Into the woods

This issue’s special contributors…

Neil Burnell PAGE 6 If you go down

Welcome to issue 157

Perfect your people pics with our 20 top

LIGHTBOX

Our favourite Nikon images from the Bird Photographer of the Year competition

20 top tips for... Perfect portraits!

James Paterson offers expert advice for photographing people, from the ideal camera settings and kit you need, to how to make your subjects look their very best

AI: it would be wise to embrace change

The speed of adoption of AI has been scarily fast, but as a photographer, sticking your head in the sand and ignoring it is not an option

NIKON PHOTO SKILLS

Ingenious recipes for stunning shots

Projec t one: Flower portraits

Bring the outside in

Projec t two: Mono landscapes

Alright in black and white

Project three: Minimalism

Silky smooth

Projec t four: Affinity Photo

Colour infrared made easy

Projec t five: Adobe CC

Action stations

Project six: The big project

Light up a landscape

Landscape lighting

GET SET UP FOR FLASH PAINTING AND LIGHT YOUR LANDSCAPES FROM ANY ANGLE

Painting with flash

1 Expose for ambient light Begin by setting

Blend your flashes

LEARN HOW TO COMBINE SEVERAL FLASH-LIT FRAMES FOR SPECTACULAR LANDSCAPES

Light-paint astro foregrounds

A POWERFUL TORCH CAN WORK WONDERS OVER NIGHT-TIME SCENES

Mattias Klum

A prodigious photographer, filmmaker, conservationist and artist, Mattias Klum stopped by in London recently to reminisce with Keith Wilson about his early work with National Geographic, meeting Nobel laureates and finding his inspiration in an outhouse…

The wider view

Landscape photographer Ed Collacott reveals his passion for panoramic masterpieces with stunning images of the nation’s bucolic beauty

NIKOPEDIA

The only camera manual you’ll ever need...

Preset white balance

You can use this to get neutral colours under artificial lighting

Temperature and tint explained

White balance settings are determined by the ‘colour temperature’ of the light

White balance and Raw converters

Different Raw programs don’t always agree about white balance settings…

Step by step White balance fine-tuning

You can adjust the white balance presets manually and even get the camera to shoot alternatives

White balance presets

What they do and when to use them

In-camera processing

On most Nikons you can edit Raw files directly

Auto white balance

There’s more to AWB than meets the eye

Ask Matthew...

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Secondhand superstar

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2023

The search for the world’s best Nikon photographer of 2023 continues! Each issue the monthly N-Photo POTY 2023 photo contest’s top 10 images are selected by the N-Photo team. This issue’s competition has the theme of food & drink…

WIN! A Nikon Z9

The overall winner of N-Photo’s Photographer 6 of the Year 2023 will receive the grand prize of a Nikon Z 9!

Star Letter Holy moly

Readers’ letters

After Apprentice

Nigel Wood took on board everything James Paterson had to say during their portraitthemed Apprentice, and here’s the proof...

GearZone

New gear, buying advice and the world’s toughest tests

CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

Perfect prezzies to treat photographers (or yourself) this Christmas!

UNDER £100

Style meets substance in these top gear buys

UNDER £200

CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE

UNDER £300

Treat loved ones (or you) to these quality buys this Xmas

Nikon Z f £2299/$1999 www.nikon.co.uk

Its inspiration may have been born in the ’80s, but the Nikon Z f is definitely a product of 2023

Super-telephoto zooms

Here are the best-buy super-telephoto zooms for shooting action, sport, wildlife and more

Sigma 100-400mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C £699/$699

This Sigma super-tele is a downsized delight, offering compact and lightweight convenience

How we test

We combine real-world shots with a range of our lab tests

Tamron 100-400mm f/4.5-6.3 Di VC USD £799/$799

This is the outright lightest lens in the group, undercutting the competing Sigma by 45g

Distortion

Here’s how the lenses compare for distortion

Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | C £849/$939

Sigma’s ‘Contemporary’ 150-600mm packs a lot into a relatively lightweight build

Sigma 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DG OS HSM | S £1279/$1699

This impressive lens is great value but is it worth the weight?

Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2 £1279/$1399

Tamron’s second-generation 150-600mm super-telephoto has an extensive redesign

Beat the shakes

Optical stabilization can be a major advantage on telephotos

Nikon AF-S 200-500mm f/5.6E ED VR £1399/$1397

Remarkably, this Nikon lens is the only one in the whole group with a constant aperture

Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG OS HSM | S £1699/$1999

Super-telephoto meets superzoom in this unique Sigma lens

Nikon Z 180-600mm f/5.6-6.3 VR £1799/$1697

Nikon’s latest Z-mount super-tele gives you real telephoto reach at a competitive price

Colour fringing

There’s not much to worry about here

Nikon AF-S 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6G ED VR £2299/$2297

This pricey but classic Nikon super-tele zoom improves on the previous Nikon 80-400mm

Zoom-zoom!

This sequence shows the reach you get at various focal lengths

Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S £2549/$2697

A triumph of performance over outright reach, this Z-mount lens gives a stellar performance

The winner is… Nikon Z 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 VR S

Nikon’s high-performance Z-mount S-line lens wins out but by a narrow margin

Nikon cameras

The current range of Nikon DSLR, Coolpix & Z-series mirrorless cameras

Nikon-fit lenses

Your at-a-glance guide to the current crop of Nikon-fit lenses

The Fuji crusher

Mike Harris reckons the Nikon Z f is a home run for Nikon and will entice fresh photographers over to Z mount