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

Nigel says… The histogram is a graph that ranges from the darkest tones on the left, to the brightest highlights on the right, and it’s vital to check this regularly. The main thing is to ensure that the graph spreads close to the right-hand edge for a good range of tones, but doesn’t ‘clip’ it; this means blown highlights that can’t be recovered, resulting in overexposed images.…

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When wet dogs start shaking off their coats, people usually dive for cover, but it’s a fun moment filled with both action and character. In this project we’ll look at how to capture that moment. We’ll explain how to light our sodden subject and set up a camera to freeze the action in crystal-clear clarity. We’ve used Rotolight LED panels to light our subject here (you could use a couple of Speed-lights), which have a high-speed sync flash mode that helps to freeze motion. However, as is the case with any LEDs, the maximum output doesn’t come close to the most basic flashgun, so we have to adapt out exposure accordingly with a higher ISO. LEDs have their benefits though – more battery, near-instant recycle time in flash mode, colour…

Select the drops You may find you have a great position of the dog in one photo, but the drops look better in another. If so, we can comp them in Photoshop. Use the Lasso tool to select the drops, then copy (Cmd/Ctrl+C), go to the other image and paste (Cmd/Ctrl+V). Paste and blend Hit Cmd/Ctrl+T to transform and move the drops where you want, then go to the Layers panel, click the Blend Mode drop-down and choose Lighten. Hit Cmd/Ctrl+L for Levels, then drag in the black point in to fine-tune the blend.…

Both Photoshop’s Camera Raw plug-in and Lightroom have long offered separate HDR and Panorama features, but recently a new feature has been introduced that combines the two commands into one. Previously, we’d have to merge HDRs first then stitch them into a panorama after, but the new command performs both tasks at once. It produces a detail-rich panorama with an expanded dynamic range, making it easier to tease detail out of the tonal extremes. In this tutorial, we’ll explain how it’s done. There are lots of situations in which an HDR panorama might be a useful technique. More often than not, the point of a panorama is to capture a sweeping landscape, achieved by shooting several segments, then stitching them together. But with landscapes there’s usually an imbalance between land…

1 Macro lens A macro lens allows you to frame closeup subjects at 1:1 view, meaning that the size of the subject can be recorded in its actual size on the image sensor. They come in various focal lengths. At shorter focal lengths, like the 15mm used here, the subject has to be very close to the lens for a true 1:1 capture. 2 Speedlight A Speedlight helps to lift your subject and bring out the colours. Fired directly, the flash can be too harsh – a small softbox attachment results in more diffuse, more natural light. Some photographers like to attach the flash to the camera with a bracket, but if not you can simply hold it, or use a stand. 3 5-in-1 reflector This is very useful for…

Camera: Nikon Z 7 Lens: 70-200mm f/4 Exposure: 1/640 sec, f/8, ISO400 MISSION: Photograph the weird and wonderful wildlife of Ethiopia PHOTOGRAPHER: Alan Williams LOCATION: Formby, Merseyside KIT USED: Nikon Z 7, Nikon 70-200mm f/4, FTZ adapter I started photography over 60 years ago, in the era of black-and-white roll-film cameras, and from the very beginning was enthusiastic about photographing wildlife. My first Nikon, around 50 years ago, was the excellent Nikkormat FTN, and I’ve stayed with Nikon ever since. Recently I’ve been using the D810, a fabulous camera, but I found it decidedly heavy out in the field. So when the mirrorless Nikon Z 7 was announced, I just couldn’t resist buying one. Soon after, on a wildlife-watching trip to Ethiopia, I took just the Z 7 and one…

Q I’m thinking of upgrading from a D750 to a D850, but am concerned about image noise being worse at high ISO settings. Does the deterioration start at around ISO12,800, or is it below? Stephen Mottram A Compared with the D750, the D850 bumps up the megapixel count from 24.3Mp to 45.7Mp. That’s a big leap, requiring the photosites on the image sensor to be much smaller. They’re therefore able to gather less light and, when you push the ISO setting in low-lighting conditions, image noise is more noticeable. Degradation starts pretty early on and, in my tests, the amounts of image noise look quite similar when shooting on the D750 at ISO6400, and the D850 at just ISO1600. Suffice it to say that the D850 is fabulous for capturing…

Camera: Nikon D4 Lens: 24-70mm f/2.8 Exposure: 1/320 sec, f/8, ISO250 Even before he started school, Richard Dunwoody knew he’d be a jockey. His father and maternal grandfather were both celebrated trainers and riders, so it seemed obvious that the boy, Richard, would saddle up. But how many would have bet he’d go on to become Britain’s champion jockey three years in a row? In a career spanning 16 years, Richard rode nearly 1900 winners, including two Grand Nationals, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the King George VI Chase four times – twice on the legendary grey, Desert Orchid. There would have been more winners if it wasn’t for his career being cut short by a neck injury in 1999, so Richard had to search for another ride. Now a…

MATERIAL GAINS Pricier tripods tend to be made from carbon fibre, rather than aluminium, but the weight-saving for relatively small travel tripods can be minimal. PLAYING THE ANGLES Three alternative locking leg angles are usually available. This can be a bonus when shooting on tricky terrain, around obstacles, and for low-level shots. UP, UP AND AWAY Nearly all current travel tripods have space-saving legs that swing upwards, so that the feet encircle the head when folded, with the centre column extended. THE LOWDOWN The Kenro, Novo and Vanguards are supplied with lowangle adaptors (LAA), which replace the centre column for low-level shooting without inverting the column. IT’S IN THE BAG With five-section legs and two-section centre columns, some fold down to little more than 30cm, making them small enough to…

Fairly small and lightweight, yet with an impressive load rating, excellent rigidity and quality versatility, Benro’s new iFoto 19AIB0 is a perfect compromise between compactness and usefulness. It’s a superb performer and undercuts most competitors for price, making it great value for money. The Manfrotto Element Traveller Big is another solid performer and similarly inexpensive, although it doesn’t fold down quite as small. Manfrotto’s Befree 2N1 is rather poorer value at twice the price in the UK. The Kenro is an attractive proposition, if you want a pivoting centre column, but is rather larger and more weighty. The Novo has a similar size but is lighter, thanks to its carbon fibre, rather than aluminium, construction and it’s fantastic value for a sturdy carbon tripod. For a really downsized travel tripod,…

100 th ISSUE! It’s a big milestone, reaching our 100th issue. N-Photo first hit the newsagents seven-and-a-half years ago in November 2011. Then the flagship pro Nikon was the 12-megapixel D3S – or D3X if you needed additional megapixels (this had 24 million), while the beginner’s choice was the D3100, and Nikon had just introduced a mirrorless camera – the Nikon 1 V1. Nowadays even the entry-level D3500 packs 24Mp, and the 1-series’ teeny mirrorless 13x9mm sensor has given way to the full-frame Z sensor, with up to 45.7 megapixels. Times have changed. What hasn’t changed is N-Photo’s mission to bring you a monthly round-up of the very best of all things Nikon. This issue, we broach the thorny subject of shooting strangers when on your travels, take our Apprentice…

Nigel says… Monochrome really brings out the subtle tonal variations in overcast skies. Shooting against the light increases tonal contrast and often produces great results, creating dark and brooding skies with dramatic light effects. A telephoto lens compresses perspective and really draws out the layering effect of the landscape. A Black & White adjustment layer offers an incredible amount of control, enabling you to selectively darken or brighten different colour channels, for example the Yellows and Greens sliders can transform landscape tones.…

When we come back from our travels with memory cards stuffed with stunning shots, don’t leave them sitting on the hard drive. After going to all the effort to capture the amazing displays that nature has to offer, from splendid sunsets to the sky at night, there’s no better way to showcase these treasured memories than in a CEWE PHOTOBOOK. Printed on luxurious 300gsm Fujifilm paper and available in Classic, Gloss or Matte finishes, photographic paper has a wider colour range compared to traditional digital photo paper, and is heavier, with a textured feel that oozes quality when held in the hands. Gloss photographic paper has a UV coating that adds a feeling of depth to the shot and brings out vibrant colours elegantly, while the Matte finish uses a…

1 Dark backdrop A dark background is ideal, as the water drops won’t show up as well against a lighter background. We’ve used the dark side of a large pop-up reflector here. 2 Lights The Rotolight LEDs used here have a high-speed sync flash mode, in which the light emits a continuous burst and enables the use of very fast shutter speeds. 3 Water We kept a tray of water on hand to sprinkle over our pup. Shooting outdoors like this means that there’s no need to worry about spillages either. 4 Camera settings A fast shutter speed helps to freeze the motion of a shaking dog. Here the shutter speed is set to 1/2000 sec, with the camera in Manual exposure mode. The set up One Rotolight Aeos light…

There’s a huge advantage to Nikon’s DSLR and mirrorless camera ranges – they both allow you to take your lens off and attach one that meets the needs of your subject. A wide-angle for landscapes, macro for extreme close-ups, or a super-telephoto lens to turn distant animals into frame-filling shots. But as good as the systems are, they aren’t without fault. Every time you swap a lens there is a chance that dust might creep onto your Nikon camera sensor. These can then show up in your shots as dark orbs, also called ‘sensor spots’, and is a sign your camera and optics need a clean. Your Nikon DSLR or mirrorless camera will by default be set to use vibrations to knock dust off the sensor every time you turn…

It can be tough to get your Nikon to capture detail in the brightest and darkest parts of a scene. Certain in-camera Picture Controls can also cause a photo to lose tonal detail, due to the high-contrast results that they produce, leading to clipped shadows and highlights. To capture detail in the brightest highlights and darkest shadows, shoot with your Nikon set to Raw. This creates image files with more information about a shot’s colours and tones. A Raw file contains all the information captured in a photo, whereas a JPEG only uses a small amount of information. It’s also a good idea to shoot using a Neutral or Faithful Picture Control setting. This creates a flatter contrast, meaning less danger of clipping shadows or highlights. Take our tutorial’s start…

Camera: Nikon D810 Lens: Nikon 16-35mm f/4 Exposure: 2 secs, f/9, ISO64 MISSION: Document my travels during a visit to the eternally stunning Faroe Islands PHOTOGRAPHER: Pawel Zygmunt LOCATION: Oldtown, County Dublin, Ireland KIT USED: Nikon D810, Nikon 16-35mm f/4, Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8, Lee 0.9 ND graduated filter, Lee Little Stopper, Manfrotto Neotec 458B tripod with 498RC4 ball head WEBSITE: www.breakinglightpictures.com Towards the end of last year, I got the idea to visit Faroe Islands and I immediately started the preparations for what I would photograph I love doing location research and planning hikes – it helps to build and nurture a real sense of excitement. It also helps to minimize the likelihood of failure… I travelled with a friend, and we experienced all possible kinds of weather – as…

Q Reading your comparison of the Df and D750 in issue 98 made me think that the Df is definitely the right camera for me. Is it a good secondhand buy? Peter Barrington A Our experts at MPB recommend… The retro-styled Df is designed along the same lines as Nikon’s classic 35mm film SLRs like the FE. We usually stock it in silver or black, for around half the price of a new one. Nikon Df TIMELESS DESIGN MEETS POWERFUL PERFORMANCE IN THIS ONE-OFF NIKON DSLR RELEASED: 2013 PRICE NEW: £2339/$2749 BUY AT MPB.COM TODAY: ‘Excellent’ £1199/$1519 ‘Good’ £1054/$1335 Whereas Nikon DSLRs tend to have a minimalist approach to their layout of buttons and dials, the Df follows a more timehonoured tradition. As such, it’s rich in mechanical dials that…

Twin birth rate in Nigeria is higher than any other country in the world. As a result, in some areas shrines are built to worship the spirit of the twins and their inseparable bonds are celebrated. Yet we had also heard about an orphanage in Abuja sheltering twins who were threatened to be killed by the community for their perceived role in bringing bad luck. These infanticides happen in very few and very specific communities, yet they seemed to overshadow Nigeria’s history of twins. That’s why we wanted to take a look at the mythology underpinning this, while also looking at the bigger picture of how, in most Nigerian locations, twins are worshipped. We planned to visit Igbo-Ora, the self-proclaimed ‘twin capital of the world’; Abuja, which we knew had…

Datacolor SpyderX Capture Pro £355/$400 www.datacolor.com Datacolor has just launched its fastest ever colour calibration kit. The SpyderX Capture Pro contains four products designed to calibrate each element of your photographic workflow. The centrepiece is the impressive SpyderX Elite monitor calibrator, which offers advanced features like ambient light monitoring to adjust your monitor’s colour and brightness in response to the intensity and colour temperature of surrounding light. There’s also multi-monitor and projector support, but the biggest SpyderX improvement is its new lens-based sensor system, which helps boost calibration accuracy and speed. Datacolor claims it’s four times faster than the Spyder5, and in our testing it was quicker still! When it comes to judging accurate colour and contrast during a shoot, there’s the Spyder Cube. Placed in a test shot, it…

Most of us like to travel light. A hefty tripod is likely to be left at home, where it’s no use. Meanwhile, lightweight tripods have a reputation for being flimsy, unstable and too small for a decent operating height. However, the new breed of travel tripods aim to give you the best of both worlds. The vast majority have legs that swing upwards for stowage, so the head is encircled by the feet. This reduces the folded height by around 8cm to 10cm. Some models also include five sections in each leg and a two-section extending centre column, reducing the folded height further, while still enabling a useful maximum operating height. Another trick is that most recent travel tripods have one detachable leg and a centre column that can be…

MANUAL MODE Nigel says… Ian was shooting in Manual mode to give him control over both aperture and shutter speed, but in conjunction with Auto ISO. I explained that this ultimately means your camera is still deciding on the exposure, rather than you, and can also result in very high ISOs and noisy shots. Turn this off! BACK BUTTON FOCUSING Nigel says… By default, your Nikon will attempt to autofocus every time you press the shutter button, but this can cause problems in low light. Instead, set AF Activation to AF-ON only; that way you lock in focus once with the AF-ON button, and your Nikon won’t try to refocus as you hit the shutter. 2-SEC SELF-TIMER Nigel says… If shooting long exposures, the act of pressing the shutter button…

EXPOSURE SETTINGS Nigel says… The first thing I do in Adobe Camera Raw is increase Clarity to around 30 and Vibrance to 20 or so; this instantly gives any shot added punch. I’ll then adjust the main exposure sliders by eye; in this shot I reduced the Highlights to better balance the scene. CREATING PANORAMAS Nigel says… Open the files in ACR and click Select All, before making exposure adjustments to the brightest shot, so that they’re applied to all the images. Then click Merge to Panorama, adjusting the Boundary Warp slider by eye for the most natural-looking perspective. GRADUATED FILTERS Nigel says… These are hugely versatile as they can target specific tones, reining in just Highlights, for example. You don’t have to use them solely to darken skies; I’ll…

We’re looking for future Apprentices! So if you would like to appear on these pages and get top one-to-one professional tuition into the bargain, send an email headed ‘Apprentice’ to mail@nphotomag.com and make sure that you include the following information: your name, address, a contact phone number, the camera and kit you use, and the subject that you’re interested in shooting.…

Bonda Tribe SANGHAMITRA SARKAR Odisha has many tribal communities and the Bonda tribe is one of them. They lead a very simple life. Modern society has failed to change them because they have carefully protected their culture and traditions from modern civilization. In this picture the Bonda ladies are busy preparing food in a clay pot and making fire from wood. Camera: Nikon D750 Lens: 24-120mm f/4 Exposure: 1/320 sec, f/4, ISO400 For a Mouthful of Rice DEBDATTA CHAKRABORTY The tribal people of Jharkhand, India, pass their days in abject poverty – one square meal a day is often a dream come true for them. The thought of having a plate of hot food, as the mother is husking and winnowing the rice, has made the children in this shot…

People often talk about colour fringing but what is it? There are two main types of colour fringing. Lateral (or transverse) chromatic aberration and axial (or longitudinal) chromatic aberration. Lateral chromatic aberration refers to a lens’s inability to focus different wavelengths or colours of light at the same point across the focal plane, or image sensor, perpendicular to the direction that the light is travelling. As an example, think of light passing through a prism and being split into the colours of the rainbow. Lateral chromatic aberration is most noticeable towards the edges and corners of an image, around high-contrast lines. For example, dark branches against a bright sky near the edges of shots might have coloured fringes around them. Axial colour fringing is common when using telephoto lenses and…

Work out an exposure We’re shooting outside, but we don’t want the natural light to play too big a part in our exposure. So to begin, leave the lights off and find an exposure that results in a dim image like the above – we use 1/2000 sec, f/4, ISO800. Use Manual mode to lock the exposure in. Set up the lights Now we can use the lights to pick out our subject. By placing a light behind the subject, angled back towards the camera, the light shines through the drops and gives us a nice edge highlight along the dog’s nose, which helps to separate her from the dark backdrop. Trigger the flash We need to fire our off-camera flash with a trigger – compatibility is important when using…

Brushes in Affinity Photo go far beyond the standard circular brush most of us are probably familiar with. In some ways they even surpass what can be done in Photoshop. Firstly, there’s a wide array of different brush tips to choose from, including the excellent set of grunge brushes we’ve used for our scatter effect here. What’s more, brushes can be customized with a range of useful parameters like spacing, scattering and wet edge controls. You can have hours of fun simply by playing with all the settings. But the options don’t stop there… You can also create your own brushes from any image or shape, like the colourful splashes in our portrait above (created using real-life ink splashes). One of the best things about using brushes in Affinity is…

Seen in close-up, the world reveals all kinds of hitherto unnoticed details, colours and textures. We can use an array of tricks to enhance these close-up details and in this project we’ll explore a few of those options. For starters, we’ll experiment with different focal length macro lenses. A typical focal length for macro lenses is around 100mm, but you can also find more unusual lenses out there, like the 15mm wide angle macro used for the snail photo here. It’s a crazy lens that’s a real challenge to use, but offers a captivating and rewarding perspective for close-up images. As well as altering our perspective, we can also experiment with lighting. On a bright sunny day, like the one we fortunately got, there’s plenty of light to play with,…

1. Leap of Faith BY STEVE BECKETT An exquisitely timed image, in which the photographer has waited patiently for the right moment for a passer-by to perfectly frame the spiritual healer in London’s Chinatown, both seemingly oblivious to the other. The extremely low angle of view not only adds a real sense of dynamism to the shot, but creates leading lines from the street’s paving stones. Camera: Nikon D750 Lens: 35mm f/1.8 Exposure: 1/500 sec, f/7.1, ISO800 2. Down in the Tube Station at Midnight BY PAUL COOMBER This humorous and candid shot-from-the-hip sums up the characters typically encountered travelling the late-night Underground: the loved-up couple, the a-little-worse-for-wear young lady, the weary seen-it-all-before Transport for London employee – and we love titular nod to the classic Jam track! Camera: Nikon…

Star Letter A bird in the pond I was recently sitting in my garden (I’m based in Switzerland) when I noticed some red kites approaching. I retrieved my D750 and fitted my 300mm PF lens, set the camera for birds in flight and waited… To my disappointment the kites veered off to somewhere apparently more interesting. However, almost at the same moment this grey heron appeared over my next door neighbour’s pond. Not the picture I was expecting to take, but nevertheless quite pleasing, the moral of the story: be prepared! Mark Huskie We want more Nikon software! I’ve been reading N-Photo for around three years now after receiving my D5300 as a Christmas gift from my wife and thoroughly enjoy every bit of it. I am, however, slightly disappointed…

1. Prashant Sainii BUTTERFLY Taken in the Garden Of Five Senses, New Delhi, India, it was Prashant’s first day of shooting with a DSLR! He says there’s so much pleasure to be found in controlling every creative aspect of a shot. 2. Michelle McQuinn ELEPHANT Michelle said that photographing this elephant in Sri Lanka was an amazing opportunity. She encourages others to visit and experience the amazing country. Shot with a Nikon D750 and Nikon 16-35mm. 3. Michelle Howell HARVEST MOUSE Harvest mice are so inquisitive and will quickly explore anything within their reach. Michelle wanted to capture the sheer joy on the face of the mouse as it emerged through the seed head. You’ve absolutely done that, Michelle! 4. Mike Prince HOLME FELL Mike used the ever-impressive Nikon Z…