Almost all of us are photographers - we cover the spectrum of humanity, all ages of whatever gender, race or belief.

Some are professionals - but most of us are just enthusiasts, using whatever equipment comes to hand to create happy family memories of our children and grandchildren, holidays and our travels.

For many today, that means their mobile phones, but for dedicated digital camera users, the quality of the lens - that ’bit of glass’ on the front of the camera - is the most important piece of hardware for a photographer seeking ultimate quality in his or her images.

It is certainly true that the very best lenses offer an exceptional performance - usually those known as ’fast lenses’.

These have very large apertures such as f4 at extended focal lengths such as 500mm (particularly useful for sports and nature photographers) or f1.2- f1.4 at shorter lengths (with lovely ’bokeh’ for out-of-focus effects particularly good for portraits and natural history shots) - but always at great expense, sometimes many thousands of pounds.

Such lenses are very complex - involving both a significant number of individual glass lenses organised in groups to ’bend’ the light entering the lens in various ways.

Several different types of glass will be used, with characteristics reducing the problems of diffraction and the different ways the various wavelengths of light (the blue and the red elements in particular) arrive at the sensor.

Such is the lens shown here - a 200-400mm zoom f4 with 25 glass elements organised in 20 groups.

But it is because of the ultimate quality of these lenses that the very best and most memorable images are created and then seen in our newspapers and magazines - such as the shot here by Jeremy Broome-Smith of a peregrine with its prey, a stunning image possible only with the very best of lenses as used by someone who has the skills to get the best from it.

Why not consider joining a camera club such as the Isle of Man Photographic Society and take the opportunity to gain experience and skills?

Members of the Isle of Man Photographic Society will always give a warm welcome to new members and be happy to share their knowledge, and give advice to help develop your skills.

Have a look at our website - www.iomps.com or our Facebook page for lots of ideas to stimulate your interest.

Chris Blyth