featured in the Sigmas. VR has Nikon’s more conventional Normal and Active modes, the latter designed to cope with severe vibrations. But it lacks the Sport VR mode and electromagnetic aperture control featured in the newer Nikon 200-500mm lens. Optical highlights include four ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements and one Super ED element, along with a Nano Crystal Coat. The construction feels solid and reliable, with a rubber weather-seal on the mounting plate. Performance Although autofocus is much faster than in…

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The Mission – Gain an understanding of how to control depth of field for creative purposes Time – One hour Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – ‘Fast’ lens In a nutshell, the depth of field is a measure of the physical distance between the closest and furthest points in a scene that will be rendered sharply in an image. With a larger depth of field, more of the scene will look sharp from front to back. The size of the depth of field is governed by three things: The first is the focal length or zoom setting of the lens, the second is the focus distance, and the third is the aperture setting. A lens or zoom setting with a shorter focal length will result in a larger depth…

1 PhotoLibrary panel Browse your photographs to find the folder containing the images you want to enhance. The right side of the screen shows thumbnails of the images in the selected folder and, above that, a preview of the image you’ve selected. Optical lens correction profiles are located and applied automatically. 2 Dynamic search field This is a brand-new feature – start typing in this box and PhotoLab will automatically offer matching search options. Enter the number ‘5’, for example, and the display will offer to show images taken at a focal length of 5mm, exposures of 5 secs or a lens aperture of f/5. The search results are shown on the right. 3 Customize mode For detailed adjustments and enhancements, swap to the Customize mode. Your photo is then…

The Mission – Arrange objects around a frame to create a strong composition Time – One hour Skill level – Advanced Kit needed – 2 x tripods – ND filter – Photoshop CC – Props Let’s talk about landscapes… But this isn’t going to be just another guide to the rules of composition – and there’ll be no mention of the rule of thirds. Instead, we’re going to cheat just a little bit. Now hear me out! Composition and framing are essential skills, especially for landscape photography. In essence, a strong composition is about arranging the elements in front of you into a smooth frame. Normally this is done by careful choice of camera angle, lens, and perspective. But we’ll look at a few ways we can do creative landscaping…

1 Copy and paste First choose two photos that match in terms of lighting and perspective – this will make them much easier to blend together. Begin by opening them both up into Photoshop, then go to the background image, press Cmd/Ctrl+C to copy and then switch to the other image and press Cmd/Ctrl+V to paste. 2 Transform and select Press Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform the newly added image, then position it within the frame. If you need to resize the layer, drag the corner points, then hit Enter to apply. Next grab the Quick Selection tool and paint to select the part of the layer you want to keep visible, then click the Add Layer Mask icon to hide the rest. 3 Mask and tone Highlight the mask thumbnail on…

Camera: Nikon D600 Lens: Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Exposure: 1/320 sec, f/3.5, ISO2000 Mission: Photograph the dramatic moments at live music events Photographer: Drew Stewart Location: London, United Kingdom Kit used: Nikon D600, Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 Website: www.drewstewartphotography.com Luckily for me I get to shoot some of the most thrilling music events on earth. From the incredible lighting and production to the bass that shakes you to your core and the on-stage theatrics leaving you in awe, I want to capture those moments and make sure everybody gets a taste of that experience. I got my start in street photography when I was very young–I was lucky enough to live close to London where there was always something going on. I loved capturing candid moments and still do, and being a…

I’ve always been fascinated by war photojournalism, but was still finding my feet in the industry during the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. So when the editor of one of the aviation magazines that I shoot for asked me to cover the Canadian Armed Forces contribution to the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), I jumped at the chance. The mission consists of around 250 personnel, three CH-147F Chinooks and five CH-146 Griffon helicopters, with their primary role being MEDEVAC (medical evacuation), but they can also be utilized for transporting troops, equipment and supplies, or the rapid movement of UN troops. It’s a story that also has a widerreaching audience than just those who have an interest in helicopters or the aviation industry – and I simply love…

Following on from last month’s Big Test of ‘fast’ telephoto zooms, we’re going extra-large this month. Sure, you could extend your reach by adding a teleconverter or ‘extender’ to one of the lenses we reviewed previously, but a purpose-built super-telephoto zoom is likely to deliver better image quality and all-round performance. Favoured focal lengths used to be around the 80-400mm range for super-tele zooms, giving twice the maximum reach of a 70-200mm lens. Nikon has largely stuck to this formula, although its AF-S 180-400mm f/4E TC1.4 FL ED VR with a built-in extender is a notable and very expensive exception. It’s a weighty beast at 3500g and its price tag of £11,000/$12,400 puts it well beyond the reach of most of us. By contrast, the 200-500mm Nikon on test is…

This Contemporary lens goes the distance, stretching to a 600mm focal length, yet it undercuts direct competitors for price. Not only easier on your wallet, it’s also better on your back than the Sigma Sports lenses here, being nearly a kilogram lighter. Posh glass includes one top-grade FLD element (lacking in the Sigma 100-400mm lens) and three SLD elements. Despite the price drop from Sports line lenses, you still get the full range of dual autofocus and stabilization modes, an AF range limiter and two custom setup modes. It’s not as weather-sealed but has a rubber gasket on the mounting plate, and fluorine coatings on the front and rear elements. The zoom lock switch can be engaged at any zoom setting that has a marked focal length. Performance All aspects…

From the Sports sector of Sigma’s Global Vision line-up, this lens aims for all-out performance, with no concessions to compactness. It’s nearly a kilogram heavier than the Contemporary edition, weighing in at 2860g. As with all other Sigma lenses on test, it has the full range of dual autofocus modes, dual stabilization modes, a two-position autofocus range limiter switch and two custom modes. With these, you can alter autofocus speed, the amount of stabilization that’s visible and more besides. More robust than the Contemporary lens, this one has a metal barrel and hood, and is comprehensively weathersealed. There are four extra elements in the optical path, including largerdiameter elements and two top-grade FLD elements rather than just one. Performance Sharpness and contrast proved excellent in our real-world testing, despite the…

For sheer super-telephoto clout and all-round performance, the Sigma 150-600mm Sports wins. It’s superbly wellengineered, weather-sealed, has a wealth of high-end features and customizable controls, and it delivers excellent image quality. It’s also excellent value, especially in the UK. However, there’s no denying that it’s a big lens. The Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary and Tamron 150-600mm G2 lenses are more manageable, the Sigma edging ahead for features and image quality, while the Tamron is more weathersealed. The Sigma Contemporary is unbeatable value. The Nikon 80-400mm is smaller and lighter than any of the 150-600mm lenses and, while it doesn’t give such powerful telephoto reach, it delivers superb image quality. Even so, the newer Nikon 200-500mm has faster autofocus, more effective stabilization, and greater reach. It’s also much better value for money.…