Nikon Imaging Cloud Recipe of the Month: September

Eeva Mäkinen, Finland, Wildlife & Nature

Nikon: What were your first impressions of ‘Sunlight & Happiness’?

Eeva Mäkinen: My first impression was that the recipe creates a peaceful, nostalgic mood with soft contrast. I especially liked the way it preserves the atmosphere of the scene. 

What subjects, scenes and genres does it work best with?

I think this recipe is good for landscapes, nature photography, travel imagery and atmospheric storytelling, or any scene with soft light, mist, water and forests. I chose to photograph a small boat drifting on a misty lake, surrounded by trees that were already showing autumn colours.

Do you like what the recipe did to your image?

Compared to the original image, the recipe adds a stronger atmosphere and sense of emotion – almost hinting at themes from a fairy tale. I like how it enhances the colours just enough to focus attention on the feeling of the moment, rather than just the subject itself.

Do you have any advice for using it?

Look for scenes with soft light and a calm atmosphere. Early mornings, misty weather and overcast conditions seem to work particularly well.

How would you challenge our readers to use this recipe?

Photograph or film a quiet moment that reflects the changing of the season – something that captures that feeling of summer slowly fading into autumn.

Agnes Colombo, France, Portraits

Nikon: What were your first impressions of ‘Sunlight & Happiness’?

Agnes Colombo: During the summer months, photographing in bright sunlight can produce a hazy, washed-out veil over your images that flattens everything out. This recipe brings stronger contrast, which is exactly what you need to cut through that luminous haze. I pushed the concept further by deliberately framing face-on into the sun, creating an image that was heavily affected by that veil and the preset handled it well, restoring punch and clarity where the light had taken over.

What subjects, scenes and genres does it work best with?

This recipe is perfect if you want to add contrast and make an image feel more punchy and alive. I find it particularly well suited to family photography and any scene involving movement, candid laughs, kids running, couples walking. The added contrast reinforces the energy that’s already in the frame and gives those spontaneous moments the visual impact they deserve. I used it to capture this couple portrait, because it’s sparkling with a lively energy – the couple is laughing and walking straight toward me, which gives a real sense of movement and joy. 

Do you like what the recipe did to your image?

The preset leans a little too pink for my personal taste. But apart from that colour shift, it actually suits my photographic style much better than other recipes I’ve used before. It reinforces colours and enhances expressions, which is exactly what I look for in my scenes. The contrast boost brings out the life in the image – you can really feel the laughter and the movement. With a small colour adjustment, this would be very close to something I’d use in my own workflow.

Do you have any advice for using it?

Don’t be afraid to use this recipe to take images with strong backlighting! The contrast it brings will be even more interesting, and it counteracts that hazy veil you often get when photographing into the light. It’s a great way to keep the beauty of backlight while restoring definition and punch. Also, in editing, I would suggest pulling back the magenta slightly to get a more natural skin tone and recover the highlights a bit. The whites feel a touch too blown out for my liking. 

How would you challenge our readers to use this recipe? 

Find a couple, family, or even a friend, and photograph them in motion, walking, laughing, running, in full midday sun, facing the light. Don’t try to avoid the harsh conditions. Embrace them and use ‘Sunlight & Happiness’ to see how the preset transforms what most photographers would consider ‘unflattering light’ into something vibrant and full of energy.

Eugenia Hanganu, Portugal, Travel & Street

Nikon: What were your first impressions of ‘Sunlight & Happiness’?

Eugenia Hanganu: That it does exactly what the name promises. When I saw the recipe was called ‘Sunlight & Happiness’ I decided not to overthink it – my dog Tommy running at the ocean at golden hour is about as literal as happiness gets. The first thing I noticed was how the recipe treated the wet sand; the yellows warmed into this honey tone without pushing Tommy’s fur into orange. I expected a recipe that brightens highlights to fight me on a backlit frame and it didn’t. The mist coming off the waves stayed luminous instead of blowing out, and the softened shadows kept detail in the cliff that I would normally have to lift myself.

What subjects, scenes and genres does it work best with? 

Anything backlit, honestly. Golden hour street work, kids playing outside, coastal scenes like this one. As it lightens greens as well as warming yellows, I’d also use it in parks and gardens in late afternoon, where foliage usually goes dark and muddy, plus candid portraits in the last hour of light, the kind where someone is laughing and not looking at the camera. I’d be more careful with it indoors or in flat, midday light. A warm, luminous recipe wants real sunlight to work with. Give it nothing and it can feel artificial.

Do you like what the recipe did to your image?

I like that the light feels late. There’s still texture in the foam and the wet sand, Tommy stayed sharp and true in colour against all that backlight and the softened shadows gave the cliff detail without flattening it. I kept a bit more weight in the blacks than the recipe wants, a little more contrast – that’s just me. It feels like the evening felt, which is the only test I really care about.

Do you have any advice for using it? 

Photograph into the light, not away from it. This recipe is built for sunlight, so put the sun in or just outside your frame and expose for your subject, not the sky. The recipe warms the tones, but the geometry is yours to find. For me, a recipe is always a starting point. I’m not myself if I don’t add something. Here, I kept my shadows a touch deeper than the recipe intends – the dark cliff and his long shadow give all that golden light something to push against, an extra touch of contrast. I also let the shadows stay warm instead of correcting them to neutral. It’s a film habit I can’t shake.

How would you challenge our readers to use this recipe?

My genre is candid photography, so here’s the challenge: one frame of ordinary happiness, framed into the light. Not a posed portrait, not a sunset on its own. Find a real moment – a dog going mad on the grass, kids running through a fountain, a friend laughing mid-sentence – and capture it backlit with this recipe in the last hour of the day. One rule: your subject can’t know the exact moment you press the shutter. Happiness photographs better, when nobody is performing.

Ready for some Sunlight & Happiness?

Simply head over to Nikon Imaging Cloud’s Recipe portfolio, select D’Ann Boal’s ‘Sunlight & Happiness’ creation, save these photo editing settings directly onto your camera, and away you go!