Last Thursday’s member’s night was busy and informative and an opportunity to take an in-depth look at a particular aspect of photography which had recently attracted the attention of club members. Charles Woodford demonstrated and presented an illustrated talk on Macro photography. Charles is a highly skilled photographer in this demanding genre and his presentation quickly brought audible gasps from the audience amazed by the intricate structures which he had captured.
Fly
Producing such breathtaking images is a highly technical process so Charles explained how the technique of Focus Stacking, sometimes of up to 50 images on one frame, was the start of the process. At this time the camera is fitted to a Focusing Rail which enables the distance between each exposure to be precisely measured. The stack is then processed in custom software which analyses each individual exposure enabling the best merged version to be assembled.
In addition to displaying a vast range of images, Charles provided information on the equipment required including a Macro lens which can achieve up to 5x life size magnification ! There were many questions from the audience during the presentation and some members also took the opportunity after the main presentation to seek more detailed information and look at the hardware used. After the presentation there was also an opportunity for members to try macro photography on a Stlll Life table which included items from a forest floor such as chestnuts, acorns and pine cones.
Close-up and Macro photography each require expert knowledge of the subject matter coupled with a particularly high degree of precision in technique. Our club has a tradition of attracting the very best lecturers from the photographic community. However, as this evening demonstrated, we are also privileged in having equally and highly skilled photographers in our midst.
Gerbera Detail
Head of Grass
On Thursday 12th October we welcome Graeme Barclay, FCC member and also President at Midlothian C.C. Graeme’s topic is Astronomical Photography. The following week, on 19th October, we welcome Martin Sproul, an internationally acknowledged expert in the field of post-processing.
Take care, and thanks for looking in.