Hands on and have a go was the theme for the camera club's meeting last Thursday with a 'still-life workshop'.

For photographers, staying in is the new going out. If you use your imagination and try using some new techniques, there's tons of photographic inspiration to be found around your house. Experienced photographers in the club gave lots of help and advice to the still-life subject. You don't always need expensive studio lighting to shoot professional-looking images; many striking shots can be taken with just a single light. Using a single light source such as an angle poise lamp enables you to create a number of different effects.

Plants and flowers make an excellent subject for still-life photography, using a simple set-up.

To create a mini tabletop studio at home and capture the still-life images, there are some tools you need - items with striking colours and shapes, a window that enables you to take advantage of natural daylight, a flash when working in close proximity to the subject - an off-camera flash pointed at the background will help add depth to the image - and finally a selection of coloured card and backdrops.

February 28 - mini competition, with the theme being 'still-life', followed by a talk by Ray Hornet on New Zealand and also the handing in of print/digital images of the year.