Guest Speaker – Ronan McLaughlin

Our guest on Monday 28th November was Ronan McLaughlin. Ronan took us through his passion and interest in taking Nightscapes (Astrophotography) in and around Ireland and shared the challenges that only the weather in Ireland and the problems with light pollution can cause.

He took a number of people in the group from being vaguely interested to the point where they are already planning their next outing to get their own images.

For those new converts, you can plan your epic Milky Way shots by the dates of the New Moons for Summer 2017 which are: April 26; May 25; June 24; July 23; August 21 & September 20.

You can go to http://www.lonelyspeck.com/lonely-specks-ultimate-list-of-best-astrophotography-lenses/ to see what lenses are recommended for astrophotography and to http://www.lonelyspeck.com/astrophotography-101/ for a good introduction to the topic.

Also, some free software (as mentioned by Ronan) to process your images once you’ve taken them: Deep Sky Stacker (http://deepskystacker.free.fr/english/index.html).

Another good source of information is the article Easy Astrophotography Tips for Beginners at PhotographyTalk.

Some of Ronan’s images (click on an image to open in full-screen mode) are below:
 

 

 
See more images in this Gallery on his website here.
 
For an overview of his work watch the video:

All Images and Material used with permission from Ronan McLaughlin.