Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2016 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

Nikon images shortlisted for this year’s Wildlife Photographer of the Year Nosy Neighbour Sam Hobson, UK Sam wanted to capture the inquisitive nature of the urban red fox in a way that would pique the curiosity of its human neighbours. He spent weeks scouting for the ideal location in Bristol, the UK’s famous fox city. He discovered a wall that one curious fox cub liked to peek over and sit on in the early evening. Setting his focus very close to the lens, Sam stood back and waited. He was rewarded when the youngster peeked over and stayed motionless for long enough to create this intimate portrait. Nikon D800, Nikon 17–35mm f/2.8, 1/6 sec, f/4.5, ISO800 Blast Furnace Alexandre Hec, France When the golden lava flow from Kilauea on Hawaii’s…

The mission To explore different ways to capture your local funfair Time Two hours Skill level eginner Intermediate Advanced Kit needed Nikon D-SLR Tripod Cable release  Fairgrounds and funfairs offer all kinds of opportunities for great photos. First and foremost are the rides – all twirling metal and lights. Then there are the thrill-seeking punters, the colourful sideshows and all the other details of the fair. With such vibrant visual treats, it’s not hard to come away with knockout photos. It’s the thrill of high-speed action that draws the crowds to the fair, and all that motion is just as enticing to photographers. Armed with a tripod and a few simple camera skills we can capture the action as beautiful blurred motion. But shooting the fair isn’t just all…

The mission To enhance your sunset photos Time 30 minutes Skill level Beginner Intermediate Advanced Kit needed Photoshop CC How many times have you held your Nikon up to a sunset, in Auto mode or otherwise, and taken a snap, only to find the image doesn’t look anything like the scene does when you’re standing right in front of it? Those leaden-looking evening skies can be so dispiriting. It’s tempting to give in and not photograph sunsets, but you can actually recover and create a lot of atmosphere in Photoshop. On location, ensure that your shot is in focus and you have good composition, and after a little time in the digital darkroom you can make your sunsets sing. Let’s see how to use some basic tools you’re…

Cameron Tubb makes a splash with his portfolio of extraordinary photos of ordinary things When I started college three years ago, I decided to take a photography course. I chose the course because I wanted to try something new that still involved my interest in nature and wildlife. During the course I found other areas of photography interesting, as I was able to control my surroundings, enabling me to take detailed photos. The Nikon D3100 was the first camera I bought, and I have recently decided to upgrade to the D7200. I feel that I shoot macro and wildlife best, but I tend to struggle with other genres of photography. I’d really like to have some constructive criticism on my photos from an expert, to help me to improve my…

 You might well ask in response to this title ‘What curse? Aren’t these tools such as highlight recovery, clarity and de-haze simply marvellous new ways, inconceivable in the days of film, of bringing out anything and everything from an image and enabling total creative freedom?’ These relatively new algorithms work at the level of neighbouring pixels in quite complex operations, and are all the children of HDR tone-mapping, hence the term tone mapping operators, or TMOs. They work locally but are normally used globally, although Adobe’s ACR (that is used by both Lightroom and Photoshop) enables you to apply them locally, as in a radial filter. The seeming miracle of opening up shadow areas, restoring detail in highlights and generally making everything look more detailed and clear has been…

Manfrotto X-PRO three-way head Body material Aluminium Base diameter 60mm Top, bottom Attachment 1/4, 3/8 inch Front/lateral tilt -30º to +90º Quick release plate 200PL-14 Working height 13cm Maximum load 8kg Weight 1000g Price £100/$150 Manfrotto XPRO ball head Body material Magnesium Base diameter 60mm Top, bottom attachment 1/4, 3/8 inch Front/lateral tilt -90 to +40#186; Quick release plate 200PL-14 Working height 11.5cm Maximum load 10kg Weight 500g Price ­110/$150 Design Based on a conventional three-way design, the X-PRO three-way is crafted from aluminium and features locks for tilt, pan and swivel movements, with dual friction dampers. Three built-in spirit levels assist levelling in both landscape and portrait orientation shooting. Speed Adjustments can feel long-winded with the three-way head, as you have to release and tighten three knobs to enable…

Most theatre photography shows the performance as it is seen on stage. Typically a photographer is given a seat way back in the stalls during a dress rehearsal, and the performers aren’t even aware they’re there. It is a faithful reproduction of the production, with no changes to the staging or lighting. The Lion King musical has been running at London’s Lyceum Theatre for 17 years, and is based on the story and the songs of the Disney animated classic, first released in 1994. So when I was asked to shoot some new publicity shots for the awardwinning show, I wanted to come up with a fresh approach to the photography. Immersive experience I work full time as a photographer and graphic artist for Dewynters, one of the best-known publicists…

Nikon KeyMission 170 & 80 www.nikon.com KeyMission 170: £229/$399, KeyMission 80: £249/$279 In January Nikon announced the KeyMission 360, and now it’s adding a further two action cameras to the range. The new KeyMission 170 – named to reflect its 170-degree field of view – boasts an f/2.8 lens and an 8.3MP, 1/2.3-inch CMOS sensor capable of capturing 4K UHD or 1080p Full HD video, as well as stills. Useful action-orientated extras include slow motion movie capture, time-lapse and loop recording functions, as well as a Highlight Tag feature that enables you to create a montage of stand-out moments. Like the KeyMission 360, the 170 is shock-proof from two metres and freezeproof down to -10 degrees Celsius, although its 10-metre waterproof rating is no match for the 360’s 30-metre resistance.…

PHOTOGRAPHER 1 CHRIS GEORGE Editor-in-chief Chris packed his full-frame Nikon D800 for this challenge, along with a h eavy bag full of dif ferent lenses. He also too k up the driving duties on this scavenger hunt. PHOTOGRAPHER 2 MARCUS HAWKINS Regular N-Photo contributor Marcus opted for the D500 as his weapon of choice for the trip. He was in charg e of navigation, which is probably why we got l o s t so many times! S cavenger hunts are a great way of developing your photographic skills. The restrictions they place on you, in terms of time, technique and subject matter, force you to think creatively, and improve your camera dexterity too. We opted to take a grand tour of the Costwolds, a beautiful region that has a…

The mission To shoot aircraft during take-off, then blend the images in Photoshop Time Three hours Skill level Beginner Intermediate Advanced Kit needed Nikon D-SLR Tripod Cable release Photoshop CS, CC or Elements  Plane-spotters may be the butt of jokes, but when you get up close to aircraft at the airport you can begin to see the appeal of the hobby. It’s genuinely thrilling to see these huge machines soaring upwards in a graceful, endless procession. What’s more, there’s a surprising amount of difference between planes. They come in all sizes, with varied markings, wings and noses. As such, they make the perfect subject for an epic composite image. With a tripod, a clear sky and a few hours to spare, anyone can do it. So perhaps plane spotting isn’t…

THE APPENTICE... NAME Ida Groot-Attias CAMERA Nikon D610 Ida is a fitness enthusiast from Surrey, but when she’s not running or working out, she grabs her Nikon for a spot of photography. Her first love is street photography, but she wants to learn more about wildlife photography, and macro photography in particular. Although she’s attempted macro before, she doesn’t have a strong grasp of the techniques that make macro so specialised and unique, so is keen to get to grips with the basics. THE PRO... NAME Heather Angel CAMERA Nikon D4 As a child Heather loved nature and bred caterpillars in her room. She was given her first ever camera, an Exakta, by her father. This was superseded by a Nikon, and she’s been using Nikons ever since. After studying…

Optimisation means preparing a TIFF from a RAW file to expected industry standards, with a just-full dynamic range and qualities that a typical viewer would expect, and which appear normal. The qualities include overall brightness, contrast, colour saturation and sharpness. This is what, for example, a professional digital pre-press company would do to tweak images if necessary. Over-processing and failure to process adequately are the two widespread ills of image editing, and optimisation involves a lot of avoidance – that is, not using adjustment sliders that superficially offer interesting effects. Optimisation ignores creative choices, and so is not necessarily a guaranteed way of processing. Rather, it’s a starting point. It means the overall colour balance is free of an obvious cast, with anything expected to be neutral (concrete, for example)…

 The ‘processed’ look of a photograph is a new phenomenon that’s the direct result of new digital ways of handling brightness and contrast on a local scale. In film-based photography it had no meaning, because all film and photographic paper responded in much the same way to exposure and processing. Digital algorithmic processing of RAW files has changed this. In Adobe Camera Raw, three sliders in particular work on the entire image but in a local way: Highlights, Shadows and Clarity. They use TMOs (Tone Mapping Operators) that alter brightness by means of very localised contrast, making adjustments based on neighbouring pixels. The results are powerful in that they can ‘open up’ shadow areas with increased localised contrast and crispness. This naturally appeals to us in much the same way…

1 RUN BATCH PROCESS After editing your photos, shift-click to select a batch of them. Choose File>Run Batch Process. Browse to saved adjustments and apply them to every shot, or choose Apply Adjustments already in files. Choose a format to convert RAW files to (such as web-friendly JPEGs). 2 CHOOSE A SIZE Choose a quality setting for your exported batch of images. As we’re saving these example files for sharing via Twitter, a screen-friendly 72 dpi will look fine. The maximum width or height for an expanded image in a Twitter feed is 1024, so type this into Long Edge. 3 CHOOSE A DESTINATION Tick Use source file name. Click on Browse and then choose a folder to send your batch processed files to. Click on Start. The Batch Process…

D-SLR • £400, $TBC (BODY ONLY) / £490, $650 (WITH AF-P 18-55MM VR) • WWW.NIKON.COM Specifications Sensor 24.2-megapixel DX-format CMOS (EXPEED 4) Crop factor 1.5x Memory 1x SD/SDHC/SDXC Viewfinder Eye-level pentamirror viewfinder, 95% coverage Video resolution Full HD (1920x1080) at 60, 50, 30, 25 or 24p ISO range 100-25,600 Autofocus points 11 (1 cross-type) Max burst rate 5fps (11 RAW / 100 JPEG) LCD screen 3-inch, 921,000-dot LCD with 170-degree viewing angle Shutter speeds 1/4000 sec to 30 secs, Bulb Weight 445g (body only) Dimensions 124x98x75.5mm Power supply Li-ion EN-EL14a Battery With Nikon continually expanding its D-SLR line-up, bringing a new entry-level model to the market is harder now than ever. If it’s packed with features then sales of the mid-range cameras are threatened, but stand still and you risk…

The mission To photograph familiar park animals Time One hour Skill level Beginner Intermediate Advanced Kit needed Nikon D-SLR Telephoto lens Bean bag (optional) Most people in the world have access to some kind of animal, whether domestic or wild. And many places around the world have some type of squirrel, or squirrel-type animal (such as a chipmunk). Almost everyone we know has, at some point, taken their Nikon to the local park and snapped some shots of a squirrel, but very few of the photos look like anything more than snaps. We’re going to show you how to take better pictures of creatures you might otherwise overlook. “We’re going to show you how to take better pictures of creatures you might overlook Getting started is simple: just wander…

The mission To replicate the split-toning darkroom technique in Lightroom Time 30 minutes Skill level Beginner Intermediate Advanced Kit needed Lightroom 5 or later  Landscape photographs shot on a dull day can lack impact due to drab colours and an absence of contrast. Interesting detail can be lost in the midtones. But you can produce something much more striking – a dramatic highcontrast split-toned image. Monochrome photos can look very dramatic, but by reintroducing a hint of colour into the scene you can evoke specific moods – melancholy blue, nostalgic sepia – and add more variety. This has been done since the earliest days of photography, though nowadays software has replaced complex chemical toners, and you can be much more precise with the tones you choose. “By reintroducing…

My Mission: To photograph Scotland’s North Coast 500 Photographer: Tracey Whitefoot Age: 41 Location: Nottingham, England Kit: Nikon D800, Nikon AF-S 16-35mm f/4G ED VR, Sigma 70-200mm EX DG OS HSM, Lee filters, Manfrotto BeFree tripod Website: whitefootphotography.com I’ve been a full-time freelance photographer for 10 years. Even now, I still can’t believe I get paid to take photos! Until 2010 I shot with an Olympus system, but decided to change when I needed a new camera. I did a lot of research and went with Nikon because the company’s cameras felt more rugged, and I thought they’d suit all sides of my work. Many of the people whose work I admired at the time also seemed to own Nikon kit. It’s a decision I’ve never regretted, and if I…

Our globetrotting Contributor at Large, renowned photographer and prolific author Michael Freeman, presents a monthly masterclass that’s exclusive to N-Photo. Michael has published dozens of books on photography, including the bestselling Perfect Exposure.  Processing (some call it editing, but see the sidebar on page 79 for why I use this word) has a special role in photography. It used to be simpler and cruder, but now there are so many different possibilities and such sophistication in the competing software that there are arguably too many choices. The result is confusion as to what images ought to look like. I see two kinds of bad processing regularly: one is a simple failure to bring the best out of an image; the other is over-processing, meaning exaggerated contrast, colour, local contrast and…

 Each time you shoot, there’s a reason and a motivation, which may or may not have anything obvious to do with exposure, colour and contrast. We may not always think about it at the time, but usually there are some qualities in the scene that simply attract us. For instance, you may like the way the light flares and suffuses part of the image, or the sharp pattern of dark and light, known as the chiaroscuro. If you’re reasonably aware of this as you’re shooting then you’ll probably already be thinking of how you’ll process the image to make the best of that effect. Even if you’re thinking about more fundamental things than the play of light, such as the right timing to capture a gesture or expression, or a…

 Our old analogue film prints are most likely sitting on a shelf, hidden between the pages of dusty photo albums. While the physical photos in our albums may only be viewed by a handful of people, our digitally shared shots can be enjoyed by people all round the world. In these digital days we’re more likely to share our photographs in a digital format, via online platforms such as Facebook or Twitter. We may also carry our favourite shots around in our phones so that we can show them to friends and family while out and about. While Capture NX-D is designed to help us share shots electronically, we can also use it to produce physical prints that will fit a particular picture frame’s size and shape. You can…

Profile ORIGINALLY FROM GERMANY BUT BASED IN THE UK SIN CE 1990, BRITT A IS PASS IONATE ABOUT ANIMAL RIGHTS Born and raised in Germany, Britta Jaschinski moved to the UK in 1990, and soon rose to prominence with the publication of her book Zoo, which featured gritty mono portraits of captive animals. In the 20 years since, she has won numerous awards for her unique style of artistic photojournalism, which she shoots exclusively on black-and-white film. Britta is the only woman to have won the overall title of the European Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, and she is a highly sought-after speaker and competition judge. BBritta Jaschinski rarely stays in one place for long. When she’s not on assignment – often overseas, sometimes undercover – she exhibits at…

Often overlooked when choosing your first D-SLR, a kit lens can have a big impact on camera usability, performance and image quality. Nikon’s AF-P 18-55mm optic is the standard kit lens bundled with the D3400, and while it doesn’t offer anything new in terms of focallength range or maximum aperture, Nikon has concentrated on improving autofocus. This has been achieved through the use of a stepping motor, which moves in discrete steps to achieve more precise rotational control than a conventional motor. The result is faster, more accurate autofocusing, despite the D3400’s ageing 11-point AF module. Another advantage of Nikon’s stepping motor over its older Silent Wave AF system is its ability to produce smoother, quieter focus transitions when shooting videos. Despite this cutting-edge AF tech, Nikon’s engineers have made…

Photographers often stay well away from a tripod’s centre column, only extending it as a last resort when they want to maximise shooting height. It’s a missed opportunity. Increasingly, manufacturers are developing designs in which the centre column can be rotated through 90 degrees to act as a horizontal boom. But why would you need that? An extending boom is great for macro photography, enabling you to get the camera close enough to what you’re shooting without the tripod legs holding you back. It’s also a big help if you want to photograph objects shooting directly down from above. Another advantage is that you can shoot with a really wide-angle lens without the tripod feet creeping into the picture. And, combined with the multi-angle legs that are featured on the…