Welcome to issue 120

Cast your vote for the Wildlife Photographer of

Lighting the way

Stu Meech proves that our young Apprentice doesn’t need pro gear to develop his skills and take superb shots

LIGHTBOX

Our favourite Nikon images from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award

Magnificent mountains!

Whether shooting up at them or down from them, hills and mountains offer the most dramatic landscapes of all. Edyta Rice shares her top tips for capturing magical mountainscapes

Time to sort out your portfolio

In the quiet of winter, why not cast a critical eye over your portfolio? Utilize this time to improve your selections and attract new customers

Mist opportunities

Mike Harris heads out on a crisp morning to capture a misty scene before the moody conditions disperse

Forkin’ fantastic abstracts

Projec t two: Creative techniques

As far as the eye can see

Mike Harris photographs multiple images of a cityscape and blends them together to create a panorama

Immaculate conception

James Patterson recreates classic conceptual album art and demonstrates key compositing skills in Affinity Photo

A little local knowledge

James Patterson shows how to target areas of a landscape with Photoshop tools and make powerful local adjustments

Photoshop Express

Mike Harris explores Adobe’s free-to-use editing app that’s based on photo-editing juggernaut Photoshop

Impossible bouquets

James Paterson takes inspiration from the Dutch masters to craft a towering flower arrangement

The set-up: self-raising flowers

PREPARE FOR A LARGER-THAN-LIFE FLOWER ARRANGEMENT WITH STUDIO LIGHTING SKILLS

Step by step: build your bouquet

Load into layers Navigate to the photographs that

Top tips: flower fakery

Don’t block the light Fake flowers are ideal

Step by step: light the flowers

A HOME STUDIO KIT ENABLES YOU TO CREATE BEAUTIFUL, CONSISTENT LIGHTING ACROSS YOUR BOUQUET – HERE’S HOW TO GET IT ALL SET UP…

Scotch mist

Mist is the Holy Grail for landscape photographers and can produce some dramatic effects, if you are willing to wait…

Marie Bärsch

To the outsider, fashion and beauty photography seems to operate in its own universe of glamour and glitz. Marie Bärsch is one of the rising young stars in a world where everyone appears forever young. She gives Keith Wilson a glimpse of her new book and a view into this inspiring world…

Desert freeride

Professional extreme sports shooter Daniel Bear unveils his experience of a mountain biking photography project in the desert

Readers’ letters

We’d love to hear your thoughts on the mag and all things photographic! You can write to us, message us or share your images in the following ways: mail@nphotomag.com twitter.com/nphotomag facebook.com/nphotomag instagram.com/nphotomag

Social Club

Your best photographs from our social media channels – be sure to get involved!

Capture emotion

Magdalena Sztechman has worked alongside 39 people with Down’s syndrome to tell how they’ve coped during the pandemic

Moving pictures

Jean-Luc Feixa uses photography to document his discovery of a new home and chooses to follow the paw prints of his cat Pamuk

Ask Matthew...

Our resident Nikon expert Matthew Richards answers your questions and solves your problems. If you have a Nikon-related question, email it to mail@nphotomag.com

Roll on the snow

It pays to never let the weather get the best of you, even if it means a little frostbite…

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2020

The search for the world’s best Nikon photographer of 2020 is finally over! Each issue the monthly N-Photo POTY 2020 photo contest’s top 10 images have been selected by the N-Photo team – but this month we pick the best of the best and crown our winner of the N-Photo Photographer of the Year 2020 competition!

Lab tests explained

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

Our awards in a nutshell

The best performance, design and value A product

Lensbaby Spark 2.0

£150/$200 www.lensbaby.com

Anthropics PortraitPro 21

From £40/$55 www.anthropics.com

Interfit Badger Beam 60W LED Monolight

£199/$199 www.interfitphoto.co.uk

Laowa 15mm f/4.5 Zero-D Shift

£1249/$1199 www.laowalens.co.uk

Syrp Genie Micro

£140/$160 www.syrp.co/uk-en

Help me buy… photo cards

Got a special event to celebrate? Check out our pick of the best personalized greeting cards for weddings, birthdays and more…

Mixbook

£1.98 (single card), shipping from £5.99 

CEWE Photoworld

£9.99 (pack of 10), shipping from £1.99 

Snapfish

£2.49 (single card), shipping from 99p 

Five things to look out for

1 While you can buy cards individually from

Moonpig

£3.49 (single card), shipping from 76p 

Photobox

£1.95 (single card), shipping from £1.99 

Nikon Z 14-24mm f/2.8 S

£2499/$2397

Prime time

Combining a natural perspective with a fast aperture rating, the so-called ‘nifty fifty’ is a hugely popular prime. Here are the best buys

What to look for…

Keep these things in mind when shopping around 

Pick your perfect prime

There’s a range of focal lengths and mount options to ideally suit your camera

Better, faster, more!

Nikon has really pushed the boat out with a couple of recent Z-mount designs

Nikon AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G

£159/$197

Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.8G

£199/$217

Sigma 30mm f/1.4 DC HSM | A

£349/$499

Nikon AF-S 50mm f/1.4G

£389/$447

Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S

£439/$497

Tamron SP 45mm f/1.8 Di VC USD

£439/$399

Nikon Z 35mm f/1.8 S

£639/$697

Sigma 50mm f/1.4 DG HSM | A

£599/$799

The winner is…

Nikon Z 50mm f/1.8 S

Playing politics

Mike Harris discusses objectivity and whether there’s a place for politically charged content in photography magazines