Category: Events

UCSD Photography Interest Group > Blog > Events

Sept 17 2024 Moon Rise Meetup

Posted on August 28, 2024August 29, 2024 by jrwilkinson

September 17th will be a full supermoon rising right after sunset. Weather-permitting, hopefully we’ll have a clear view of Univ of San Diego’s Immaculata Church Dome & Steeple . A photo taken by Stephen Bay posted on Instagram is our inspiration.

We are hoping to capture similar images from Ski Beach or Fiesta Island on Mission Bay. According to the Photographer’s Ephemeris, Ski Beach on Mission Bay San Diego should be the right angle to photograph the moon rising over USD. Moonrise is 6:51pm; sunset is 6:51pm so the light conditions could be optimal.
Mission Bay Park on Fiesta Island could be a better location depending on weather and lens focal range.
I will arrive early, if possible, to scout the view and can update participants on which spot is more favorable. There should be plenty of space for everyone to setup their tripods. I hope to see you on Sept 17th.

Meeting Minutes 2024

Posted on May 15, 2024August 23, 2024 by jrwilkinson

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:
  - Photography Life ISO Invariance Article
- 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.

21 Feb 2024 Theme: Birds & Wildlife

Posted on February 21, 2024February 23, 2024 by jrwilkinson

We had a good group meeting Wednesday Feb 21st with participants sharing their bird & wildlife images. This is a popular theme category especially with San Diego Zoo Safari Park’s free February admission for seniors. The Safari Park is a great venue for birds & wildlife photography since you have lots of opportunity to grab interesting animal behavior.

Barbara

Cathy

Gary

Jake

John

Jim

Mikky

Sharon

Meeting Minutes 2023

Posted on December 31, 2023May 18, 2024 by jrwilkinson

December 20 2023 Meeting Notes: Gary shared details on his recent trip down under to Australia and New Zealand. His ‘winter’ photos were also of his recent trip, which is summer in the southern hemisphere.
- Gary talked about his recent trip to Australia, Sydney in particular, and New Zealand. He shared photos of his trip.
- Photos with the Winter theme and other subjects were shared and discussed
- John wanted to discuss how to setup a Star of India portfolio on portfolio.adobe.com with a custom domain. If you are a Adobe Creative Cloud subscriber, you can setup up to 5 ‘free’ portfolio websites. Custom domain names cost ~$10-$15 for an annual domain registration.
- Hawk Watch in Jan-Feb 2024 was discuss and a possible meetup to photograph rescued raptors and other birds.
- A brief demo of adding photos to the UCSDPhIG Uploads Google Drive
- A discussion of using Photoshop’s ‘puppet warp’ feature to straighten curved sections of a panoramic photo
Nov 15 2023 Meeting Notes: a brief discussion of recent trips, participants shared recent images following the travel theme for this month. Also, more photos from our moonrise meetup have been posted. The difficulty of balancing exposures of the moon and skyline were discussed while viewing the images. Moon photography is challenging and something we will continue to pursue.
- I’ve set up a google drive share for image uploads to streamline the process of uploading images for the meetings. Here is the link and I will post it on the website soon. Please test it soon so if there are any hiccups, I can work them out before the next meeting. Create a personal folder and upload a test image:
  - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1q3VVx_5fKmzUjNmeYAt12AWDBtQMr1WW?usp=sharing
- Moonrise link:
  - https://ucsdphoto.group/2023/10/28-oct-2023-meetup-coronado-moonrise-photo-shoot/
- Travel photos from Nov 15th meeting:
  - https://ucsdphoto.group/2023/11/15-nov-2023-theme-travel/
- Next month’s (20 Dec) meeting theme proposed by Jerry is ‘Winter’. But as always, all images regardless of theme are welcome.
Oct 18 2023: Theme for October is ‘Fall/Autumn’
- Jim Wilkinson was unavailable to host so John Leighton did the honors
- Photos were shared by participants
Sep 20 2023: Theme for September is “Animals – Birds/Zoo/Wildlife/Insects/Pets”
- Photo-sharing took up the entire meeting from 2:15-4:15pm so all the discussions were photo-critique & technique related.
- Photoshop 2024’s new generative fill was discussed with examples.
- Lightroom shadow & highlight masking to improve images taken on bright sunny days was discussed.
- Cell phone macro photography examples were presented and discussed.
- Discussed planning a possible Alabama Hills Photography Excursion, Jim will research and propose details at a future meeting/email
- We plan on setting a Hawk Watch group excursion in Jan or Feb, a Doodle Poll will be conducted to find the best weekend date.
- Oct 28th Full moon at sunset excursion to Harbor Island or nearby is proposed and tentatively planned. A rendezvous spot will be forthcoming based on the Photographer’s Ephemeris or PhotoPills for the best spot to setup.
- Photoshop Virtual Summit 5 is coming October 30-November 3 – Free and paid VIP Passes are available (Thanks Cathy)
Aug 16 2023: The theme for August was ‘Black&White’. Participants shared their favorite photos, some in black&white & some color favorites.
- Photo-sharing took up the entire meeting from 2:10-4:10pm so all the discussions were photo-technique related.
- Black&White conversion of color images were discussed. The best black&white photos having strong light and graphical elements.
- Additionally, because of the recent (Aug 12-13 2023) Perseid Meteor Shower, astrophotography techniques were also discussed.
July 19 2023: The theme for July was ‘Water/4th of July‘. Participants shared up to 10 photos that followed the theme or non-theme-related.
- Travel plans were discussed and potential outings – Del Mar horse races or horse workouts
- Most of the discussion were related to the photos shared, particularly Gary’s Canada kayaking trip. Other topics were macro-photography related and my fav – film simulation presets.
Jun 21 2023: The theme for June was ‘Travel‘. Submission of up to 10 photos that followed the theme were shared. Other non-theme-related photos were also shared.
- Photographing in weather and how it affects gear selection was discussed
- Film simulations were also a short topic of interest (at least to Jim Wilkinson)
May 17 2023 2pm-4pm, hosted by John Leighton
- Theme – ‘Unusual View or Abstract of a Common Household Item‘
Apr 19 2023 2pm-4pm, hosted by Jim Wilkinson
- Theme – ‘Eyes’, hosted by Jerry Vaughn
Mar 15 2023 2pm-3pm, hosted by John Leighton
- Theme that week was ‘Opportunistic‘
Feb 15 2023 2pm-4pm
- Tutorial – Masking in Lightroom & Adobe Camera Raw
- Discussion – Setting up a group website
- Photo Sharing – open theme
Continuing issues with our Google Drive share was discussed and anyone who has trouble can go back to emailing the photos to me.

28 Oct 2023 Meetup: Coronado Moonrise Photo Shoot

Posted on October 28, 2023November 16, 2023 by jrwilkinson

Several photographers from the UCSD Photography Interest Group met-up at Bayview Park to photograph the full moon rising over San Diego. The weather cooperated and it was a fairly clear evening and sunset. Some atmospheric haze was visible in the distance but overall the San Diego Skyline was clear. The moon rose towards the south bay so its position was not ideal for a shot of the taller buildings. It rose over Petco Park and the San Diego Convention Center.
Ideal photographic conditions of blue hour and the moon only lasted ~15mins. It will be interesting to see the variety of photos taken. There’s only so much you can do but post-processing can make a difference.

Jerry – Here are some images Jerry took

Jim – Here are some of the best images Jim shared

Cathy

28 Oct 2023: Full Moon Rise at Sunset, San Diego

Posted on September 30, 2023October 3, 2023 by jrwilkinson

There will be a full moon rising over the San Diego Skyline ~6pm Saturday Oct 28th. Cathy proposed a meetup to photograph this event. I entered some different spots into the Photographer’s Ephemeris webpage and grabbed some projections for potential locations. Some members of the Photography Interest Group are already pretty familiar with such locations. But these projection should give us a good idea where the moon will rise so we can set up at an ideal location.
To check out the Photographer’s Ephemeris; click here for a pin location. You can create a free account on their website if you want to use the planner. A iPhone app is also available for $10.

Harbor Island East (looks too far north for a skyline moonrise)

Coronado Bayview Park

Coronado Ferry Landing – this has already been proposed so check out the moonrise projection

Coronado Bridge Viewpoint – not ideal for a skyline shot but including the bridge might be interesting

Hotel Del Coronado – alternative to San Diego Skyline, moon rising over the Hotel Del

Aug 12th Perseid Meteor Shower

Posted on June 14, 2023June 14, 2023 by jrwilkinson

I know Joshua Tree in August is 100°F during the day but the Perseid Meteor Shower is August 12-13 from 10pm to sunrise. At night, the temperature is a comfortable 70-80°F. It’s a unique opportunity to photograph the meteor shower with the Milky Way. The meteor shower is Saturday night August 12 until Sunday morning. There’s no moon that night and the Milky Way will be visible all night. Best viewing is in Joshua Tree National Park starting at 10pm until 5am the next morning.

Perseid Meteor Shower Joshua Tree Instagram Post

San Diego Fair – Photography

Posted on April 17, 2023April 20, 2023 by jrwilkinson

The San Diego Fair is a great venue to showcase your photography. The deadline for submissions was Apr 17 2023 at 11:59pm. This was open to everyone and had a variety of categories including cell phone photography. For more info go to:

There are two One-Day Photo Shootout Contests: