Photos shared during UCSD PhIG monthly meetings
Heather is the newest member to join the UCSD Photography Interest Group. The June meeting was the first time she shared her photos. The images she shared were from a recent tour of the Idaho State Penitentiary Museum. Welcome Heather – great images!
Gary’s been busy re-landscaping his backyard and fortunately he’s come across some spontaneous image opportunities. Which are often harder than planned images. He only had two this month and they weren’t theme-related but any great shots are always welcome.
Jim enjoys using Lightroom and Photoshop along with other digital darkroom tools to bring out the best in an image. Practicing processing Milky Way images taken during his recent trip to Yosemite. He’s been learning how to use Starnet++ and StarXterminator with Siril to separate the Milky Way nebula from the stars. This allows the Milky Way to be processed independently from the stars, as separate layers.
For architectural photography, Jim watched a few tutorials on how to convert architectural images into ‘fine art black&white’. So many of the images he shared this month, were black&white high contrast, dark sky images.
Jerry focused on how he’d edit the other member’s unprocessed images. He’s got great Photoshop skills and is able to bring out the best in the images. Here are the several images he processed from raw to final:
Jerry shared an eclectic variety of wonderful before and after images, some new some older. Birds, epic landscapes, action and portraiture show his skills in post-processing primarily using Photoshop.
Jim shared recent images from his April trip to Yosemite with fellow photographer Gary. Here are his before and after images. He did some astrophotography of the Milky Way over Half Dome that he is still editing. But included below are two sets of initial edits.
Gary shared mainly final edited images although he discussed the post-processing steps of images from his recent Yosemite trip. He also photographed the new Osprey pair nesting at Shelter Island. It took his several trips to get the right conditions for his favorite keepers.
Cathy uses a Canon camera and iPhone for her photography. Post-processing is done in Lightroom and Photoshop. Cathy’s been experimenting with Photoshop 2024’s AI generative fill tool to improve composition. She also used Lightroom’s masking and overall image tools to bring out specific details or remove unwanted elements.
Jerry’s plan to travel to Dallas Texas for 100% eclipse totality was cancelled due to the weather forecast. Traveling all that way only to have thundershowers and thick cloud cover spoil your plans is part of the photography experience. Fortunately, reservations can be cancelled and a partial eclipse can be enjoyed locally, under clear sunny skies. Jerry drove up to Mt Palomar to reduce the atmospheric haze. He shot the eclipse using a solar filter on his telephoto lens. His additional images are of a spectacular Vandenburg Starlink rocket launch at dusk.
Cathy had the wonderful idea of photographing people gathered and watching the eclipse. The main idea to catch the large group watching the eclipse, wearing their glasses, and looking upward. Turns out this behavior was more isolated and in smaller groups than you’d think. Still, the images are fun and she captured some wonderful moments at the Reuben H Fleet Eclipse Party April 8 2024.
