Following on from the Festive Holiday break, members of the Society ventured to Barby for an evening photographic science (!!) and practical demonstration, courtesy of Tony McMaster – founder of the Camera Club Live YouTube channel.
Tony has a very informative and educational YouTube channel that showcases numerous different photographic techniques through a plethora of videos recorded at his studio. During our visit, Tony delved into some of the basic and more complex theories around taking a photograph – including the differences between aperture, focal length and exposure and how it all comes together to change the way a photograph looks when captured in camera.
Different lighting techniques were demonstrated, from simple ‘Speedlight’ flash gun arrangements, to more extensive lighting set-ups including flash and constant lighting. Tony had set up two different ‘still life’ arrangements which present their own challenges when attempting to capture these images correctly in camera.
Tony demonstrated the ‘inverse square’ rule about positioning of lighting in terms of distance from the subject and the energy changes required to achieve the same level of exposure. It was all fascinating stuff and presented in Tony’s helpful and experienced manner.
In the second half of the evening, Tony utilised the second table-top still life set up to further delve into lighting, and making use of a reflector to re-direct light to enhance the exposure of an area in shadow. By taking multiple exposures and using layers in Photoshop, a simple but effective composite image was achieved with all of the subject exposed as the photographer may have intended.
Following this, members of the Society who had brought along their camera equipment were able to try their hand at capturing their own images of the table-top still life arrangements using flash equipment supplied by Tony. This included tripod users and also those brave enough to try this with their modern cameras but hand held.
Hopefully our members will share some of their images for use on the Website and Facebook pages. Our sincere thanks from Dunchurch Photographic Society to Tony McMaster and Penny for being wonderful hosts and of course giving us a great opportunity to learn, and practice. We hope to be able to visit Tony and his studio again next season. Meeting Report Compiled by David J. Bray AFIAP, CPAGB. Secretary – DPS.
