As Douglas Adams says in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, “Space is really big-REALLY big”.  This does make deciding what to photograph when looking upwards a bit difficult as there is so much to choose from. Add to that, that the stars and planets can only really be seen when it is dark, makes the “how”  bit of photography a bit difficult too.

Les explains a point during his presentation.

Enter our speaker on 20 Apr 26, Les Brand, a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and “amateur” photographer.  The main thrust of Les’ presentation was that you do not need expensive, specialist equipment and that most people’s standard camera kit will get you some decent results.  Les then proceeded to prove it with some spectacular pictures taken from his garden in Essex.  The big problem with astrophotography in the Potters Bar/London area is light pollution from streets, buildings etc, so Les showed us some suggestions of low(er) light areas that would give us some starts.

Les then demonstrated how to take some strong base images and then how to pull the most information out of them by using both “standard” and specialist (often free) software.

Having covered the how and why of astrophotography Les then made some suggestions for (also, often free) mobile phone apps that would guide us to the “where” the various stars, constellations etc are.

President for the evening, Helen Frost thanked Len for a wonderful evening that certainly encouraged us to go out at night and look up, however big Space may be.