Photo Finish: spring challenge

The original image

This image of an Atlantic puffin in breeding season, carrying sea thrift in its bill for nesting material, was taken on the Isle of Lunga in the Hebrides to capture a seasonal behaviour that felt both beautiful and a little unusual. I got really low to the ground, so the puffin felt properly immersed in the flowers, and used 200mm for a nice sense of compression. 1/2000 sec froze the movement and f/2.8 created a soft foreground and background, although this meant waiting for the puffin to turn side-on. Had it been facing me head-on at that distance, the beak might have been sharp while the eyes would have been slightly soft.

Top tip: It is always worth thinking about how compression works, because a lens such as a 70-200mm can create a beautiful relationship between subject and background when you are relatively close.

The custom edit

My aim was to help the puffin stand out a little more while keeping the image soft and natural. Because I had exposed for the bird’s white feathers in camera, the edit was really about lifting and balancing the flowers around it without losing detail. Using Lightroom Classic, I adjusted exposure, contrast, white balance, highlights, shadows, whites and blacks, then reduced clarity slightly and added a touch of denoise. I also used the colour mixer to adjust hue, saturation and luminance, particularly in the oranges, yellows, pinks and purples, to make the palette feel richer and more balanced.

Top tip: Define your own style, and that doesn’t have to mean doing anything extreme. Sometimes a style is simply editing in a way that brings an image back to how it felt when you took it.

The NIC Recipe

The NIC Recipe I chose was ‘Cyanora’ by Eyes of Belga because it felt closest to my own editing style, with a softer, more pastel-like look, and seemed like the best fit for an image that already had a strong seasonal palette. I was genuinely impressed by it. It did more than I expected, particularly in the way it handled and lifted the colours. I felt it would make the colours sing, and that is exactly what it did. The pinks feel more alive, which pushes that sense of spring even further. I can absolutely see the value of a recipe like this for photographers who are short on time.

Top tip: Choose a recipe that already feels aligned with both your style and your subject. For my image, I knew colour was going to be central, so I picked a recipe that supported and strengthened that.

George’s spring challenge for you: Choose a NIC recipe from a genre you don’t usually photograph, then make a set of images with that in mind. Let the recipe push you into seeing differently for a day.

Gurvir Johal

The original image

My spring image shows a woman with a poetic gaze in a cascading gown. The composition works because the leading lines of the pergola beams and columns naturally guide the viewer’s eye toward the subject, and the colour harmony between the environment and the dress is almost as if they were designed for one another. Using f/1.2 and 85mm, the subject is smoothly separated from the background, while the soft, fresh greenery climbing the pillars conveys a sense of spring, as does the presence of pink blossom in the trees, the gentle, diffused light typical of early spring days, and the cool pastel palette, which feels fresh and airy.

Top tip: Choose a location with natural framing (arches, pergolas, columns or repeating structures) and use a telephoto lens with a wide aperture to create depth and separation.

The custom edit

The image already had a storybook feel, so I simply polished that feeling. My intent was to keep the romantic, soft, dreamy quality, but enhance depth and atmosphere in the garden background. I also brought out the texture, folds and volume of the blue dress, and shaped the light so the subject feels more luminous, while the natural colours are preserved but are more cinematic. First, in Lightroom Classic, I made Lens & Camera Calibration adjustments to corrects distortion and chromatic aberration, which ensures the colour profile is accurate. It gives a clean ‘true’ starting point. Next White Balance, because everything else depends on accurate colour neutrality, especially skin tones and the dress. In Photoshop for cleanup, I used micro-dodging and burning, targeted colour corrections and glow effects. Then Frequency Separation also in Photoshop for gentle skin texture balancing.

Top tip: Natural edits age the best. Start with White Balance; everything depends on it! Edit globally before locally. Less clarity equals better portraits. Use HSL for subtle but powerful colour control. Dodge and burn is the secret to professional-looking portraits.

The NIC recipe

Spring isn’t always pastel sunshine, it’s often soft, cool, unpredictable and atmospheric, so I wanted a recipe that would intensify the image’s moodiness but keep skin tones graceful, which is why I chose ‘Negative Film Yellow&Cyan 02a’. It’s a recipe that doesn’t fight the scene, you get a look that feels intentional rather than forced. The architectural setting of the stone columns and wooden pergola look beautiful with desaturated tones, the overcast sky and soft ambient light leaned toward a cinematic colour grade and the reduced colour saturation, especially for greens and yellows, prevents the spring foliage from becoming too vibrant or distracting. The result is striking, dramatic and film-inspired, perfect for moody storytelling, as though it were a still from a period drama or a romantic fantasy film.

Top tip: When choosing a recipe, match it to the light, not just the subject. Some recipes excel in soft overcast light, while others thrive in golden hour or hard sunlight. Choosing based on light quality gives the best results.

Gurvir’s spring challenge for you: Choose one scene that represents early spring. Think blossoms, new leaves, soft weather or transitional landscapes. Capture two images from the same spot, same composition. Apply two different NIC recipes: one warm, bright and pastel, and one cool, moody and cinematic. Compare how each recipe completely transforms the emotion, the seasonal feel and the story.

Frederikke Jensen

The original image

In northern Denmark there’s a nature reserve where every year foxes have their cubs and they’re just the cutest, especially the three shown here, who were kind enough to pose for a brief moment. These cubs and the bright blue sky convey spring to me. We rarely get to see a blue-sky during winter in Denmark. At 1/1000 sec I made sure the photo would be sharp even if the foxes moved, and f/4 helped keep the subject in focus while the background stayed soft.

Top tip: When photographing wildlife, you should always respect the animals and keep your distance, which is why I used 560mm and AF-C.

The custom edit

I love that the way you edit helps set you apart from other photographers. I’ve always liked a darker, moodier edit and that’s what I wanted to achieve here, also to help the foxes stand out against the foreground rocks. Using Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop, I adjusted exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights, because it’s easier to see what colours you might want to change later on.

Top tip: Look for inspiration in photos you like, then play around in Lightroom and Photoshop to create something similar. You’ll soon work out what you do and don’t like, and from there you can create your own style.

The NIC Recipe

The NIC recipe I chose was ‘Sunkissed Warmth’ by Julia Nimke, because I thought sun-kissed was the perfect way to accentuate that feeling of spring. I love how it made the photo very warm and almost mimics golden hour. It’s exactly what you want to see after a long, cold, grey Danish winter.

Top tip: There are so many free recipes on Nikon Imaging Cloud, with more added all the time. Try a few to see what works best for exaggerating the mood you’re trying to convey.

Frederikke’s spring challenge for you: Spring is a season of so much change! Take a photo of the same subject, perhaps a local landscape, every week from April to June, or in a variety of weather conditions, and see how much it changes.

Feeling inspired? We'd love to see your take! Try the NIC Recipe challenge for yourself and you could win the chance to appear right here in Nikon Magazine. Just head to Instagram to find out more.