Some of you may know that I am a bit a fan of old film cameras - I buy them, check them over and service them and maybe put a few rolls of film through them before selling them on. I do this mostly for fun, but it also helps fund my hobby. I have been reducing the count and am now down to only two "proper" film cameras.

A recent acquistion was a Mamiya 645 medium format camera dating from about 1980 and made in Japan from solid metal (judging by the weight I think it might be lead)

Hi all

I hope everyone is managing OK in the lockdown  - it's dragging on a bit now and maybe we've started to run out of jobs to do around the house. At least B&Q are reopening, so we can get the DIY and gardening necessities.

I just noticed that the final tally for the April on-line competition was 35 entries ! Brilliant - well done to everyone who made the effort to enter and good luck !

Regards

Rick

After reading the post by Peter I checked what facilities are available on my camera.

Multiple exposures is my option. This allows me to take two images. Following the instructions on my camera screen I am able to place the first picture on top of the second. Keeping the stems of the Teasels in line I moved up the second image slightly.

Try it out and have fun with your images.

Cecilia

Something you could try in the lockdown is ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) or multiple imaging.

A few images taken in this way by Lin and me are shown below,

ICM

One of the Blurb books that I have just completed is "Street Art in Valencia".  Street and graffiti artists from all around the world have created a living art gallery in the old quarter of Valencia. Although I appreciate that I have photographed "other peoples images",  I wanted to record the variety of artistic styles and the intense colours that bombard your eyes as you walk down the streets and narrow alleys.

We recently saw a video of a landscape photographer who had used focus stacking to increase depth of field in his images, and thought we'd try it out. Focus stacking is only of use for static subjects such as still life, macro photography or landscapes. I understand it is very widely used in studio work for commercial product photography. And it's actually quite easy to do in Photoshop !

Photobooks are a great way to save memories of holidays and family gatherings. I have many of them – they bring back lots of good memories. They are by their nature very personal to the person who creates them – the digital equivalent of the photo album, with all your birthday parties and Uncle George wearing a funny hat at Xmas. During confinement in the house I have come up with a slightly different take on this idea. I have made a ‘Coffee Table’ photo book using my own photographs which I hope to send as a gift.

We may not be able to take our camera out in the streets or parks to explore photo opportunities during these dreadful difficult time, but nothing stops us to go into our garden, and take some pictures of our beautiful birds and whatever wildlife we can find. You will be surprised how much there is to inspire us!

You may have heard of, or seen other photographers using “back button focussing” but perhaps aren’t sure what it’s about. Here is a simple explanation – maybe you’d like to try it yourself.

A few links which may be of interest to members

The first is Don McCullin.  He is one of the Magnum photographers and is famous for his Vietnam War pictures.  However he is also a brilliant street and landscape photographer

The next two relate to Scott Bourne.  He is one of the top bird photographers and is an Olympus Visionary. One is an interview with him about how he got started and what his philosophies and techniques are.  The second is his web site with lots of top class images.

Peter Wyles