Get creative

Welcome to issue 159

Your best images from the past year, and

N Photo

This issue’s special contributors…

Street life

Streetwise pro Lucy Hamidzadeh helps our apprentice overcome her fear of shooting solo

LIGHTBOX

Our favourite Nikon images from The 14th Epson International Pano Awards competition

Photography ideas for 2024!

James Paterson shows you how to kick-start your creativity this new year with a host of Nikon tips, tricks and photo inspiration

Somewhere above the mist

Tom Mackie shows how to get the most from iconic locations – and sets you a challenge to improve your compositional skills

Hit and mist

Haven’t got the foggiest idea how to shoot misty landscapes? Stu Meech shows you how...

Separate ways

Mike Harris shows you how to use frequency separation to retouch a portrait in Adobe CC

Look up

Mike Harris photographs a busy abbey, but avoids the crowds by capturing a look-up shot of its stunning 16th-century ceiling

Prints charming

James Paterson evokes the visual charm of old film prints using our free textures pack for Affinity Photo

White balancing act

James Paterson adds temperature shifts and fixes casts with Camera Raw and Lightroom

Flash fungi

Master macro with off-camera flash to capture mushroom photos with James Paterson

Göran Strand

Swedish photographer Göran Strand has been star-struck since he was a child. Today, he is one of the world’s pre-eminent astrophotographers. He sheds some light for Keith Wilson about shooting lunar halos, solar eclipses and the Northern Lights…

Learning space

Photography student Shelby Nolan-Hoare explains how her course has helped her take her photography to an award-winning level

THE ISO SCALE

These are the standard settings – the range available to you will depend on your Nikon

ISO and what it means

Find out how your Nikon’s sensitivity to light is measured, and when you should alter the ISO setting

See the difference

Four ways to tackle the same low-light scene using ISO

Pump up the volume

When all other exposure options have run out, you can increase the ISO

How much noise is too much?

Just because you can see the noise, it doesn’t mean it’s a problem…

Step by step Ways to keep the noise down

You can use both in-camera and software tools to smooth out your high-ISO shots

Auto ISO

It’s one of our favourite Nikon features!

Types of image noise

There are actually two types of noise, not one

WHEN TO CHANGE ISO

Changing the ISO is easy; working out when to do it and what to change it to is the hard part

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

PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR 2023

The search for the world’s best Nikon photographer of 2023 is finally over! Each issue the monthly N-Photo POTY 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 2023 competition!

WIN! A Nikon Z f

The overall winner of N-Photo’s Photographer of the Year 2024 will receive the grand prize of a Nikon Z f!

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:

The London look

Chris Aldred heads to ‘the Big Smoke’ with his trusty Nikon D3500, to capture his own unique perspective on the photogenic capital

GearZone

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

New gear

Here’s what caught our eye this month

Nikon Z 600mm f/6.3 VR S

£4999/$4799 www.nikon.co.uk

Tamron 35-150mm f/2 ‐2.8 Di III VXD

£1799/$1999 www.tamron.eu

Super Speedlights

Let there be light. Here are the best-buy flashguns for Nikon cameras, large and small, to suit a range of requirements and budgets

Hähnel Modus 360RT

£179/$200

How we test

We combine real-world shots with rigorous lab tests

Nissin Di700A + Air 1

£179/$249

i-TTL accuracy

How accurate is i-TTL flash metering?

Godox Ving V860III

£190/$229

Nikon Speedlight SB-500

£239/$247

Nissin i60A

£249/$299

Bounce and swivel

Soften the light by playing the angles

Hähnel Modus 600RT Mk II WK

£299/$329

Recycle speed

Nobody likes to be kept waiting

Nikon Speedlight SB-700

£309/$327

Card trick

Solve the shadowy problem of bounce flash

Nikon Speedlight SB-5000

£599/$597

Auto FP sync

Can a flashgun compete with the sun?

The winner is… Godox Ving V860III TTL

The performance and versatility of the Godox Ving makes it our top gun

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

What a year!

Mike Harris looks back on a jam-packed year of Nikon releases including the Z 8, Z f and a bumper bundle of FX and DX lenses