Astrophotography can certainly be an intimidating pursuit even for experienced photographers. In this presentation, we'll show how to create beautiful images of the night sky with just a digital camera and tripod. We'll cover when and where to go, getting the best exposure, post-processing, stacking images and star tracking. There's a lot you can do with relatively simple gear. Starting out building on your successes like this will certainly help smooth the path to deep sky photography.
Our speaker: Rich Wilbourn grew up in Jackson, Mississippi during the heyday of the space program which inspired a lifelong interest in astronomy. He and friends started the local astronomy club there, the Jackson Astronomical Association, which continues to this day. At a time when telescopes were prohibitively expensive for the average teenager, Rich made his own 10" f/5 Newtonian reflector and even ground the mirror. He went on to study astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin and to intern at McDonald Observatory for two summers. After retiring from a career in IT and Project Management, he is enthusiastically pursuing a love of photographing the night sky. His other interests include wildlife and nature photography. You can see Rich's work on Instagram at @rwilbourn.