Meeting Minutes 2024

Posted on by jrwilkinson

  • Dec 18th Meeting Minutes: The Dec 18th meeting had 6 participants via Zoom.
    • We had our monthly Zoom meeting from 2-4:10pm. This month’s themes were: “Freezing Time/Blending Time”, “Flash & Artificial Light Photography”, & “Holiday”.
    • 2:00-2:15pm: Before photo-sharing participants discussed the recent activities, events, such as attending San Diego’s December Nights Dec 6-7 2024 in Balboa Park. John stopped by to wish everyone “Happy Holidays” but couldn’t stay. Heather was traveling and could not remotely join the meeting. Jim(I) mentioned my recent migration to MacOS hardware and the changes in photo-sharing software and photo-editing hardware. Barbara discussed her recent Mexican cruise.
      Jim proposed early next month’s potential themes – “Your Favs of 2024” and “Passion Project”, photographic themes or styles you are passionate about.
    • 2:15-4:05pm: participants shared their photos. It was interesting discovering how differently “Freezing/Blending Time” could be interpreted. I thought it was pretty straight-forward – that cameras are great at freezing fractions of a sec in time. Or blending/blurring time in an image using long exposure. There were photos interpreting the theme differently. Many of the images fell into the “Flash & Artificial Light” theme with photos of recent holiday light festivities.
    • 4:10 – after finalizong next month’s theme ideas we closed the meeting with wishing everyone “Safe & Happy Holidays!”.
    • Themes for January –
      • “Favorite Photos of 2024″: Pick 10 images that you consider your favorites of 2024, any theme.
      • “Passion Project“: Share photos that are your theme or style. If you enjoy mainly photographing landscapes or seascapes, travel, street. Compile several images of “your style/theme”.
      • Open Subject – any photos that you’ve taken recently are always welcome.
  • Nov 20th Meeting Minutes: The Nov 20th meeting had 6 participants via Zoom. We had our monthly Zoom meeting from 2-3:45pm. This month’s themes were: “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (+Boats)”, “Halloween/Dia de los Muertos”, & “Comet A3/SuperMoon”.
    • 2:00-2:20pm: Before photo-sharing participants discussed the recent activities, events, and the Nov 2nd Dia de los Muertos celebration in Old Town San Diego. Heather mentioned having to leave at 3:30pm so we started photo sharing at ~2:20pm.
    • 2:30-3:35pm: participants shared their photos. The six participants shared their favorite images, most following this month’s themes. The variety of images taken of Dia de los Muertos by the outing participants was interesting. Four photographers had somewhat different images of the celebration. It was interesting to see the different perspectives.
    • 3:45 – after proposing next month’s theme ideas we closed the meeting a little early as no new discussions were started.
    • Themes for December –
      • Freezing Time/Blending Time: Photography is a great way to freeze a moment in time, like a dog catching a frisbee in mid-air. Or capture the movement of time (long exposure).
      • Flash Photography: Share photos using artificial light, a flash in particular or neon or ??? Flash photography is also a great way to freeze time.
      • Open Subject – share any photos that you have been working on recently; holiday photos, since its that time of year, are welcome
  • Oct 16th Meeting Minutes: The Oct 16th meeting had 6 participants via Zoom.
    We had our monthly Zoom meeting from 2-4:05pm. This month’s themes were: “Fall-continued”, “Above/Below”, & “Moon Rise”.
    • 2:00-2:30pm: Before photo-sharing participants discussed recent trips to Idaho, Chicago, and the cancellation of our Oct 17th full moon outing at UCSD due to poor weather conditions forecast.
    • 2:30-3:55pm: participants shared their photos. The six paricipants shared their favorite images, most following this month’s themes. Techniques used for post-processing the full moon photos taken Sep 17th to maximize the scene contrast were discussed. Many participants do not do extensive or any post-processing.
      Macro photography techniques were discussed during Gary’s excellent bee macro photo. Also, his humorous juvenile flamingo photo created a lot of talk – seeing how disproportionatly large their legs are to their body was a surprise (photo)
    • 3:55-4:05pm: discussion on our next meeting’s themes
    • Themes for November – “Fall Colors“, “Trains, Planes, & Automobiles (& Boats)” and “Halloween“. During the meeting, Heather talked about her trip to Idaho and seeing wonderful fall colors. Cathy just got back from Chicago and also photographed the fall season. So we are continuing the theme of “Fall Colors” so we’ll get a chance to see their photos.
      “Trains, Planes, & Automobiles (& Boats)” seems like a worthy set of subjects since there can be a broad variety of photo opportunities.
      “Halloween” is coming so again there may be some great photo opportunities in the next few weeks celebrating the season.
  • Sep 18th Meeting Minutes: The Sep 18th meeting had 6 participants via Zoom.
    • We had our monthly Zoom meeting from 2-4:10pm. This month’s themes were: “Fall”, “AppArt”, & “Artificial Light”.
      • 2:00-2:30pm: Before photo-sharing there was a lively discussion about our Mission Bay Moon-rise outing the night before, Sept 17th. There was a Supermoon with partial eclipse after sunset and several of us met at Ski Beach at ~6:15pm. We set up our tripods north of the boat ramp and had the moon rise centered behind the USD tower. Photopills and The Photographer’s Ephemeris, two iPhone apps for predicting celestial events, gave us an approximation of the moon rise trajectory. TPE was more reliable.
      • 2:30-3:45pm: participants shared their photos. Many of us embraced the AppArt theme, using iPhone or desktop apps to convert photos into painting-styles of different types. Photo-purist would balk at our use of such photo manipulations. But it easy and fun, plus we do not have any set boundaries on our post-processing. Discussions of Fall/Autumn and AppArt images took up most of the time. Heather talked about her 6wk roadtrip to Alaska and had the best recent Fall images.
        Jim also talked a little about the discontinuation of point-and-shoot cameras. They are the only cameras allowed into ball games, concerts and shows since they do not have interchangeable lenses. If you have any, hold onto them, especially if they have more to offer than cell phone cameras. Jim’s Panasonic ZS200 has a 1″ sensor & 24-360mm Leica-designed lens. It allows stills to be captured during 4k video. 4k video has a crop-factor which results in the maximum focal length to 500mm. It had been on his travel-camera wishlist but then it was discontinued. He had to buy a “like new” one secondhand on KEH.com.
      • 3:45-4:10pm: discussion on our next meetup ideas
        • Oct 17th – another moonrise Harvest Supermoon, plans are to shoot the Falling Star from UCSD Library.
        • Dates to be decided:
          • 1). a UCSD architecture photo walk-about, make sense to do it late afternoon Oct 17th before moonrise.
          • 2). Surf photography – Barbara’s been sharing some great surf photos so we may plan an informal meetup at La Jolla Shores duringhigh surf &/or King Tide (Nov 15?)
          • 3). Zoo or Safari Park – not really discussed but I’m proposing an informal meetup for anyone interested – Pandas perhaps?
      • Themes for October – “Fall-continued“, “The Moon” and “Above or Below Eye-Level“. September was a little early for Fall photos for many of us so lets continue the theme into October. Participants of our Sept 17th moonrise meetup should share their best photos and any other lunar images are welcome.
        An alternative theme is “Above or Below Eye-Level”. Share photos taken above eye-level or low to the ground – below eye-level. The subject can be your pet(s), shorebirds, flowers, view from a tower, drone, or mountain top.
  • Aug 21st Meeting Minutes: The Aug 21st meeting had 5 participants via Zoom.
    • 2:00-2:30: a continuing discussion about astrophotography, with recent wildfires causing some poor conditions and no photographic results. Same with the tentative Milky Way excursion to Anza-Borrego. Triple digit daytime temperatures and not much break in the evenings postponed the trip to the desert.
    • Gary discussed his recent encounter with the Seestar astro-camera. With our recent discussion of Milky Way photography and the challenges of astrophotography. This camera/telescope simplifies the process and produces excellent results.
    • 2:30-4:45: photo sharing and discussion – this month’s themes were summer & beach.
      • With five participants, there was plenty of time to discuss the photos in detail and have tangential discussions.
      • Gary shared some very successful watercolor conversion using Waterlogue, an iPhone app. Other software apps, such as BeCasso and Snapseed, were discuss to generate photos with various painterly or filter effects. Most are easy to use and affordable (even free) for iPhone like Waterlogue. That app turns your photo into various watercolor styles.
    • Outings have been hard because of the hot weather, particularly to Anza-Borrego for Milky Way astrophotography. But the recent amazing full moon has sparked interest in a Balboa Park excursion next full moon. Also a Salk Institute sun equinox excursion is proposed in Sept with Cathy taking lead since she’s already has a contact.
  • Jul 17 2024 Meeting Minutes: The July 17th meeting had 8 participants via Zoom.
    • 2:00-2:20: general discussion about astrophotography, and Cathy’s recent Colorado Milky Way outing. Tips on how she might have more success next time.
    • Jim discussed iso invariance, a somewhat technical topic, but something good for a digital camera users should know. This web page has a great explaination on what it is and why it’s important:
    • 2:30-4:35: photo sharing and discussion – this month’s themes were food and color.
      • John sent a photo but did not attend
      • Jerry attended and shared some great Anza-Borrego Milky Way shots after the main photo sharing. During our discussion of a potential astrophotography trip to Anza-Borrego on July 29th, or early or late August. Lake Cuyamaca is also a possible Milky Way location.
      • During photo sharing, different software apps were discuss to generate watercolor or various filter effects to photographs. Most of the easiest to use and cheapest (even free) are iPhone apps like Waterlogue. That app turns your photo into various watercolor styles.
      • Some of the best discussion aren’t photo-related but photo-driven – backyard gardening of Dahlia’s, or wonderful food places or San Diego Fair food. It was probably off-topic but fun.
    • Next month meeting’s are Beach and Summer
  • Jun 19 2024 Meeting Minutes: The June 19th meeting had 8 participants via Zoom.
    • 2:00-2:30: Jerry & John discussed their recent astrophotography trip to Anza-Borrego. Strong winds and high overcast did not make for the best conditions. Weather is always an issue for photo outings.
      • A short discussion on photo backup strategies for MacOS, iPhone, and Windows users were discussed. This topic has been of interest for awhile since both John & Sharon have had issues with their photo libraries. It’s important to have a conversation about how each of us keeps our photos backed up and safe.
        • Copying photos to an external hard drive or network attached storage/raid drive
        • Exporting your Lightroom catalog to a second storage strategy especially if your Lightroom catalog also stores your downloaded memory card images.
        • Using iCloud to store your Mac/iPhone photos
        • OneDrive, Dropbox, Mega, and/or Google Drive all have free storage and affordable expanded storage.
        • Main point is to be vigilant and setup a routine so if a catastrophic hardware failure happens. You do not lose you photos.
    • 2:30-4:45: both architectural and edited photos were shared & discussed.
      • Jerry & Jim processed the unedited images from Cathy, Jerry, Jim, and Gary. Explaining their approach & techniques to generate the final results.
      • Cathy, Heather, Jim, & Sharon shared their architectural images.
      • Before leaving, John mentioned GoodSync and BackBlaze as his tools to keep his photo library secure.
    • Next month meeting’s are Colors and Food (or colorful food)
  • May 15 2024 Meeting Minutes: The May 15th meeting had 6 participants via Zoom. Four participants shared Before/After images and they discussed their thought process and technique to achieve their final image.
    • Early in the meeting, John brought up a technical issue he recently overcame – the loss of his Lightroom library ie his photo archive. With the help of a consultant, he was able to recover his images. Possible ways of preventing this from happening will be a pre-photo-sharing discussion at the June meeting.
    • Cathy, Jerry, Jim & Gary shared Before & After images, explaining the techniques applied to the out-of-camera image to generate the final results.
    • Possible meet-ups were proposed –
      • a Harbor Drive Bridge/Gaslamp/Seaport Village walk-about at blue hour (either sunrise or sunset) was proposed by Cathy. This could fit the Architecture theme for June’s meeting.
      • A future long-distance trip to Lone Pine/Alabama Hills trip in Fall or Spring was proposed by Gary & Jim. Jerry suggested adding a Mono Lake extension to that trip.
      • Salton Sea is another potential day-trip destination. Apparently, burrowing owls are common around Salton Sea so in addition to Bombay Beach & the lake. Some bird photography could be part of the day’s plans.
      • Anza-Borrego astrophotography overnight outing in July or August, when the Milky Way visibility is at it’s peak. It’s hot then but the nighttime outing should be comfortable.
    • Photo-sharing & discussion of Before/After and other photos went from 2:30-4:00p.
  • April 17 2024: The Apr 17th meeting had only 6 participants via Zoom. All participants shared images and most were this month’s theme-related – Solar Eclipse/Street Photography. There was a lively discussion about a variety of topics but mainly related to the recent Apr 8th solar eclipse.
    • We welcomed a new participant, Heather to the meetings and hope she’ll share her photos and continue to participate.
    • Viewing & photographing the upcoming total solar eclipse Apr 8th was a topic of conversation before & during photo sharing. Cathy showed photos taken at Reuben H Fleet’s solar eclipse watch party.
    • Photo-sharing & discussion of Solar Eclipse & Street Photography and other photos went from 2:15-3:45p.
    • Since sharing our photos generates comments and critiques. Next months theme/topic will be “Before/After” – sharing photo pairs: straight out of camera & final edited images. It will be fascinating to understand the process and mind-set that generates the final shared photos.
  • March 20 2024: The March 20th meeting had 9 participants via Zoom. All participants shared images and most were this month’s theme-related – Spring. There was a lively discussion about a variety of topics such as recent trips to Yosemite, Death Valley, Anza-Borrego and Arizona.
  • February 21 2024 : The 2nd meeting of 2024 started at 2pm. As usual participants discussed recent events, travel plans, and current topics. Continuing issues with our Google Drive share was discussed
    • Most participants shared Bird & Wildlife images, following this month’s theme. Hawk Watch photos were shared by Jim from his Jan 20th visit. Cathy showed some La Jolla Cove pelicans and cormorants photos which displayed courting colors and behavior.
    • There was a brief discussion and demonstration of a Lightroom catalog ‘lost photo folder’ issue. When archiving photos to an external drive, if the syncing software MOVES the images instead of copying them. This will cause the image preview cataloged in Lightroom to disconnect from the editable image. If this happens, the images moved have to be copied back to their original location. Or once copied to the home drive, they have to be reimported into the catalog. It may be easiest to copy folders back to the origin drive and build a new catalog. Depending on how severe the problem is and how many images were moved.
    • Tutorial: There was a brief demo of Photoshop’s sky replacement AI requested by Gary. Also demonstrated and discussed was the use of Lightroom’s Lens Blur beta. It is a useful tool that add bokeh to your photograph, mimicking expensive wide-aperture lenses used wide-open.
  • January 17 2024 – 1st meeting of 2024: while Barbara and Jim troubleshot issues with her photo uploads to the UCSDPhIG Google Drive share. Participants discussed recent events and topics.
    • Lately, during photo sharing, topics such as travel, logistics, gear, and techniques are discussed while photos are on-screen. This is a great way to share and learn from each other using specific examples.
    • Most participants shared Reflection and Komorebi themed images. Additional, images were also shared and discussed. The recent King Tides and birds in La Jolla were topics. This is the season where pelicans and cormorants at the La Jolla Cove display courting colors and behavior.
    • Hawk Watch outing Jan 20th was discussed and hopefully the weather will cooperate.
    • Tutorial: Using Nik Collection (Google version) to develop black&white images was discussed.
    • Sky replacement using Photoshop was proposed for next month’s meeting. So practitioners will show their before and afters. There may also be a short how-to demo by Jim & Cathy.