Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2021 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

PLAYBACK OPTIONS Adrian says… Rear LCD screens aren’t very big and it can be difficult to know for sure if you’ve perfected your exposure. I therefore use the RGB Histogram and Highlights to keep tabs on my exposures while out in the field. They can be switched on via ‘Playback display options’ in the Playback Menu. CAMERA SETTINGS Adrian says… My camera settings for a generic fungus close-up would be using Aperture Priority and setting the aperture to f/11, sticking to ISO200 (a habit from my film days) and leaving the White Balance on Auto. I’d then dial in a little exposure compensation, use manual focus and shoot Raw. MIRROR-UP MODE Adrian says… Minimize tripod camera shake by turning any VR off and using Mirror-up mode (DSLR only). When you…

Creation LAURENT BALLESTA Winner, Underwater & Overall Winner For five years Laurent and his team returned to this lagoon, diving day and night to see the annual spawning of camouflage groupers. They were joined after dark by reef sharks hunting the fish. Spawning happens around the full moon in July, when up to 20,000 fish gather in Fakarava in a narrow southern channel. Camera: Nikon D5 Lens: 17-35mm f/2.8 Exposure: 1/200 sec, f/11, ISO1600 Dome Home VIDYUN R HEBBAR Winner, 10 Years and Under Exploring his local theme park, Vidyun found a spider’s web in a gap in a wall. A passing tuk-tuk provided a backdrop of rainbow colours to set off the spider’s silk creation. This tent spider had legs spanning less than 15 millimetres. Instead of spinning new…

Big cities look fantastic when captured from high vantage points because they allow you to get above the majority of buildings and capture a sprawling urban vista. The challenge is finding a suitable vantage point, but you don’t necessarily need to be a seasoned pro photographer to gain top-tier access. Not all tall buildings are out of bounds and with a little research you should be able to find plenty of hotels, high-up restaurants and tourist attractions, such as London’s Sky Garden at 20 Fenchurch Street (AKA the Walkie Talkie). As long as photography is permitted, these towering locations can provide the perfect opportunity to capture photogenic city views. However, safety restrictions mean you’ll almost always have to shoot through glass – even on balconies and roof terraces – and…

Waterfalls are one of the most enticing of landscape subjects. From a photographer’s perspective there’s so much potential. First and foremost there’s the movement of the cascading water, which we can transform into silky-smooth blur with a long exposure. Then there are surrounding details like rocks, rivers and foliage, which can all add wonderful foreground interest. As such, any self-respecting photographer would reach for an ND filter, set up a long exposure and capture the motion in the water as beautiful blur. While this is usually the best course of action, there are other less obvious tricks and skills we can use in combination with our long exposures to elevate our waterfall photos. Some of these tricks are purely camera skills, while others require a combination of camera and post-production…

It is the week after the 57th Wildlife Photographer of the Year Awards, and I’m talking to Angel Fitor, this year’s winner of the Portfolio Award, for a selection of images documenting the life and behaviour of cichlid fish in Africa’s Lake Tanganyika. Most categories in the competition are judged on a single image, but the Portfolio Award requires entrants to submit 10, which the judges reduce to six before making their decision. Given the criteria, the Portfolio Award could be regarded as the hardest category in the competition, so I imagine he will be feeling like he’s walking on water, following his success. Instead, the modest and quietly spoken Angel seems more pleased with the fact that last weekend he went diving for the first time in four months:…

1. Nikon Z 9 blitzes the competition with 120fps bursts The Z 9 has been revealed by Nikon – and it packs unrivalled firepower, including an astonishing 120fps continuous shooting speed, 8K video at up to 60p, and 16-bit Raw imaging from its 45.7Mp stacked sensor. It also boasts a price tag of just $5496/£5299/AU$8999, making it the most advanced and affordable pro camera on the market. https://bit.ly/3GMgEwz 2. 8K has a new king, and it’s the Nikon Z 9 The Nikon Z 9’s first act has been to snatch the 8K throne from its competitors, and crown itself the undisputed king of 8K video. An addition to its other headline features, the Nikon Z 9’s biggest party trick is its ability to record 8K 60p video – something that…

Vari-angle screens To shoot more impactful images in-camera you have a number of options. The most versatile of these is to use the vari-angle screen on cameras such as the D5xxx series or the flip out screen on D850, D780 and Z-series cameras. A moveable LCD screen is especially useful when shooting floor level compositions – gone are the days of laying down on the cold, wet ground to get the best angle! Grid line overlay The grid line overlay can also be used to help with your camera composition, especially if you are photographing a scene that has strong horizontal or vertical lines in it. Even though the grid line display is not set to follow a ‘rule of thirds’ grid on all cameras, you can still use it…

Keeping in trim If you want to post an image to social media, you can use Wi-Fi or Bluetooth on many Nikons to send the image to your smart device. Before you do this, you might want to change its composition. To do this, select the ‘Trim’ option found in the Retouch Menu (paintbrush icon). Select the image The ‘Trim’ option allows you to change both the crop and composition of your image in-camera. It creates a JPEG copy of your shot, so you can still edit the original at a later date if needed. After selecting the Trim option, scroll through your pictures with the multi-selector and choose the shot you would like to edit by pressing OK. Crop, recompose and save Now use the magnify and demagnify buttons…

Q I’d like to upgrade my standard zoom from the DX 18-55mm VR, that was supplied as part of my D5600 kit. What’s a good used buy? Josh Jones A Matthew recommends… The AF-S DX 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR is a classy forerunner that’s much more affordable than some of its competition… Nikon AF-S DX 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR YOU CAN GO WIDER AND LONGER WITH THIS LENS, THANKS TO ITS GREATER ZOOM RANGE RELEASED: 2008 PRICE NEW: £650/$650 ‘Excellent’ £175/$250 ‘Good’ £155/$150 Unlike some of Nikon’s ‘kit’ zoom lenses supplied with cameras, this DX format standalone zoom makes a worthy upgrade. It has a high-tech optical path that includes three aspherical elements and two ED (Extra-low Dispersion) elements, housed in a casing that boasts superior build quality and a weather-sealed…

Lab tests explained Sharpness A chart with multiple sharp boundaries is photographed, the extent of blur at the centre, mid and edges showing how many line widths per picture height the lens can resolve. Simply put, the bigger the numbers the sharper the lens. Fringing Chromatic aberration is visible as purple or green fringing around high-contrast boundaries, caused by different wavelengths being focused on different areas of the sensor. The larger the number, the worse the score. Distortion A lens that bulges towards the edges of the frame produces barrel distortion, shown as a negative score. Pincushion distortion produces a positive score. A score of zero indicates no distortion. Our awards in a nutshell The best performance, design and value A product that gives you more for your money The…

As well as avoiding a trailing sync cable, a wireless trigger typically enables you to alter the power output of one or more flash heads remotely. There’s even more versatility when using a Nikon-dedicated remote trigger with one of the battery-powered flash kits. They enable TTL flash metering, so that the power output is set automatically. High speed sync also becomes available, so that you can use fast shutter speeds exceeding the flash sync speed of your camera. Preferred triggers are the Phottix Odin II TTL for the Elinchrom ELB 500 kit as well as for the Rotolight AEOS LED panel, the Interfit HSS TTL for the Honey Badger Unleashed, and the Profoto Air Remote TTL for the B10 Plus.…

The big news this issue is Nikon’s announcement of the Z 9, its first ‘flagship’ mirrorless, and the specs are truly jaw-dropping, with 120fps, 1/32,000 sec shutter speed, 1000+ Raw bursts, two hours of 8K video, next-generation autofocus and a dazzling 45.7Mp stacked sensor. And we got our hands on it! See our first impressions on page 100. With more and more of ‘normal’ society opening up, enabling such activities as seeing live music, we join photographer Matt Higgs on a rock ’n roll photography masterclass in this issue’s lead feature. We also join this issue’s Apprentice in an ancient woodland deep in rural Sussex to photograph one of nature’s strangest organisms – fungi – under the expert tutelage of top nature pro Adrian Davies. In our Big Test, we…

SET UP YOUR SHOT Adrian says… Find a subject that requires a larger depth of field than is possible via a single shot – rows of mushrooms are a good example. Set your tripod up and frame the shot before focusing on the area you want in focus that’s closest to the camera. NAIL YOUR SETTINGS Adrian says… ‘Focus shift shooting’ is found in the D850’s Photo Shooting Menu. Select the number of shots then the focus step width – it can take trial and error to find what’s best, but a width of 5 worked here. For cameras without this feature, you’ll have to refocus manually between shots. THE PERFECT BLEND Adrian says… Once you press ‘Start’, focus shift shooting will begin. I use Adobe Photoshop to edit my…

Landscape photography is a year-round pursuit and every season is a treasure trove of photographic potential. But Autumn’s melting pot of orange, red and yellow hues is something truly special. However, if you’re going to capture this dazzling display at its very best, you’ve got your work cut out for you. Peak autumn changes year upon year and can depend on the trees you’re shooting and even your location. The best conditions don’t last long either, so if you’re not ready to pounce you can miss your chance. We’d recommend keeping a close eye on the foliage in your area between October and November. If you have a special location in mind, multiple visits will better your chances of hitting autumn’s golden jackpot. While we wouldn’t recommend relying on post-production…

Double-exposures are amongst the easiest of effects to try out on your photos. The act of blending two shots into one is not only eye-catching, but also allows you to explore conceptual themes in your photography. Through your choice of photos, you can create conceptual images that spark ideas and pose questions. You could evoke an atmosphere of big-city melancholy like this, or juxtapose any two themes. The technique is simple in Affinity Photo, and offers an ideal introduction to several layer tools and tricks. We begin by copying one image on top of another, so that they each sit on their own layer. Once done, we can use a layer blending mode to merge them, so that the lighter parts of each image show through, like an old film…

For the past year I have been photographing green avadavats, also called green munias, at Mount Abu Wildlife Sanctuary in India. As part of a conservation photography project, I aim to showcase these rare and spectacularly coloured little birds, which have a declining population. The birds are victims of the unlawful bird trade, while human activity and unmanaged tourism, coupled with negligence and corruption at the local forest department, are accelerating habitat destruction. This makes protecting the hillsides of Mount Abu imperative. Often finding myself wedged between granite boulders and crouched in tight spaces, or near uneven water courses, makes using a tripod and a heavy prime lens impractical. While working in such terrain, one quickly discovers the number of places in which the human body is capable of aching.…

MISSION: Try my best at capturing my own version of the famous gate on Mam Tor’s Great Ridge PHOTOGRAPHER: Philip Myers LOCATION: North Norfolk, UK KIT USED: Nikon D750, Nikon AF 24mm f/2.8D WEBSITE: www.bluepondimages.com Our camping trip in the Peak District had been planned months ago, and finally my tick list of everything needed was complete. Our journey was pretty smooth and uneventful (thank goodness), and after five hours we were unloading the car at the campsite. Once we arrived at Edale and everything was set up, it was time to fire up the stove for a long-awaited cup of tea (ah, bliss!). My wife, Sue, and I had been nervously anticipating this one-week holiday… In June 2020 I was diagnosed with oesophageal cancer and began chemotherapy two months…

VIEWFINDER GRID DISPLAY Depending on your camera, this can be found in the Setup Menu or Custom Settings Menu under ‘d Shooting/display’. It is a simple On/Off setting. You can see this both on the rear LCD screen when using Live View and in the viewfinder. VIRTUAL HORIZON On most modern DSLRs you repeatedly press the Info button to cycle through various screens until you see the virtual horizon overlay display. On Z-series cameras, repeatedly press the Disp button to achieve the same effect. ASPECT RATIO In the Photo Shooting Menu, ‘Choose Image Area’ enables you to quickly select the in-camera aspect ratio for the image. The exact options available depend on your camera, but typically include square (1:1) and widescreen (16:9) ratios. SPLIT SCREEN VIEW For the DSLRs that…

DSLR settings Switch to Live View mode and, if you are using a DSLR, press the Info button multiple times until the virtual horizon display becomes visible. Using mirrorless? If you have a Z-series camera, use either the EVF or rear LCD screen and press the Disp button repeatedly until the virtual horizon display is shown. Use a tripod! It’s easier to get a level horizon using a tripod. You can also use the virtual horizon if shooting handheld, but you will need to be steady when shooting. Check the display The virtual horizon overlay here is yellow, showing that the horizon is not perfectly level in the image, so the camera angle needs to be adjusted. Level up Move your camera until the horizontal line in the overlay is…

The LCH (Lightness, Chroma and Hue) tool gives us the ability to control specific aspects of the colours in images. The Lightness tool changes the brightness of a colour, the Hue alters the shade of a colour and Chroma controls the depth of the colour. These tools can be found under the Adjustments tab, then under the LCH submenu. Like most menus in NX Studio, you have a dropdown option that displays Original Value (this is the setting used for NEF files imported from most cameras) and gives you the option to Record Adjustments or Edit Recorded Adjustments, enabling you to create a ‘profile’ for a specific camera that you can apply to images in the future. When you have chosen the image you wish to edit, go to the…

This is the entry-level model in a wide range of Neewer ‘660’ LED panels, but it’s still based on an array of 330 white and 330 yellow LEDs, enabling a colour temperature range of 3200-5600 Kelvin and a CRI (colour rendering index) rating of >95. The kit includes a set of barn doors, an adjustable U-mount bracket, a mains power supply and a clip-in white diffusion panel, all wrapped up in a quality carrying bag. The panel can also run off a pair of NP-F970-type rechargeable Li-ion batteries, available separately. As usual for this type of kit, you’ll need to buy the lighting stand separately. Performance We rarely criticize LED panels for not being dim enough but, when using both banks of white and yellow LEDs, the stepless power knob…

From dingy pubs with sticky floors hosting the next big thing, to festival fields filled with pyrotechnics and megastars, the electric energy and atmosphere of live music may be hard to bottle as a fan alone, but is a hell of a lot of fun to capture as a photographer. If you have a passion for image-making as well as music, then maybe it’s time to try your hand at combining the two, and in this guide, I’m going to show you how! Of course, music photography is not without its challenges; few subjects are as fast moving or frequently as badly lit as an artist on stage. But that’s also what makes music photography so rewarding – because when you nail that perfect image of your hero in front of…

In the October edition of N-Photo (issue 129) we featured Sara Jazbar’s stunning Confusion series of images in Your Stories, that were, in turn, inspired by the equally dazzling works of Belgian photographer Thomas Vanoost. Sara revealed she overlays her multiple exposures in post production and, while there’s no right or wrong way to perform this age-old technique, digital editing software has afforded us the advantage of being able to fine-tune each and every aspect of our creations. The alternative is relying on your camera’s in-built multiple exposure mode. Although this is perfectly capable of producing incredible images, you have to rely on the camera to process the final exposure and – unless you’re using the Z series’ Overlay Mode – the positioning of each exposure is left ever so…

Natural lens flare occurs when sunlight – or another source of strong, hard light – directly shines on the front element of a lens. We photographers are often at pains to prevent flare, either by using a lens hood or shielding the front of the lens with a hand. But the slight softness, specular highlights and colour shifts that are characteristic of lens flare can be great for enhancing the atmosphere of a scene. However, you don’t necessarily need to wait until the sun is in the perfect position in order to create some of these flares. With a few simple skills in Photoshop, we can make our very own gorgeous flare effects. Our starting point here is the Lens Flare filter in Photoshop. Sure, it’s not bad for a…

MISSION: Capture the night sky through natural arches to form a window to the whole universe PHOTOGRAPHER: Prashant Naik LOCATION: Atlanta, Georgia, US KIT USED: Nikon D810, Nikon AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED, Induro tripod, PHQ3 5-Way Panhead INSTAGRAM: @naikonpixels FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/naikonpixels WEBSITE: www.naikonpixels.com I’m a dedicated landscape photographer and have spent many nights in the remote wilderness, photographing the wonders of the night sky. I was inspired to embark on this project, Window to the Universe, back in 2017, when I photographed the rising of the Milky Way through the pillars of Brasstown Bald Observatory in Georgia [1]. It was an entirely different perspective. I found that watching the night sky through a window in any form, natural or otherwise, was more captivating than simply through the camera’s viewfinder. I…

Time to split Some DSLRs and Z-series cameras have a split-screen function, which is primarily used to help with focusing both the foreground and background of a scene at the same time, but can be also be helpful to quickly check your composition while ensuring the scene is sharp. D850 & D780 On a D850 or D780, Split-screen view can be found by activating Live View, then pressing the ‘i’ button to bring up the menu on the right-hand side of the screen. You will now see two windows, one at normal magnification, the other at 100% magnification. Z-series cameras On a Z-series camera, you need to set it up on the ‘i’ menu. To do this, go to the Custom Settings menu (pencil icon), then the ‘f Controls’ submenu…

Within the Retouch Menu (paintbrush icon) there are a few options that can help to improve the composition of your image in-camera caused by lens anomalies; these are Distortion Control and Perspective Control. Distortion Control can be used to correct barrel and pincushion lens distortions that might appear in your image. It is found mainly on Z-series cameras and is automatically applied when using native Z-series lenses. Most of the time the Auto setting is excellent and, if you use high-quality lenses, you shouldn’t need to use this. You also have the option of applying the Distortion Control manually, if needed. Moving the multi-controller left counteracts barrel distortion, while to the right fixes pincushion distortion. Perspective Control can be used to correct converging verticals in architectural images and is very…

1. Fish Patterns BY SIRSENDU GAYEN This incredible image was captured at Galiff Street’s weekly pet and plant market, near the Shyambazar five-point crossing in Kolkata, India. The entire frame is filled with black and orange fish that contrast beautifully against the white background. A relatively slow shutter speed has been used to capture subtle movements, resulting in an eye-catching watercolour effect. Camera: Nikon D80 Lens: 18mm f/4 Exposure: 1/8 sec, f/22, ISO100 2. The Eye BY ANTÓNIO BERNARDINO COELHO This shot was taken at Porto’s Casa da Música metro station and is a great observation, because the architecture resembles a giant eye. We particularly like how the pigeons on the roof window and against the bright blue sky resemble fish in a tank. The heavy shadow prevents anything from…

Nikon famously arrived late to the full-frame mirrorless party, but the company maintains that what some might see as tardiness enabled it to really take advantage of the benefits that a mirrorless design allows. And the resultant Z mount – with its enlarged aperture and reduced flange distance – has indeed resulted in lenses that offer unparalleled sharpness and overall image quality. The first Z-system cameras were aimed at the advanced-enthusiasts, with the Z 7 roughly equivalent to the D850 DSLR and the lower-resolution Z 6 a close match to the D750, and we’ve since seen some lower end (though hardly ‘entry level’) cameras in the guise of the Z 5, Z 50 and Z fc. And now, arriving fashionably terribly late, we have Nikon’s new flagship, the Z 9.…

1. MAINS POWER All kits here can be powered from the mains, apart from the Honey Badger Unleashed. With mains power you avoid the worry of batteries running flat. 2. BATTERY POWER The three location flash kits are supplied with Li-ion battery packs. Optional battery packs are also available to buy for the three LED panels on test. 3. RF RECEIVER All the kits besides the Neewer and GVM LED panels have built-in RF receivers, for use with compatible hotshoe-mounted remote controllers and triggers. 4. MODELLING LAMP The Elinchrom, Interfit and Profoto battery-powered flash heads have strong LED modelling lamps – useful for shooting short-range video and stills. 5. BI-COLOUR LEDS The LED panels have bi-colour LEDs, and the GVM adds RGB colour control. The Profoto flash head has a…

The GVM 800D is budget-priced but rich in features. 168 white and yellow LEDs deliver a colour temp range of 3200-5600 Kelvin, with an impressive CRI of >97, and it also boasts 84 RGB LEDs. These enable a wide spectrum of coloured light with adjustable hue and saturation, which you can dial in with on-board controls or Bluetooth with the companion app. Command and remote modes are available for multiple panels and special effects include TV, candle, emergency vehicle, lightning, paparazzi, disco, party and ‘bad bulb.’ It comes with a U-mount bracket, barn doors, white diffusion panel and mains power supply, as well as a facility for adding optional NP-F970-type rechargeable Li-ion batteries. Performance Naturally, the bi-colour LED count of 168 is a lot lower than the 660 of the…

Last month the Nikon Z system celebrated its third birthday, but we’ve passed another Nikon anniversary that slipped quietly under the radar. As I waxed lyrical about the Z system in a previous Parting Shot, I joked Nikon was a little late to the mirrorless party, but that’s not entirely true… The Big N first dipped its toes in mirrorless waters just over a decade ago, when it launched the Nikon 1 J1 and V1. A different direction In 2011 the mirrorless market was still very much in its infancy. Olympus and Panasonic’s Micro Four Thirds system was nearly three years old, and both Sony and Samsung had launched their first APS-C mirrorless offerings the year prior – anyone hoping Nikon would release a DX mirrorless camera would have to…