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December 20, 2018

How do you dress up in the cold for photography?

hans-ztz-2FND7_8639-110.JPGHow do you prepare for the outdoor shoot when it is getting colder outside? For us on the northern hemisphere of our beautiful, blue planet this might be a relevant question this time of the year.

A basic truth for nearly any outdoor activity is that it makes sense to dress in layers. Doing so helps you to shed some insulation when you are getting warmer, and it is easier to stay dry that way.

I personally prefer fabrics made of natural fibers over synthetic ones when feasible, but there are great synthetic materials available. Gloves is one major area for us photographers. The big, warm ones can hardly be worn when shooting while the thinner ones are keeping the fingers agile only as long as they are not too cold.

You may enjoy jrp's thoughts on this topic in our articles.

The whole Nikonians Team is wishing you a great holiday season, with lots of hard parcels and golden boxes.
Bo (bgs) and Ramón (jrp)

From the portfolios

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Image by Hans Ztz. You can see his portfolio here.

Contests & Assignments
Make sure that you check out the updated contests for December. These six-monthly contests are the final rounds leading to the annual Best of Nikonians 2018. All monthly contest winners are automatically advanced to the annual contest. Contest entry is open to all Silver, Gold, and Platinum members.

Voting in the contest polls is open to all registered members. Please let you voice be heard, vote for your favorite images in each of the monthly contest. Polls are now open for the November Landscape, Wildlife, Close-up/Macro, Travel, and Digital Artistry contests.

Links to all contests and polls can be found here.

Community
Chime in with your Holiday Season Greetings in the Café

What are the values Nikonians most enjoy? More

New, weekly updates coming. For the ones of us not logging in that much, but still want to stay up-to-date, this new weekly update might be of interest.

Posted by bgs at 7:00 AM

December 13, 2018

How to tackle the steep Z-series learning curve

skibreeze7-arches-Darryl-91-110.jpgAs Nikonians, we are not merely Nikon users, but we are members of a community where we are trying our best to help each other.

What does it mean to be a Nikonian to you personally? What top five values do you think are important as a member? Let us know.

This was printed on the back of a t-shirt (no longer in production). The idea came from former team member Jason Odell (DrJay32) for the PMA in 2006 where we had a small booth.

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I am wishing you an enjoyable, hopefully photogenic rest of the week
Bo (bgs)

Gear: Nikon Z-series learning curve
Nikonians team member Eric Bowles has some very good input on the somewhat steep learning curve for DSLR shooters who are starting with the Nikon Z7 (or the Z6). Read his thoughts on this in the Z cameras forum.


From the portfolios

skibreeze7-arches-Darryl-91-600.jpg
Arches by Darryl Hodson (skibreeze7). See his complete portfolio.

Contests and Assignments
The November/December Assignment is "Animal Portrait". This is a fun assignment that most everyone can participate in. Let's see your pets, farm animals, and wildlife. Show us your creativity with some interesting perspectives on animal portraits.

Membership ID cards
We are doing the last batch of ID cards this year. All applications in by this Friday, 14th of December will be processed prior the holidays. You apply for your card using the form found in "Your Profile" under "Membership" tab, top area of the page. Our cards are printed in standard badge format and can be used with e.g. a lanyard. Available to all Platinum and Gold members. Btw, thanks to the large amount of members that have already applied for their cards in the last days, we have found and fixed some issues with the form. It should now be easier to use.

New "top favorite forums" email is coming
Starting coming week we will be sending out a weekly "top postings in your favorite forums" email, highlighting the most popular post in each of your favorite forums. We will include a small setting to disable this feature in your profile should you rather not have that weekly "top postings" email.

A forum is marked as a favorite forum by clicking on the star located after the forum name. A favorite forum is shown above all the other forums in the "forum lobby".

Posted by bgs at 5:30 AM

December 9, 2018

The specs of the next digital cameras

Bob-Chadwick-BlueAngels-F18-Hornet-20140406_20140326_Fun_n_Sun_32-Edit-2-110px.jpgOur community has experienced a tremendous change on the internet, from being an early player back in the year 2000 where many were still "not connected" to today with billions of internet users.

Today we have a glut of information, provided by many for free, or paid by someone, often a less visible party in either cash, crypto-coins, equipment or favors. In this large "volume of data", whom can one really trust? What is their agenda? Why are they telling me X -- is it because they want to sell Y? What is really "good information" vs. "I am not totally, 100% sure what I am talking about, but I say it anyway" type of content?

Most platforms, and most content creators in general, are anything but independent and for nearly all it holds true that they are either A) dependent on advertisers for their survival, where the border between fact and want-to-please-the-sponsors is fluid or B) that you - as the visitor or user - are the product (your behavior and any data you have provided is repackaged and sold to third parties). Often it is C), both of the above. You are served paid content plus your data is captured and sold. Say hello to e.g Facebook, Youtube or Instagram.

There is a reason marketing professionals have been so hot on "Content Marketing" (jargon for producing content to sell you something) that it has become a commodity in the marketing industry, now easily bought from someone, somewhere where salaries are low.

"Influencers" on "Social Media" for example are trying their best to do just that, for an agenda. Did you know that each fourth image or video you see on Instagram is paid advertisement?

Our agenda is to safeguard the community's existence in this harsh environment and to become as relevant as we can be to you, to our members: To help and to provide assistance where you need it the most. To ensure we are a clean, friendly place where you can make new friends and expand your network.

We are going to send out a request to all of our members to give us feedback on this in the next few weeks. We will be doing that in the form of a short (yes, promise, a short!) survey.

Thanks for reading and for being a part of this wonderful community
Bo & JRP


Community: Upgrade to Gold

By using the voucher GoldNicholaus18 on the upgrade page, you save $25 USD on a Nikonians Gold Membership. This offer is valid thru December 12th, 2018.

As a Gold Member you have access to all of our Premium Articles, the Premium Critique forum with NEF upload, you have your own Portfolio, your own Nikonians email address, your custom made Photographer's ID plus more, such as access to Contests and Assignments.

Take advantage of the voucher


From the portfolios

Bob-Chadwick-BlueAngels-F18-Hornet-20140406_20140326_Fun_n_Sun_32-Edit-2-800px.jpg

Blue Angels in Action by Bob Chadwick. You can see Bob's portfolio here


Gear
There is a new article available that you might find interesting: The (near) future of digital cameras by Nikonians member and digital imaging sensor professional Guy Eristoff.


More from the community
1. Homepage now loads faster - especially the many images in the "matrices"
2. Increased Smiley Liberty in your forum posts. More info
3. Politeness: Can one ask to see the original? Read the post by Ferguson regarding "Is it rude to ask?"
4. Are you interested in time-lapse photography? See our time-lapse forum where members share videos like this one by DeanAZ from Arizona

Posted by bgs at 9:00 AM

December 8, 2018

Contests Updated

santa110px.jpg The December contests and polls have all been updated.

santa800px.JPG

Wildlife Contest - Backlit Wildlife
This month's contest is challenging, creating a nice wildlife photo with backlighting.

Landscape Contest - Man's Influence on the Landscape
We are looking for image that show human influence, balance with the beauty of the landscape it is surrounded by.

Close-up/Macro Contest - Holiday Decorations
This one should be easy and fun for everyone. Get out that macro lens, lets see some creative close-ups of your holiday decorations.

Travel Contest - Winter Festivals
Featuring seasonal festivals from around the world.

Digital Artistry Contest - My Best Image
Let's see you best digitally manipulated work from 2018.

November/December Assignment - Animal Portrait
This assignment is perfect for all our pet loving members. We want to see those adorable portraits or your favorite animals both wild and domestic.


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All our November contest polls are open for voting. Voting is open to all registered members.

Please stop by and cast your votes!


Wildlife Contest - Wildlife and Precipitation

Landscape Contest - Colorful

Close-up/Macro Contest - Details of Autumn

Travel Contest - On Board

Digital Artistry Contest - Subtract

Posted by dm1dave at 5:38 PM

December 4, 2018

Platinum or Gold member? Don't forget your ID

NikoniansPhotoID_110px-sq.jpgReminder to all of our Platinum and Gold members: Don't forget to request your personal Photographer's ID Card. You can do that under "My Profile" and "Membership" tab. We are doing one more batch of badges this year, prior Christmas.

NikoniansPhotoID_380x600px-cmp.jpg

Posted by bgs at 12:54 PM

Nikon hits 110 million Nikkor lenses

nikkor-z-24-70-f4-110.pngNikon recently announced they've reached a total production volume of 110 million Nikkor F and Z lenses since they started with the F line back in 1959. Congratulations!

Posted by bgs at 11:20 AM