The latest meeting of the Isle of Man Photographic Society proved a major success as members were given a demonstration of macro (close-up) photography followed by the opportunity to practise the use of their own cameras and to get ’the shot’ for themselves.

In particular, the evening required members to use purely ’manual’ settings on their cameras rather than the default ’automatic’ setting with which most of us are happy to use most of the time.

Three set-ups, complete with the necessary lighting arrangement, were provided by our competitions secretary, Jeremy Broome-Smith, who was ably assisted by Nigel Owen for the evening.

The first was of a glass dish filled with an olive oil and water mixture, back-lit and fitted with various coloured backgrounds and when suitably agitated, provided the opportunity for some colourful and surprisingly vivid images of bubbles.

The second arrangement enabled the photography of thin slices of fruit such as kiwi, orange or lemon - again back-lit with a light panel.

No excuses on these set-ups as the bubbles and fruit don’t move and the photographer has complete control of the arrangements!

The third set was also a very simple one - a clear glass vase filled with water into which a strawberry or a lemon slice was being dropped, the idea being to capture the ’splash’ as the fruit hit the surface and the bubbles as it descended through the liquid. Here timing was everything - too soon and the fruit was still in the air, too late and the shot was missed.

Much banter ensued among the members as they explored the various arrangements - and while not all the shots were necessarily perfect, the intent was to stimulate and provide ideas which could then be replicated at home.

Assuming ownership of a camera and a flash-gun, none of the arrangements required specialist equipment or would be difficult to set up - just a certain amount of time and the enthusiasm to ’have a go’.

Our website at www.iomps.com includes full details of our programme.

Our meetings are held at Thie Ellyn (the Art Society building) in Withington Road, Douglas, on Wednesday evenings starting at 7.30pm.

All meetings are open to the public, non-members with a modest entry charge, and all will be made very welcome. Our next meeting on Wednesday, October 17, is an open digital competition.

If you enjoy photography in any or all of its forms, we’d be delighted to see you...

Chris Blyth