About the Author
My wife is resolved to the fact that I do not have “normal” hobbies.
Chris was born in England and from his teenage years was fascinated by the natural sciences, engineering and photography, all of which he found more interesting than football. At the weekend he could be found building or designing some gadget or other. At school he used a slide-rule and log books for his exams at 16. Two years later, scientific calculators had completely displaced them. He studied Electronics at Bath University and by the time he had completed his masters degree, the computer age was well under way and 8-bit home computers were common. After a period designing military communication and optical gauging equipment, as well as writing software in Forth, Occam, C++ and Assembler, he joined an automotive engineering company.
As a member of the Royal Photographic Society, he gained LRPS and ARPS distinctions and pursued a passion for all forms of photography, mostly using traditional monochrome techniques. Not surprisingly, this hobby, coupled with his professional experience led him to invent and patent several highly regarded f/stop darkroom meters and timers, still sold throughout the world. During that time digital cameras evolved rapidly and photo ink-jet printers slowly overcame their annoying limitations. Resisting the temptation of the early optimistic digital promises, he authored a book on traditional monochrome photography, Way Beyond Monochrome, to critical acclaim and followed with a second edition to satisfy the ongoing demand.
Digital monochrome appeared to be the likely next avenue for his energy, until an eye-opening presentation on astrophotography renewed a dormant interest in astronomy, enabled by the digital cameras. Astrophotography was the perfect fusion of science, electronics and photography. Like many before, his first attempts ended in frustration and disappointment, but he quickly realized the technical challenges of astrophotography responded well to a methodical and scientific approach. He found this, together with his photographic eye and decades of printing experience, was an excellent foundation to produce beautiful and fascinating images from a seemingly featureless sky. The outcome was The Astrophotography Manual, acclaimed by many readers as the best book on the subject in the last 15 years and he was accepted as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, founded in 1820.
Acknowledgements
This book and the intensive research that it demands would not have been possible without the ongoing support of my wife Carol (who even dug the footings for my observatory) and the wider on-line community. Special thanks go to Sam Anahory and Lawrence Dunn for contributing a guest chapter each on their respective specialty.
This edition is dedicated to Jacques Stiévenart, who piqued my interest in photography and astronomy. In the 1970s, he showed me how to silver a mirror and print a small black and white picture of the moon, taken through his home-made 6-inch Newtonian using a Zeiss Ikonta held up to the eyepiece. It was made all the more exotic since we only had a few words of each other’s language. Such moments often inspire you when you are a kid.
It is one of the pleasures of this hobby to share problems and solutions with other hobbyists and this edition builds upon the knowledge and wisdom of many astrophotographers. This hobby is a never-ending journey of refinement, knowledge and development. It is a collaborative pursuit and I welcome any feedback or suggestions for this book or the next edition.
Chris Woodhouse ARPS, FRAS