This week, on a wet and windy evening, members of the Isle of man Photographic Society welcomed the return of local professional photographer, Andrew Barton LBIPP LMPA, an honorary life member of the society, to give another of his occasional demonstrations and tutorials on a key skill - tabletop photography.

Honed by years of practical experience from the days of film and the necessity of using studio lighting for portrait and product photography, Andrew’s presentation became something of a masterclass for our members.

Studio lights have an enormous benefit for the photographer. They are totally under his (or her) control such that very specific effects of light, shadow and depth of field can be created, meaning that the final image can be exactly as the photographer’s (or client’s) ’vision’ of the intended shot.

For someone, for example, working for an advertising agency and needing an image for a magazine or newspaper, being able to provide the exact image required isn’t just helpful - it’s essential to a career and perhaps being paid.

Three set-ups had been arranged - each with a set of lights, and each with a different colour background - white, black and blue.

The products to be photographed included fruit, cakes and sweets, and a red pepper.

For portability, Andrew’s demonstration used mostly umbrellas - both ’shoot through’ translucent and reflective - whereas in a more permanent studio set-up, he would recommend softboxes which offer greater controllability. With his camera tethered to a lap-top for immediate review and comment, we moved through the various arrangements, making changes to the lighting to show the effect on the image.

It became clear that even very small changes to the position and angle of the lights and their intensity could and did make enormous differences to the final image.

It was also clear that practice (lots of it!) could only be of benefi to our own work.

Jeremy Broome-Smith, president, gave the vote of thanks for a really interesting and helpful practical demonstration.

Our next meeting is on Wednesday, March 4, when Doug Allan from the Western Society will be judging an assignment competition for us on the theme of water.

Doug has many years experience and always brings a good eye and good insight into his judging, so his visit is much anticipated.

The society meets at the Arts Society Building (Thie Ellyn) in Withington Road, Douglas, on Wednesday evenings, all meetings starting at 7.30pm, and all open to the public (with a modest fee for non-members).

More details of the society and its programme can be found on our website at www.iomps.com.

Chris Blyth