N-Photo: the Nikon magazine September 2021

Neil Freeman PAGE 6, 82 & 86 Nikon School’s top tutor takes our Apprentice on a day out to the Yorkshire Dales – in addition to his Nikon Academy duties! Edyta Rice PAGE 26 Landscape pro Edyta explains how to transform scenic shots into something that’s magical, mystical and mysterious… James Paterson PAGE 52, 54 & 56 Photo-editing whiz James teaches Adobe CC and Affinity Photo tricks, plus how to use lighting gels in our Big Project. Andrea Jones PAGE 64 Garden photographer Andrea shares her horticultural shots and talks all things green-fingered in the N-Photo interview. Rick Tomlinson PAGE 72 Arctic explorer Rick takes us on voyages to Svalbard and Greenland to capture polar landscapes and wildlife. Matthew Richards PAGE 104 Matthew adds a dash of flash to our Big Test, as he puts eight great Nikon-fit Speedlights through their paces.…

There are landscapes and then there are magical, mystical, mysterious landscapes – images with some extra enchanted element that seem to be about more than the location itself. Edyta Rice shows how you can add a sense of the surreal to scenic shots. We get our hands on the shiny new – or should that be ‘old’? – Nikon Z fc. It has cutting-edge mirrorless tech on the inside but borrows deeply from Nikon’s classic design heritage on the outside, with a stunning retro look and old-school mechanical dials. Also in our gear section, we round up eight flashguns for adding a burst of light to your images in our Big Test, while in Help Me Buy we check out 10 camera strap alternatives. We treat our Apprentice to a day out…

THE PRO NAME: Neil Freeman CAMERA: Nikon Z 7II Neil is training manager at Nikon School, heading up workshops to shoot every subject under the sun, but his first love has always been landscapes. So much so that he relocated from his native London to the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, due to its proximity to four National Parks being within just a couple of hours’ drive: the Lake District, Peak District, North Yorkshire Moors and the Yorkshire Dales, the location of this Apprentice shoot. www.nikonschool.co.uk THE APPRENTICE NAME: Sarah Londesborough CAMERA: Nikon D500 Sarah lives in the East Yorkshire village of Anlaby and is head of faculty operations at the nearby University of Hull. She bought a D5500 two years ago, upgrading to a D500 last year, and has attended a number of Nikon School’s online courses to…

LIVE VIEW Neil says… The best shots are rarely taken from standing height, and my mantra is to get ‘low and close.’ The articulating screen of Sarah’s D500 enables images to be shot from a comfortable shooting position. It also gives a live preview of how the shot will turn out before you actually take it. EXPOSURE DELAY MODE Neil says… I’ve lost count of the number of remote releases I’ve mislaid over the years, and instead suggest using Exposure Delay mode – when the shutter button is pressed the mirror is raised but the exposure is taken a couple of seconds later, enabling any vibrations from ‘mirror slap’ to subside. MY MENU Neil says… Over the course of our shoot I’d suggested Sarah tweak many settings found under different menus, such as Airplane mode…

DYNAMIC RANGE Neil says… To achieve the greatest possible tonal range in your image, move the Highlight slider to the left to bring back highlight details. Then move the Shadows slider to the right to reveal shadow details. You will get the best results if you shoot 14-bit Raw files. CONTRAST & COLOUR Neil says… Use an ’S’ curve to add contrast; this can further reveal details in both shadow and highlight areas, and is a much better approach than simply using the Contrast slider. Use colour editing tools, such as Vibrance, to add a little ‘punch’, if needed. SHARPENING Neil says… Sharpening should be applied as you finish your edits to bring out fine detail in the landscape. Use either Clarity, Texture or Structure sharpening, making small adjustments to the sliders each time, being…

DALES SUNRISE I’m a huge fan of shooting before sunrise; the light can be magical if everything comes together. This is about 20 minutes before dawn. By using a long lens, I was able to compress the perspective in the image to emphasize the mist and layers, which are being subtly backlit by the sunrise. SNOWDONIA SUNRISE Motion is a great compositional element and I find myself always looking to try and create motion in water or clouds using ND filters. The use of a 14mm lens also gave me the opportunity to get ‘low and close’ to maximize the impact of the foreground. AURORA BOREALIS Locations such as Kirkjufell, Iceland, allow me to bring together my passion for landscapes, waterfalls and astro all in one image. When shooting the aurora, just make sure your…