Category: Albums

Photos shared during UCSD PhIG monthly meetings

UCSD Photography Interest Group > Blog > Albums

21 Jan 2026 Theme Travel; Landscapes/Oceanscapes/King Tide: Cathy

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Cathy took a daytrip out to Anza-Borrego and captured the wildflower blooms from all the recent rains we’ve had. She arrived just after sunrise and got some great light and clouds. Cathy used the Clear Outside app (free; for iPhone & Android) to plan her photo outing, tracking the cloud coverage in the area.
Cathy brought three different setups to test and compare the results. She photographed with her full frame Canon R6II with 24-105mm f4 lens; her Canon Rebel SL3 with 90mm f2 macro lens; and her iPhone 15 Pro Max ultrawide.
Her other images were from King Low Tide of a starfish (they’ve made a recent recovery & their population is booming). Plus a long exposure at Wind-n-Sea surf shack, at sunrise. Photographing the Wind-n-Sea surf shack using long exposures at King Tide is an ongoing project for her.

21 Jan 2026 Theme Travel; Landscapes/Oceanscapes: Gary

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Gary has been re-processing some travel photos using Lightroom’s HDR feature to bring out more details and improve contast. His images show a definite improvement with better color and contrast. Gary’s favorite place to photograph is Yosemite, often visiting the national park a couple times a year. Climber’s, dwarfed on El Capitan, are a favorite subject to watch and photograph. The “John Muir trail up to Vernal Falls” image was reprocessed, a high contrast photo improved by using HDR. He also likes the illusion created by inverting a reflection photo when its clarity adds a twist to the image. A bald eagle collecting nest material was a lucky shoot-from-the-hip grab shot. Lastly, the vivid colors and chrome of an Australian steam locamotive were brought out using Lightroom’s HDR post-processing.

21 Jan 2026 Theme Landscapes/Oceanscapes/King Tide: John

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John shared some King Tide images from Del Mar’s dog beach taken in 2019-2020 where the King Tides obviously affected beach access. But he returned to the same spot this last King Tide Jan 3rd to try photographing a third image. But the addition of 750k of sand in Carlsbad had transported down the coast and changed the Del Mar’s beach topography. So trying to continue the King Tide series will have to wait till, hopefully, the longshore current flattens Dog Beach.

21 Jan 2026 Theme Travel; Landscapes/Oceanscapes/King Tide: Jim

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Jim returned from a recent 5-day trip to Death Valley. He was lucky to visit during a fair weather window between rain storms. Much of Death Valley was unusually green and Badwater Basin was temporarily transformed into pluvial Lake Manly. Jim had one clear night to try out the Seestar S50 smart telescope he got for Christmas. This single image is actually a stacked mosaic of 180 20sec exposures. The Seestar iPhone app (also available on Android) makes often complicated astrophotography very easy. The app will stack the images, and denoise them automatically, creating a jpg. But the telescope can also save every (20sec) exposure for post-processing. Jim imported the 180 images into Siril, a free astrophotography image stacker & editor. Although the jpg produced automatically is good, processing the images in Siril can greatly improve the results. This photo is a 1 hour stacked image of the Orion Nebula (M42), a popular beginner’s target since it’s easy to find and visible on-screen after just a couple exposures. The Seestar was configured to track the nebula so stars are not elongated.
After returning to San Diego, he photographed the King Tide Jan 4th at La Jolla’s Children’s Cove. A mainly overcast morning had some sun break through, creating a favorable backlight.

21 Jan 2026 Theme Travel; Landscapes/Oceanscapes: Barbara

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Barbara continues to practice with her new Nikon Zf with 40mm f2 lens. Coming from micro-four thirds Olympus/OM Systems and a variety of lenses, the larger Nikon full frame camera is quite a change. Barbara hope the full frame dynamic range and sharpness is worth carrying the extra bulk. She shared a group of images from a vintage car gathering at Liberty Station, and a colorful hummingbird photo.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Jim

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Jim was unable to get out in December so most of the images he shared this month were photos from the Nov 27 2025 Oceanside Annual Thanksgiving Holiday Turkey Trot . This is a tradition in Oceanside on Thanksgiving morning. This year’s course was 5k starting by the Oceanside Library and ending at the beach south of the pier. Thousands participated, groups, families, young & old. There are staggered starts (“heats”?) often separated by speed or group characteristics like strollers or walkers (non-runners). The 4 and under kids have a shorter course (1/5mi) down by the beach. Their enthusiasm was wonderful to capture.
The other holiday image was from a 2019/2020 trip to Italy at New Years he hadn’t processed. His single b&w portrait was a homage to photographer Diane Arbus’s “Child with a toy grenade in NYC Central Park“.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Mikky

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Mikky visits India frequently and his portraits capture the warmth of his subjects & the culture. One of the motivations for the Portraits theme this month was his excellent “passion-project” portfolio of portraits from Jan 2025. But the majority of this month’s photos were black & white seascapes (SIO “ScrippsHenge”) & Bryce Canyon landscapes. A style of photography he hasn’t shared before so the group may be influencing his photography. I know the shared photos have inspired mine.

17 Dec 2025 Holidays, Weather, Portraits: Heather

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Heather loves her compact (micro-four-thirds) Panasonic GX85 and never ceases to amaze us with the quality of her images. She has a great eye and timing especially with people photos. Her Do Dah Parade portrait is particularly strong and we think worthy of submission to the SD Fair. She proposes a Pasadena meetup in Nov 2026 for the parade. Her other portrait was from our Dios de los Muertos meetup Nov 1st. Other images were weather-themed and had great depth. Her backup camera is an iPhone proving the best camera is the one you have handy.