27/05/2026
Despite being a surprisingly hot evening our last meeting of May was well attended and Dave Jordan FRPS treated us to a fascinating look at the growing use of phone cameras in photography. Dave explained that many photographers feel that a phone is not a real camera but the new generation of phone cameras offer some powerful features and capabilities that present photographers with a broad range of tools to create dramatic images with these tiny packages. A phone is often the only camera you have with you, allowing you to capture the absurd in the street or the sublime in nature. Modern phones also have sensors and lenses capable of capturing high-resolution images, allowing them to be enlarged to create super prints. To illustrate this point, Dave showed a series of photographs taken by various club members on their camera phones. These ranged from record shots of stunning natural events, low-light shots of concerts and creative images using blended textures or multiple exposure techniques. Dave went on to explain how it is possible to control your phone camera in order to manage exposure etcetera as you would with a traditional camera. Paul Oliver then showed us his work, creating Platinum prints from phone camera images. Paul explained how he loved the process of turning a digital image into a tactile print using techniques from the very beginning of photography. To close the first half of the evening, Clive Dunn treated us to a series of images he had created using a phone camera to capture something that caught his eye and then processing the photographs on his computer to create beautiful blended and multiple exposure images.
For the second half of the evening, Dave Balcombe ARPS, DPAGB, EFIAP, BPE3* and Dave Jordan together, demonstrated several Apps that allow you to process phone images or create special effects. These apps are often free or cost very little.
It was a fascinating evening and explained how to get the best from your phone camera when it is the only tool you have to capture a special moment as well as showing the scope of creativity now available to you as a photographer with a phone.
Next week, we will hold our annual print panel competition.
©images are the copyright of David Jordan, Joan Jordan and Adrian Richmond
