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General Help How-to's

New to Nikonians - Where from here?

Keywords: new, nikonians, visitor

Nikonians is a large community with lots of activity in various places, providing help to photographers on all skill-levels since April 2000. This page should help you to get familiar with Nikonians and the various areas of the community.

 

First time visitor | About the community | Your membership | Beginning photography | Photography how-to's | Image sharing | Image critiquePortfolioDiscussions | Contests | Search | News | Marketplace | Wiki | Upgrade

 

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Or, was this not what you were looking for? Just shoot! Ask your question and we'll help.

 

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"I was referred to your site by Manfrotto in New Jersey!! The folks there have many nice things to say about the professional help that a beginning, amateur, or professional photographer receives from the valued membership. Thanks for being here Nikonians!!!" -- Rod Donlon,  New York, USA

 

Did Nikonians help you?

Please do share that you did with your colleagues, friends and family and make sure they learn about this friendly community of Nikon shooters as well. And, if you are not on a paid membership yet, please do upgrade. By doing that, you ensure we can continue helping you and others. Thank you!

 

First time visitor to Nikonians?

As a first time visitor we know it can feel a bit overwhelming, so here are some areas that you might want to look at for starters. Many of these require you to sign up with the community (which is free on its "Basic" membership, by the way).

Here are four areas which are often relevant to new members (each with a short video "screencast"):

 

Members of the community out shooting in the desert. Photograph taken by Bo Stahlbrandt (bgs) using a Nikon D3X

Members out in the desert taking lovely photographs.
As seen by bgs using his Nikon D3X. Click for larger image.

 

Help about the Nikonians community

We discuss anything regarding our community, including the forums and galleries in the About Nikonians forum. Post there if you have a general question about the community.

We have a separate Nikonians Galleries Guide and a large community FAQ in our wiki.

If you want to understand who we are and why Nikonians exist, see the About Nikonians page.

 

Help about your membership

If you need specific help about signing up or have a question regarding your membership, you may want to consult our FAQ:

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any issues with your membership and we will help you. 

 

Beginner at photography?

If you are a beginner at photography and need help, we suggest that you jump over to the New to Photography forum.

Here is an overview with good resources for anyone who wants to freshen up on the skills.

We have compiled a separate page with help on Nikonians and photography which you may want to consult from time to time.

 

Photography how-to articles, tips & tricks plus more

There are many how-to articles, guides, reviews, tips & tricks, photo travel stories and personal stories from both professionals and photography amateurs at Nikonians.  

 

To find specific information in our article section:
 
1. You navigate the articles by clicking on the main categories on the left hand side
2. You search for articles containing specific words using the top search box
3. You select keywords (tags) by clicking on a specific keyword on the left hand side on the main article page,
or you click on the link "Show all" and enter the specific keyword you are looking for.
 

 

Don't miss the article series "I am Nikonians" where our members work is on display with their own stories to get you inspired. Start enjoying our public articles section :-)

Premium articles are focusing on expanding your knowledge and capabilitity as a photographer. They are available to all members on Silver level and higher.

We have a separate feature "Behind the Image", where Editor's Choice selected photographs are being discussed and the photographer tells us more about how the image came to be.

 

"What is Nikonians? Just the best Internet community for Nikon owners;
if you own a Nikon, you'll find you have to be a Nikonian." -- Fabrizio Giudici, Italy

 

Sharing images with clients and others

Setting up your Nikonians gallery describes how to set up your Nikonians Gallery for sharing images and albums with your clients and others, to e.g. do client-proofing or to collaborate with them on your work in general.

 

Get image critique and advice

We have created a short guide with a video on how to get practical advice and constructive critique on your photograph.

 

Setting up your own portfolio

See how to set up your own Portfolio and showing your photos in the community. If you want to learn more about how to create your own Portfolio, or show images in the community in general, this will give you the details.

 

Discussion areas

Photography discussions are kept in the Forums. You need to signup (to register) to use the forums and nearly all of them can be freely accessed. We have created a short video on how to post questions which you might want to look at. Below are some common areas where members often require help.

There are lots of settings you can set according to your personal preferences. You find these settings under "My Profile" and "Preferences" tab.

Manually marking forum discussions as read

The forums keep track of your visit to show new messages since last time you logged in. If you instead want to manually control what has been read and not, you can select the "manual marking of read forums" in the "Preferences" tab:

 

Setting the MARK time stamp to "YES" for new messages being manually marked

In the Preferences tab, you can select to manually control what you have read.
Set the feature "Use MARK..." to "yes" to activate this feature.
Remember to click the "Save" button once you have changed the setting.

Using the read new messages link in the top right area of the forums

In the top right area of the forums, click the "Read new messages" link.
This opens up a new window with all new messages
 
 
 

In the "Read new messages" window, you can mark individual forums as have been read.

In the "Read new messages" window you mark individual forums as have been read.
You also find the same functionality in the top navigation area of each forum when browsing it.
 
 
 

Mark messages as read link. Marks ALL messages as have been read.

As an alternative, you can mark all messages as have been read.
Using the link "Mark messages as read" in the forums always marks all messages as read.
 
 
 
 
Marking forums as favorites
You can easily keep track of the topics you are interested in using the "Favorite forums" functionality.
 
 

Marking a forum as your favorite

 
You can use the "star" icon located beside any forum to mark it as a favorite.
Your favorite forums are shown at the top of the main forum page, the "forum lobby".
 
 
 
 

Favorite forums can be selected as a filtering parameter in the read new messages window.

 
Once you have selected one or more favorite forums, they can be used in the "Read new messages" window.
Selecting this option and only messages from your favorite forums are shown.
 
 
 
 
 

Uploading images in the forums

You can easily upload images to the forums by using the "Upload images" and "Reply with images" button:

 

Upload images button, shown top right corner when inside a forum

The "Upload images" button is shown top right corner of the screen when inside a forum.
a) Navigate to the forum where you want to share an image or two and then b) click the button. c) Follow the instructions in the upload dialog window.

 

 

Reply with images button, top right corner inside forum discussions

The "Reply with images" button is shown top right corner of the screen when you are viewing a discussion.
a) Click that button to compose a reply message and easily b) include one or more images together with your reply.

 

Contests

The Annual Best of Nikonians photography contest has monthly segments in various disciplines and if you are interested participating, please see the details about contests and the Contest Info Forum. After you've read up on the contests, you are most welcome to participate by posting your images in the corresponding contest forum.

 

Search

You can search for any photography topic using our search engine NikoScope. You can search for members when you are logged in. We also have a wiki page with help on NikoScope

 

News: Our blog, newsletters and weekly update email

Our blog contains regular updates about the community. Also follow us on twitterFacebook and Instagram if you are using these.

If you are not a fan of twitter or Facebook, but like to get the regular updates in an easy, uncluttered format sent to you via email, you can subscribe to our newsletter. By the way, we are never giving out your email address to anyone.

We are sending out a weekly email with the latest hot topics and Editor's Choice images of the week. You can easily change the weekly email to be sent out monthly, or disable it all together. Just see the "My profile" and "Preferences" tab.

 

The photography market place

We have many, active discussion forums where members hang out. To read and potentially participate in a majority of these, you must be a registered member of Nikonians (the Basic, free membership is good for accessing many of them). Some forums are though available without the need to signup. Our marketplace is one of these, where members sell gear. Have a look, it contains lots of interesting stuff with daily updates.

 

"Suffice it to say I'm am furthered convinced the Nikonians truly is a "community" by your helpful assistance.
The Silver membership was the best $25 dollars I've spent in sometime." -- Gerard Pas, Canada

 

Wiki on photography and Nikon

Our wiki contains help, a detailed photo glossary, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQs), how-to's and tips, for example with photography tips and tricks including composition technique.

 

Your public info is good, and I am ready to signup for a membership

If you want to proceed with a membership (the starter level "Basic" is free), you are not alone. Every day quite a few new members join Nikonians to get access to more. Signup.

Silver membership gives you access to all of our learning material plus more for only $25 USD per year or $3.90 monthly. Signup on Silver level now.

Your personal data stays with you

We are not sharing your data, we are not using any analyzing tools, have no trackers and we are compliant with stringent data protection regulations. You can export your data stored at Nikonians as well. Read more about this in our Privacy policies.

Advertising free & independent

We have no advertising. No clutter and no pushing. We are independent and completely focused on making your learning easier and your experience more enjoyable. If you are interested, there is some more to read on us being ad-free and independent.

 

Enjoy your community :-)

bgs & jrp, founders

Btw, if you want to learn more about the community and the team behind it, check out the "About us" section.

G