Table of contents for Nikon The Complete Manual 3rd Edition in Nikon The Complete Manual

Photography remains one of the world’s favourite pastimes and Nikon has been at the forefront of the industry for nearly a century. Today, Nikon’s outstanding range of cameras is more popular than ever, and this new edition of Nikon The Complete Manual contains everything you need to know to get the best out of your model, whether it’s a DSLR, CSC or compact model. We’ll talk you through setting up your camera, picking the right lenses, familiarising yourself with the various modes and settings, and give you essential shooting advice to improve every aspect of your photos. With additional tutorials on editing and sharing your snaps, Nikon The Complete Manual really is a one-stop shop for any Nikon user.…

Compact system cameras (CSCs) are the newest breed of camera, introduced as a more portable solution to bulky interchangeable lens cameras. Like DSLRs, they feature manual controls and a relatively large sensor, but they do not contain a mirror system, hence why they are sometimes known as mirrorless cameras. Instead, the light travels straight down the lens to the image sensor, so there is no option to have an optical viewfinder; just an electrical one that displays a digital representation of the scene. Most CSCs feature smaller cropped sensors because they are so compact in size.Because this type of camera is quite new, there are not as many lens options available as there are for DSLRs. However, as their popularity grows, so does the lens line-up, and the Nikon 1…

Giving your Nikon a good clean will help to prolong its life and ensure it is performing to its best ability. Marks on the lens can show up in your shots and general dirt on the camera body can find its way into the inner workings, so it is in your best interest to keep it spotless. The outer body of your camera is easy to clean yourself at home, but when it comes to cleaning the very delicate sensor, it is best to send it away to be dealt with professionally. Here’s how we recommend you go about it……

Your Nikon’s mode dial features a whole host of fantastic shooting modes that can help you develop from a ground-floor beginner to experienced enthusiast in no time at all. Whether you want to simply point and shoot in Auto and scene modes, or take more control over your exposures in semi-automatic (P, A, S) or full Manual mode, in this practical guide we’ll take you through all you need to know about using each one. Most Nikon cameras feature what’s known as a mode dial on the top plate, which gives you quick access to your shooting modes, and some require you to adjust your shooting mode via the menu interface. Explore what options you have available and then join us as we take you around the mode dial from…

Of all the modes available, Manual mode (M) is by far the most advanced. This setting quite simply, gives you complete control over your exposures, which means you can adjust settings such as white balance, metering and focusing alongside your ISO, shutter speed and aperture. Unlike Aperture and Shutter Priority mode, where the camera helps to balance an exposure based on the setting you’ve selected, in Manual the stabilisers are off and all the decisions regarding exposure are up to you. Manual is a great mode for experimenting but avoid rushing into using this setting if you simply want to grab a quick shot. To get great results in Manual mode, you need to have a clear understanding of how exposure works, which is something you can start to pick…

Editing software has come a long way and now boasts some incredible tools to sharpen up soft shots. They can’t save one that’s simply out of focus, however, so it’s vital to learn how to keep it sharp in-camera. The best way to do this is to learn the right mode for the job, as well as utilising tricks like pre-focusing, and selecting your AF point. Read on to explore these methods further but to begin with we’ll take you through the very basic method of focusing your camera – just half-press the shutterrelease button to focus, then fully press it to take the shot. It’s as simple as that! It’s vital to learn the focusing modes. Nikon cameras come with the fundamental AF-S and AF-C modes. AF-S stands for…

ISO is the third part of the exposure triangle alongside aperture and shutter speed. Setting a higher ISO will increase how sensitive the sensor is to light, which brightens up exposures. Some modern cameras have a huge range – you can now shoot in incredibly dark environments and still get useable shots. The downside is that noise will surface at higher settings, resulting in specks appearing and you may notice the colours become desaturated and details are softer. It’s a payoff you have to be aware of but it’s an incredibly useful tool. If higher ISOs can cause noise in your shot, why would you want to use them? The main reason is they allow you to use faster shutter speeds and narrower apertures while still getting correct exposure in…

Use it to… Apply lighting effects Highlight certain areas in an image whilst darkening other areas Curves Use Curves to add contrast and brightness manually, fully controlling the output Histogram Read the histogram to measure exposure levels of your image Selections Select specific parts of an image to be affected by light curves By mastering the lighting tools available in Capture NX 2, you can quickly remedy any over- or underexposed images. This can be achieved with Curves and Levels. By adding a lighting curve to your photo, you can even out the exposure of the entire image. Use Curves combined with the Levels tool to work on the shadows, midtones and highlights of an image individually. The most important thing to learn about affecting exposure levels is that you…

Sharing photographs online may be the easiest way to exhibit your work, but nothing beats a printed image that can be physically put on display. The popularity of printing photographs has diminished, but it doesn’t take much to create high-quality prints of your images at home using a standard printer. When printing photographs at home, it’s advised that you print using photography paper, which is a little more expensive than normal paper but the jump in quality is massive. Purchase from a stationery store or online. If you don’t own a printer there is a variety of online printing services available, including Flickr’s print ordering tool and sites such as photobox.co.uk, which offers a variety of different print types to be ordered and delivered to your home. Ordering prints online…

Flickr makes uploading and sharing photography easy, presenting your photographs in a professional interface. Flickr is widely accepted as one of the best ways to create a digital portfolio for your work. It functions like any other image upload service; simply select your favourite photos from your computer and before uploading them, review the image previews to weed out any photos you don’t want included in your gallery. Once you’re ready you can then upload your collection to a Flickr Photostream. Flickr is all about categorisation of content. You can have the most breathtaking landscape photography in the world, but if people can’t find it, nothing will be seen. You can make your work more noticeable by adding tags to your images. You can also join groups on Flickr, which…

Nikon was _rst established back in 1917 and quickly became one of the world’s leading camera manufacturers. The company has a rich history in both _lm and digital camera markets and now has an extensive lineup of cameras to suit all skill levels and budgets. From the successful range of COOLPIX compacts and superzooms, to the feature-packed Digital SLR cameras, there is something for everyone in the Nikon family. There is also plenty of opportunity to expand your kit with the evergrowing range of NIKKOR lenses compatible with both the DSLR and Nikon 1 compact system cameras, plus all the other accessories such as speedlights, camera straps and bags to go along with it. However, let’s start with the digital camera line-up and discover the very latest Nikon kit that’s…

Bridge cameras tend to be a little larger than compacts due to their impressive fixed lens that can usually stretch great distances to cover a large focal range. This is why these cameras are often also known as superzooms and is what makes them a great option for taking on holiday, because you can photograph a range of different scenes, from wide-angle landscapes to close-ups of distant action, without having to pack a variety of heavy lenses. So although bridge cameras can be quite bulky, they are still compact as a camera system because you only have one lens to worry about and it typically retracts into the camera body when not in use. Superzooms also usually feature manual controls, making them a great upgrade from a simple point and…

Delve into your camera’s menu…

When you first get your Nikon camera, or even when you’ve had it for quite some time, you might not know what all of those fiddly buttons do. What are their functions? This guide aims to inform you about what all of them do. You’ll be an expert in no time! 1 Playback The Playback button will bring up all the stills and video footage recorded on the memory card or internal memory. 2 Menu In order to adjust the majority of settings you’ll need to press this Menu button to find the option you want to change. 3 Playback zoom Sometimes you need to examine an image closely. To scroll in to your captured images for a closer inspection, use this button. 4 Thumbnail/Playback zoom out/Help Three commands here;…

Auto mode is known for being a straightforward, no fuss pointand-shoot setting. It’s also easy to identify on your Nikon’s mode dial and features within almost all of its camera models, only with the exception of professional-level DSLRs. Beginners who are keen to get stuck into their photography can sometimes overlook this powerful setting and head straight for the scene modes or semiautomatic (P, A, S) settings. However, Auto is a great place to start developing your skills, and in fact as a shooting mode it has the capacity to capture some really great images indoors and out. As a setting, Auto mode is designed to essentially take care of the exposure for you, which means you won’t have to learn the ins and outs of how aperture and shutter…

Control the creative outcome of your images by selecting the Aperture Priority mode, represented by an A symbol. Aperture Priority is a semi-automatic mode as it enables you to set your own aperture setting while the camera determines the best shutter speed based on your selection and the scene you’re shooting. It’s ideal if you’re keen to experiment with depth of field and is commonly used for portraits, macro, still life and low-light shots. To get a shallow depth of field, which essentially blurs the background of your image, you can select a wide aperture setting (f1.4-f5.6). Provided you focus your camera on the subject in the foreground correctly, they should appear sharp while the rest of the image blurs out. Wide apertures make the opening inside the lens much…

Just like our eyes, cameras record the available light in a scene in order to produce an image. However, a camera is not quite as sophisticated as the human eye and can sometimes struggle to record light accurately. When we view a scene, our eyes automatically balance out the different level of light intensity so that we can see as much detail as possible. Cameras also try to do this, however due to their relatively limited dynamic range, areas of shadow can appear incredibly dark, while bright areas can appear excessively light. To avoid this problem, it helps to know how to control your camera’s metering system. When it comes to digital photography, there are two main methods for measuring light. The first is to use an incidental light meter.…

Flash can be the ultimate tool in your kit bag if it’s used correctly. It can help achieve correct exposures in dark environments such as parties or weddings, help with difficult lighting situations, or it can even freeze action due to the rapid burst of light. The problem is, most people start off using flash and end up unhappy with the results. Flash can be harsh if fired straight on, resulting in unpleasant shadows. Here we teach you how to take control of your kit, avoid these pitfalls and get the best results. Flash is a powerful weapon; even your pop-up flash can improve your images. Try using fill-in flash on backlit subjects – where once a subject was in shadow you’ll now see an even exposure. The problem with…

Macro photography is arguably one of the most abstract incarnations of the art, whether it’s photographing tiny insects and making them look like behemoths or capturing textures and transforming them into abstract landscapes. So what is macro photography? The simple answer is close-up, detail photography, like photographing details in a landscape through binoculars. Macro photography is relatively straightforward as it’s all about distance. Not just the physical distance between photographer and subject, but more a closeness inside your camera. The sensor within your camera, whether it’s cropped or full-frame, sits static at the bottom of a lens once one is attached, and there it stays, capturing the light sent to it. All the lens has to do is move glass closer or farther away from the sensor to send a…

Use it to… Enhance colours Make the strongest colours in your image stand out Add depth Remove the flatness of an image by adding contrast to different areas Create a mood Images that have a lot of dark and light areas will be given a moody tone when contrast is added In the previous tutorial you learnt about adjusting the exposure of an image so both the shadows and highlights are less juxtaposed. It is important, however, that there is some contrast between the light and dark areas in a photograph. Without contrast an image can start to feel flat and uninspiring. Use exposure adjustments to make your image feel as though it were evenly exposed, so that your highlights aren’t blown out and your shadows aren’t so dark that…

A range of new Nikon cameras feature in-built Wi-Fi technology that allows users to take, share and download images instantaneously. This is a fantastic facility, particularly when you are away from home or your memory card has reached its capacity. And the beauty of it is that beginners right through to professional photographers can make use of the technology. So, whether you’re a proud parent wanting to share your recent pictures with family, or a professional on location who needs to beam sports, news, fashion or product images straight to a client or agency, you can do so in a matter of a few seconds and clicks. While not every Nikon sports this feature, most are at least compatible with Nikon’s Wi-Fi adaptors (WU-1a and WU-1b) and what’s more, photographers…

Digital Single-Lens Reflex cameras (DSLRs) are typically the biggest and most expensive digital cameras on the market, but for good reason because they also offer the most functionality. The bulkier size is a result of the mirror system contained inside, which bounces the image recorded by the lens up to an optical viewfinder so that you can see exactly what you’re photographing. DSLRs also have larger sensors for taking high-quality photos, but some are larger than others. Nikon’s FX-format cameras contain full-frame sensors, which are approximately the same size as the 35mm used in film cameras. They are designed to offer superior image quality with better sensitivity in low-light situations, but they also cause the camera to be much bigger and more expensive. Alternatively, Nikon’s DX-format cameras contain slightly smaller…

Compacts are the most portable of all the cameras, with some so slim that they can slip into your back pocket. This makes them a popular choice as a first step into photography, because you can keep the camera on you at all times to practice your skills. As you’ll be in no danger of missing a great photo opportunity, compacts are also great for documenting everyday life and those special family moments. Compacts come in all shapes, sizes and varieties. Some are simple point-and-shoot cameras that only feature basic auto modes, while others feature manual controls for added creativity. You can even buy specialist tough compacts that are waterproof, shockproof and freezeproof, so you can carry on shooting no matter where you are. The compact market may be struggling…

The beauty of DSLRs and CSCs is the ability to change the lens depending on the mood, occasion or subject. For shooting sweeping vistas and landscapes, photographers plump for a focal length of 28mm or lower. For portraiture a standard or ‘normal’ telephoto is required, carrying a focal length of between 35 and 85mm, because this is what the eye is used to seeing. Medium telephotos of 100 to 300mm are prized by wildlife and action enthusiasts, whereas super-telephotos of 300mm gift sports fans with the kit they need to reach the heart of the action. In this complete guide to lenses you’ll discover everything you need to know about choosing the right lens for the job, as well as tips for getting a perfect shot. Landscape Take a look…

Composition is one of most basic yet important skills for creating images, and is used by artists and photographers alike. It describes what is included within the frame and where it is positioned, with the aim of creating the most engaging and visually pleasing image possible. How you compose a photo can have a big impact on how it is interpreted, so it is one of the first things you should learn about in photography. In this guide we will take you through some simple tips for creating stunning images every time, no matter which Nikon you own. When taking a photo of any scene, it can be tempting to simply point and click so you can move on to the next shot. However, taking your time over an image…

Your white balance setting plays an important role in how your camera captures colour but seeing as most auto white balance modes are so accurate these days, it is something that is often overlooked. In this guide, we’ll explain how white balance really works and point out why it’s worth getting out of Auto and exploring what this mode really has to offer. Here you’ll discover more about each white balance setting and find out how it can be used to help record colours accurately in your shots or even add creative effects to your photos. White balance is used to help prevent colour casts as it’s designed to ensure that white areas appear white. To do this, the camera takes into account the colour temperature of the light you’re…

The greatest asset, other than a Nikon camera, that every wildlife photography enthusiast should have, is patience. If you’re not a patient person this genre may be a struggle, as to get the most natural, awe-inspiring images, you’ll typically need to conceal yourself, keep quiet and wait – sometimes for long periods of time – before your subject even emerges. What’s more, when the animal does appear, its presence may be fleeting, so it’s important to know your camera inside-out, so you can work efficiently in the few moments you do have. Over these pages we’ll cover everything you need to know, from embracing the right settings to carrying the best kit. Set up to shoot Ensuring your camera is ready for action before any wildlife appears makes the difference…

Use it to… Batch edit images Add effects to multiple images with the click of a button using the Batch Processing tool Resize your images Format your image size to make them easier to upload and share with other people Change file formats Re-export your images into a variety of different file formats When you open Capture NX 2 you’ll be presented with the Import window. Here you can browse for a single image or multiple photos or simply drag and drop an image to open it. To export an edited image go to File>Save As. When saving you’ll need to select a file format. Click on the Format dropdown menu to select one; JPEG is a popular choice. Click Save and select a quality type. The Good Compression Ratio…

Use it to… Boost your colours Make your colours pop with vibrancy using the colour tools Change colour temperatures Add a warm tone to your photos, or add a tint of blue to cool the shot down Make black and white photos Remove all of the colour from your shot, or create a sepia tone Colourize images Add a dominant colour tint to photos to create interesting colourizing effects Isolate and enhance colours Be selective with what colours stand out, enhancing some while subduing others Add a film effect to photos If you would like to correct or adjust the colour temperature of your shot, to either warm it up or cool it down, then you can use the Saturation/Warmth tool. In the top toolbar Go to Adjust>Color> Saturation/Warmth. Use…

Facebook is perfect for sharing photos, since you’ve already got an audience to see them! Photos can be uploaded in a variety of ways; you can upload individual images to a Facebook post adding location information, other users and a status update, or you can add entire galleries of images in the form of a Facebook gallery. Galleries can also include videos. In the Status Update window click Add Photos/Video. Here you’ll be able to choose whether you want to upload individual photos or an entire album. Click Create Photo Album. Select the images from your computer that you want included and click Open. You can edit and manage your photos in the Upload window while the selection is uploaded. Click the dropdown arrow in an image thumbnail to remove…

Backing up your photographs is crucial in securing your images. There is always a risk that a hard drive could suddenly fail, so it’s important that you have your photos stored on a backup hard drive. Purchase a hard drive online with the capacity to hold your images then drag and drop them into it. There are other cost-effective options for backing up your images. Free image library software is provided by both Windows (Photo Gallery) and Apple (Photos). These enable you to export your entire library to an external storage device. Another option is to use a cloud service where you can access and download your photos at any time. Services such as Google Drive and Dropbox make this easy, providing you with desktop folders that you can simply…