As a theme within Camera Club this year, we are working on Macro and Close-up photography to support our members in preparing for the Close-up competition planned for the 19th March 2020. Following Bob Brind-Surch’s presentation on Macro photography we he held a Macro practise evening, to allow our members to put some of those techniques into practise.
The evening was well attended with around 20 members bring their cameras along to take part in the evening’s activities.
As usual Andy opened the evening by describing how the event would run, highlighting what kit was available, and basically telling everyone to “Enjoy playing with the toys!”.
With several different types of lighting available (from studio flash to hand-held LED torches) there were lots of options for people to try. Several of the members bought along a selection of props including; Lego figures, some jewellery, pencils and pencil sharpenings, some interesting rocks and even some fossils. Also on hand were some fabric swatches and coloured paper sheets to use as backgrounds, and lots of small cards that could be used as reflectors or flags to control the light.
Several members bought along some of their close-up accessories for other people to “Have a go” with, and I can see lots of people trying to sneak last minute items onto their Christmas Lists. Extension tubes, and Led lights were particularly popular.
Through out the evening some of the clubs more experienced members visited the different tables in turn to suggest ideas and alternatives and help out if anyone needed a technical nudge.
Andy showed a neat, and free, phone app called “Pocket Softbox” to several people which was very popular. This app allows you to use your mobile phone screen as a small light, making it create a small light for macro photography, however you can change the colour of the screen giving all sorts of creative possibilities.
The feedback on the night was that this was a brilliant evening we people really enjoying the chance to use their cameras!
If you’ve got any images you’d like to share, just email or What’s App them to Andy!
Please find some photos from the night!
Thanks to Sam, for providing the shots of the evening
