Camera Club members learn close-up photography skills

Camera Club members learn close-up photography skills

8 October 2025

BALLYNAHINCH Camera Club members learned about macro photography at their recent meeting.

Macro photography is a specialised form of extreme close-up photography that makes the subject appear life-size or larger on the camera’s sensor, allowing for extreme detail.

The genre is of particular interest to camera club members this month as it is the topic of round two of the NIPA competition. 

In advance of the entry date, two club members gave an illustrated talk and demonstration of this genre of photography.

Terry Hanna and John McCullough explained how it was possible to obtain good macro photographs using basic equipment.

They also explained the concept of ‘depth of field’ and its relevance to macro images.

John showed many of his images of insects, flowers and water lets as he described how he had obtained the shots – patience and imagination were the order of the day.

Terry gave a demonstration of using a focusing rail to take multiple images of a subject, each focused on a slightly different part. Computer software then performed a process known as focus stacking to blend the images together to form one image which was sharp from front to back.

This week’s meeting will follow on from last week’s topic and members will get an opportunity to critique images which may be submitted for the macro competition. The results of a calendar competition will also be announced.

New members are always welcome and if anyone with an interest in photography would like more details of joining the club they should visit the club website: www.ballynahinchcameraclub.co.uk.