Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2022 i N-Photo: the Nikon magazine

EXPOSURE AIDS Mark says… Playback Display Options in the Playback Menu allows you to customize what information you see during playback. I like to enable Exposure Info, Highlights and RGB Histogram. These are all useful for keeping tabs on your exposure, but the Histogram is the most accurate. LONGER EXPOSURES Mark says… You can turn Extended Shutter Speeds on via the Custom Settings Menu. This handy function lets you shoot exposures up to 15 minutes in length, without having to resort to Bulb or Time Mode. It’s only available while shooting in Manual, which is my preferred shooting mode. FILTER-FOCUS HACK Mark says… A filter can cause AF to focus or hunt; it’s common practice to switch to manual focus once the filter is attached, to prevent the shutter button…

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The Mission – Learn how to conquer white balance, no matter the scenario Time – One hour Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Nikon camera with the ability to shoot Raw files – Adobe Camera Raw VIEWTHE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto141 Have you ever wondered why some photographs have a warm, yellowish hue, while others have a cooler, bluish hue? This is because light sources emit different colour temperatures; although the human eye is very adept at neutralizing them automatically, a camera sometimes needs a helping hand. White balance is so called because it refers to the process of rendering a white object white, despite the colour temperature of the light source. Colour temperature is measured in Kelvins (K) – direct sunlight is roughly 5000K, for example, and our…

The Mission – Enhance Raw portraits with the Develop Persona in Affinity Photo Time – 15 minutes Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – Affinity Photo VIEWTHE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto141 If you want to get the most out of your portraits, it makes sense to shoot in Raw. Not only do Raw files give you greater headroom for editing, they also afford you more control over colours. But it does mean you need to commit to extra editing time to process each Raw file. Thankfully, Affinity Photo’s Raw workspace – the Develop Persona – offers an array of powerful Raw tools that allow you to enhance your people photos with ease. Raw files tend to look slightly flat and soft to begin with – especially compared to JPEG files,…

Core skills…

Gurvir Johal Profile ● Gurvir Johal is a Birming-hambased wedding photographer who specializes in Sikh, Hindu, Muslim and Indian weddings.● In 2018, he was ranked ‘Third-Best Wedding Photographer in the World’ and the number-one wedding photographer in the UK and Europe by the One Eyeland International photography awards.● He is a Double Master photographer of the Las Vegas-based Wedding & Portrait Photography International (WPPI) and a Fellow of the Society of Wedding and Portrait Photographers (SWPP).● Gurvir adopts a photojournalistic approach to document wedding stories in an emotive, timeless and creative fashion.● A Nikon #Zcreator and ambassador for GraphiStudio, Light & Motion, and Fundy Designer album software, Gurvir is a headline speaker at The Photography Show. Book tickets at www.photographyshow.com It’s the start of another week at the height of…

Download your free digital preview guide to the show, which includes essential info, show map and more: https://bit.ly/tps-22 We’re very excited that The Photography Show & The Video Show 2022 at the NEC is just around the corner. As well as coming to say hello to the N-Photo team on stand M500, there’s loads more going on this year. There are some legendary speakers on the Super Stage line-up, the kit deals at the show on the dealer stands are some of the best you can get, and you can watch a host of live demos and inspiring talks! Even better, Nikon will be there with its huge stand, where you can experience first-hand the very latest Nikon cameras and lenses. If you’re not looking for new gear, there are…

How much processing do you want? Your camera offers a wealth of options Save as JPEG By default, your Nikon camera shoots ready-to-use JPEG files in one of three quality settings: Fine, Normal and Basic. The Fine option is visible here in the Shooting menu under Image Quality. JPEGs are processed in-camera. 12-bit or 14-bit? Simpler Nikon cameras save Raw files using 12 bits of data per pixel. This is a big improvement on the eight bits used for JPEGs, but more advanced models offer a 14-bit Raw format for even higher quality and billions of possible colours. Shoot Raw Nikon cameras can also shoot Raw or ‘NEF’ files. Raw files need to be converted on a computer before you can edit them, but they give you more control over…

It’s important to understand the effect of Picture Controls and how to get the best from them. If you’re shooting JPEGs, you could just use the Standard setting and edit your pictures later in a program such as Photoshop Elements, but the quality may not be quite as good as if you’d chosen a more appropriate Picture Control to start with. Choosing a suitable Picture Control doesn’t just save you editing time later, either: it will also help you work towards the result you’re aiming for much more easily. This applies especially to black-and-white photography if you don’t use the Monochrome Picture Control, it can be hard to imagine how the colours in a picture will translate into shades of grey – and this applies even if you’re shooting in…

Q I get a red band across some of my images when I use a Lee Big Stopper filter with my D810. What might be causing this? Anne Peck A The Lee Big Stopper filter cuts the amount of light entering the lens by the equivalent of 10 f-stops, so you need to be careful that light doesn’t enter the camera from other areas. Lee says the filter must always be used in the rearmost slot (closest to the lens), with the foam gasket sealing the filter against the holder body to the rear. Ensure that the foam gasket around the edge of the filter is fully intact and undamaged. The other thing that’s important while using a DSLR is that the viewfinder is covered during the exposure, to stop light…

1. Silver Bullet BY NIGEL WOOD This image is all about the light breaking through the clouds and settling on the de Havilland Vampire, separating the silvery jet fighter from the overcast sky. The single subject and a wealth of space have created a minimalist aesthetic, bolstered by the mono conversion and its removal of any colourful distractions. The final component is a dark vignette that channels the viewer’s gaze. Camera: Nikon Z 6II Lens: 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Exposure: 1/1600 sec, f/6.3, ISO100 2. Mudslide BY RON BOON The secret to capturing moving vehicles is often conveying movement via spinning wheels, prop blur or motion blur; but, despite being frozen still at 1/2500 sec, this sidecar still conveys plenty of movement due to the riders’ dynamic poses and the flying particles…

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 Our scoring system Forget about it! Below average Good for the money Excellent product Best-in-class…

The original Nikon F 35mm film camera broke new ground when it was launched in 1959. 63 years later, Nikon is still bringing revolutionary new cameras to the market, and there have been plenty of landmark models along the way that will go down in history. More recently, Nikon’s mirrorless Z system bodies and lenses take everything to a whole new level. FX (full-frame) mirrorless cameras boast advanced autofocus systems and in-body image stabilization that make it hard to miss a shot; and while DX format (APS-C) Z cameras lack in-body stabilizers, optical stabilization is available in all of Nikon’s DX format Z-mount lenses thus far. All in all, Z system cameras are a force to be reckoned with – but they’re certainly not the only choice. Photographers have been…

How do you photograph a world-famous landmark, such as the Eiffel Tower, in a way that’s not been done a million times before? That’s the question that travel pro Dave Williams sets out to answer in this issue’s lead feature, which guarantees to have you shooting familiar subjects in unfamiliar ways. Our apprentice, meanwhile, heads to Dorset to shoot lighthouses, piers and other seaside structures with the aid of landscape pro Mark Bauer for a stunning coastal masterclass. This issue’s interview is with Asian wedding photographer (and Nikon #Zcreator) Gurvir Johal, whose breathtakingly painterly wedding portraits have won him plaudits aplenty. In our Gear section, we compare every Nikon DSLR and mirrorless to help you decide which model is right for you when it’s time to upgrade. We also rate…

I’ve been active as a professional photographer for some time, specializing in travel and the cold, but I’ve been a ‘camera owner’ since the age of 14. Now these camera owners are providing dedicated photographers like us with some competition in the modern arena, thanks to the affordability of really great gear and the accessibility of some seriously photogenic locations. Combined with the rise of the social media influencer, we often find ourselves struggling to stand out from the crowd. Instagram is one of the most common platforms for sharing photos, but the way its algorithm works makes it more and more difficult to keep up and generate engagement. Instagram, owned by Meta, generates revenue by showing ads. Our posts serve only one purpose to Meta – to keep people…

The Mission – Capture a series of images to create a one‑colour montage Time – Four hours Skill level – Beginner Kit needed – ‘Nifty fifty’ or kit lens – Macro lens or Lensbaby Spark (optional) – Photoshop VIEWTHE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto141 Do you feel like you don’t head out with your camera enough? You could be struggling to think of what to shoot. If you don’t have any imminent photography trips planned and you’re fed up with taking the same old pictures during your daily walk around the block, perhaps it’s time you embarked on a mini-project. Over the past month, we’ve been photographing a huge variety of subjects around the house and out on walks, but with one simple condition: each subject had to be red. Once…

FREE! 20 custom lightbeam brushes The Mission – Enhance a photograph with a convincing lightbeam effect Time – 30 minutes Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Photoshop CC VIEWTHE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto141 If you want to add striking lighting effects to one of your images, then the free gift supplied with this issue will have you beaming! It comprises 20 custom-made brushes, which will add amazing lightbeams to your shots. Whether you want to have rays of light boosting the mood in a window-lit interior, or streaming through the tree canopy in a woodland scene, you’ll find the ideal effect for the job in this 20-brush kit. The brush shapes aren’t limited either: they’re designed to be applied to a fresh layer and then pulled into the exact…

Fix noisy night exposures TACKLE THE IMAGE NOISE YOU OFTEN GET WHEN YOU SHOOT AT NIGHT When you edit your Milky Way photos, one of the key concerns is handling the noise that naturally occurs when using ISOs upwards of 3200. A good noise reduction workflow is essential. While Adobe leads the way in most areas of image editing, the noise tools in Lightroom and Photoshop lag behind the very best. DxO PhotoLab offers the DeepPrime tool, which automatically clears up noisy photos. The results on high-ISO photos can be astonishing. Then there’s Topaz deNoise AI and On1 NoNoise AI. Like PhotoLab, these employ artificial intelligence for great results.…

After a lot of complicated bureaucracy, my cameras and I, plus 100 rolls of film, had finally arrived where I wanted to be: speeding through the desert sands of the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia. It was 1970 and I was there on assignment for a chapter of the National Geographic book Nomads of the World. After driving through the cool of the night and welcoming a golden dawn, our jeep rounded another sand dune to land in a cluster of five Bedouin tents. After the customary, lengthy greetings, we were soon seated on rugs in a tent, ready for the traditional coffee ceremony. I photographed Bedouin life for a few weeks on that trip, and this certainly wasn’t my first time to the desert. One particular morning stands out.…

Camera: Nikon D5600 Lens: 55mm f/2.8 Exposure: 1/4 sec, f/11, ISO400 MISSION: Express my passion for insects; provide an insight into their incredible mastery of the air PHOTOGRAPHER: Norman Fuller LOCATION: Norfolk, England KIT USED: Nikon D5600, Nikon AI-S Micro 55mm f/2.8, Nikon FM10 shutter FACEBOOK: bit.ly/3oAtR3P INSTAGRAM: @fullernormie I started working on insect flight photography in the late 1970s – back when you used to put rolls of film in cameras. After some success publishing articles, life got in the way and photography took a backseat until I eventually stopped altogether. I always vowed to rekindle my passion for photography; and, after a gap of 30 years, I decided it was time to return. With camera technology’s shift to digital during the intervening years, I had to alter the…

Worth £53/$69! Free for N-Photo readers Windows only When you shoot a scene with a bright sky above a dark landscape, the resulting image can exceed the dynamic range of your Nikon camera’s sensor, unable to properly expose both the brightest and darkest areas of the image. One solution is to shoot a ‘bracketed’ sequence of images at different exposures for processing into a ‘high dynamic range’ image. By merging the data from underexposed and overexposed shots, an image that is rich in detail in everything from the darkest shadows to brightest highlights can be produced. However, care needs to be taken when processing such shots: some may prefer a naturalistic view, others a hyper-detailed look. HDR Projects takes the guesswork out of creating HDR images. Rather than having to fiddle with…

Q I’ve read good reviews of Tamron’s 90mm macro lens, but I can’t find a new one anywhere. Is it a good buy? Izzie Beck A Matthew recommends… The latest edition of Tamron’s long line of 90mm macro lenses is a great used buy – especially now that it’s been discontinued and you can’t buy a new one. Tamron SP 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 VC USD AN EXCELLENT FULL 1:1 MACRO LENS, THE TAMRON COMES COMPLETE WITH ‘HYBRID’ OPTICAL STABILIZATION RELEASED: 2016 PRICE NEW: £649/$649 SECONDHAND PRICE: ‘Excellent’ £435/$450 ‘Good’ £385/$390 Tamron’s popular line of 90mm macro lenses stretches back to 1979. The latest F017 edition packed a host of updates, including two top-grade XLD (eXtra Low Dispersion) elements, weather seals and a protective fluorine coating on the front element. Tamron…

Laowa 12-24mm f/5.6 £729/$649 www.ukdigital.co.uk We’ve become used to new lenses from Laowa being incredible macro probe lenses, or ultra-fast prime optics – but this new 12-24mm f/5.6 zoom is something different. This time Laowa’s aim was to produce a compact and affordable ultra-wide zoom for full-frame mirrorless cameras, naturally including the Nikon Z series. It joins the 10-18mm f/4.5-5.6 in Laowa’s ultra-wide range, with the aim of offering more consistent image results than its more extreme stablemate. The new lens should appeal to photographers who enjoy shooting landscapes, architecture and interiors, although an unusually short 15cm minimum focus distance gives potential for close-ups too. Many Laowa lenses provide a careful balance of price and performance: some bells and whistles might be missing, but that means you should get a…

If you’re passionate about photography or video, this is the event for you. The only show of its kind in the UK, The Photography Show & The Video Show is the perfect destination for amateur and professional creatives alike - and over four days in September, it’ll be the centre of all things imaging. 2022 will see a show floor nearly twice the size of 2021, with the latest kit on hand to try out (and buy!). Our headliners, including Cristina Mittermeier and Colin Prior, will share top-level advice on the Super Stage (see page 16) and you’ll see some fantastic action and drama on the Photo Live Stage (see page 07). Brand new stages and theatres will feature alongside old favourites. Why not immerse yourself in travel and outdoor…

FREE CREATOR STAGE For the content creator and the pro creative alike, the Creator Stage will offer a whole realm of ideas for content creation. Then let your imagination run riot in our playground, with funky sets, optical illusions and giant props - bring your friends and have fun! SPONSORED BY SONY NEW PROGRAMMES COMING SOON VIDEO HUB Combining the best brands and expertise in video, the Video Hub will showcase video kit and offer the opportunity to discover more about filmmaking -whether your ambition is adding video to your services or becoming the next Netflix chart-topper. SUPER STAGE SATUR DAY, 17 SEPTEMBER 13:15-14:30 Chase Jarvis - £12 The extraordinary power of creativity applied 15:30-16:45 Colin Prior - £12 A state of imagination SUN DAY, 18 SEPTEMBER 13:15-14:30 Cristina Mittermeier -…

THE PRO NAME: Mark Bauer CAMERA: Nikon Z 7II Award-winning landscape photographer Mark has photographed the width and breadth of England’s southwest. He turned pro over 15 years ago, and has since authored a variety of books and featured in a number of photography publications. In 2008 he cofounded Dawn 2 Dusk Photography, which provides landscape workshops and tours, so he’ll have no problem providing Sam the tuition he needs to up his skillset. www.markbauerphotography.com THE APPRENTICE NAME: Sameer Shekhar CAMERA: Nikon Z 7II Program director Sam was introduced to photography at a young age, when his father gifted him a Yashica film camera. His interest in the hobby grew steadily, but he let it lapse in 2005. Like so many, Sam rekindled his love of photography during lockdown. Even…

Cubs at Sunrise ANDREW PARKINSON We had found this cheetah family before sunrise. As the sun crested the horizon, the family moved off. The cubs, however, were not cooperating with their mother and were unable to resist stopping on a fallen log. This image was captured in the Mara North Conservancy in Kenya, where I was leading a photographic safari. Camera:Nikon Z 9 Lens: Nikon AF-S 600mm f/4E FL ED VR Exposure: 1/2000 sec, f/4, ISO1600 Zebra Herds MIA COLLIS This was photographed in northern Kenya, where the largest herds of Grevy’s zebras still exist. I had been told that in a drought season, people had witnessed Grevy’s zebras joining the Samburu cattle herds and being shown where to find water. I was on a mission to photograph this for…

The Mission – Shoot a safari Time – One week! Skill level – Intermediate Kit needed – Two camera bodies – Telephoto zoom – Super-telephoto zoom VIEWTHE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto141 Going on a safari is a wildlife photographer’s dream. The opportunity to photograph exotic creatures of all shapes and sizes in their natural habitat, from big cats to the biggest land-dweller of them all, the mighty African elephant, is likely to be a oncein‑a-lifetime trip for most of us; so it pays to make sure that you maximize your chances of returning with images that do your adventure justice. Long lenses are a must, but these can be rather expensive pieces of glass, so consider hiring rather than buying. We’d also recommend taking more than one camera body so…

The Mission – Capture the Milky Way galactic core in night-time scenes Time – Two hours Skill level – Advanced Kit needed – Tripod – Torch – Wide-angle lens – Astronomy app VIEWTHE PROJECT VIDEOS ONLINE www.bit.ly/NPhoto141 Whether you’re just getting started with astrophotography or you’ve been fumbling around in the dark for years, the galactic core of the Milky Way is one of the most spellbinding areas of the night sky. And you don’t need specialized kit to capture it: all you need is your Nikon, a tripod and a decent wide-angle lens. In this project we’ll show you how to shoot for the core, which settings you need and how to add impact to the shot by light-painting the foreground. A shoot like this is all about the…

68% off HDR Projects 8! HDR Projects 8 Professional offers a whole host of new and improved features that make it an essential upgrade! This latest version now has 188 optimized HDR presets, offering even more ways to process images. The Raw module includes all the editing functions of a professional Raw converter, while ‘batch processing with automatic bracketed exposure series detection’ simultaneously develops thousands of HDR exposure brackets. The program works standalone or as a plug-in for Lightroom Classic and Photoshop – and this newest version is available for Mac as well as PC! Go to www.projects-software.com/hdr and save 68% with the code NPHOTO-HDR…

£6299/$6499 www.nikon.co.uk The Nikon Z 800mm f/6.3 VR S is a pro-grade super-telephoto prime with powerful reach and an impressive set of high-end features. There’s no getting away from the fact that super-tele lenses are typically big and heavy. However, thanks partly to the inclusion of a Phase Fresnel element, the Z 800mm certainly isn’t massive and, given its 2385g weight, you don’t need to be a bodybuilder to tackle handheld shooting. The Nikon Z 400mm f/2.8 TC VR S and the Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM are both noticeably heavier, weighing in at 2950g and 2860g respectively. Key features The monster super-telephoto 800mm reach is ideal for bird photography, as well as for action, sports, wildlife and pretty much any time you can’t get as close to the…

The camera-buying trajectory of most Nikon enthusiasts often goes something like this: buy a D3xxx-series body; progress onto the D7xxx series; buy a used pro-quality DSLR (think D750); and finally invest in something like a D850 or Z 7II. There’s something undeniably alluring about big cameras with big sensors. Perhaps it’s because they make you feel like more of a photographer – a declaration to the world that you couldn’t be more dedicated to your craft. Maybe it’s because they represent the peak of modern-camera technology; or perhaps it’s just because humans are hard‑wired to think that bigger is better... A little goes a long way This way of thinking extends to the general public too. People are more likely to step aside and let the serious’tog work if you’re…

CHASE JARVIS Best known for his creative flair across a range of disciplines Join renowned photographer, creator and entrepreneur Chase Jarvis for this inspiring talk to learn specifically how putting small, daily actions to work can supercharge our innate creativity and help us rediscover our personal power in life. Chase Jarvis is an award-winning artist, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and one of the most influential photographers of the past 20 years. His expansive work ranges from shooting advertising campaigns for companies like Apple, Nike, and Red Bull; to working with athletes like Serena Williams and Tony Hawk, to collaborating with renowned icons like Lady Gaga and Richard Branson. In 2013 Chase contributed to the Pulitzer-Prize winning New York Times story Snowfall, and in 2014 earned an Emmy nomination for his documentary…

35MMC & PIXL-LATR POD3 An effective solution for holding film and diffusing backlight for digitisation with a digital camera. pixl-latr.com AADUKI MULTIMEDIA INSURANCE M 196 Bespoke insurance solutions for photographers. aaduki.com ADAPTALUX LTD J 196 Innovative miniature lighting studio that’s ideal for macro. adaptalux.com ADVANCED CAMERA D 402 SERVICES Camera-repair specialists renowned for their infrared and UV sensor conversion services. advancedcameraservices.co.uk AFFINITY PHOTO B 802 Award-winning, low-cost editing software for creative professionals. affinity.serif.com/photo AFTERSHOOT L 192 Supports workflow through AI. aftershoot.com AJ’S K 601 Providers of professional lighting and other studio equipment. aj-s.co.uk ALAMY N 304 The world’s most diverse stock library, with over 155 million images. alamy.com ALFIE CAMERAS POD4 An analogue camera range re-inventing film photography. alfiecameras.com AMARAN / APUTURE B700 Professional film lighting. aputure.com AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHER L 607 A photographic…