On the 7th March the Society welcomed a return visit by Mary McIntyre who gave her presentation “Photographing the Night Sky, A Beginners Guide to Astrophotography”. Mary started with information on the types of useful equipment and how to set things up in preparation for a shoot. Following this she then showed series of pictures of the night sky, taken on a range of equipment from DSLRs through bridge and compact cameras, to mobile phones. The ISO settings; f stop settings; and exposure times were covered, with photo examples from each system. The importance of using a tripod was emphasised. Also the importance of knowing your equipment thoroughly was emphasised, camera manipulation in the dark without resorting to using lights is preferable to reducing your night vision by using lights or torches.
The series of awe inspiring pictures followed, arranged in two groups. The first group labelled “wide field shots”, i.e. those taken with a lens of any focal length on camera. Secondly came “in depth shots” i.e. those taken through a powerful telescope. The in depth shots included colourful pictures of nebulae and star clusters, the wide field group were mostly star trails, pictorially composed with interesting foreground. Mary then proceeded to explain the phenomena of aurora borealis. This can be seen in Southern Britain more often than people realise. The website “Aurora Alert” will notify anyone of the likelyhood of an aurora appearance.
The second part of Mary’s presentation covered her visit to the USA last year to record the total eclipse of the sun. Mary and her new husband combined this event with their honeymoon ! Detailed planning went into ensuring they were in a good geographical position to see the event for the longest time possible, a full two and half minutes. Early setting up and preparation was vital as a short time space was available during the passage of the sun. The result was a series of brilliant and unique pictures of this rare opportunity. Mary’s presentation finished with well deserved applause.
Following a break our meeting continued with our monthly challenge. The topic this time was“ A Touch of Purple”. Members had responded with a wide variety of pictures showing artistic imaginative compositional ability in the interpretation.
Our next meeting on 4th April will be The A.G.M. Our past year will be reviewed and members invited to make their wishes known on how we would all want the club to progress in the future. The AGM will be followed by a “What Is It? competition. Please submit your puzzling pictures to John Prentice in good time.
Paul Brewerton.
Adderbury Deddington and District Photographic Society.