Category: Themes

UCSD Photography Interest Group > Blog > Themes

20 Nov 2024: Planes, Trains, Automobiles; Dia De Los Muertos

Posted on November 20, 2024November 25, 2024 by jrwilkinson

This month’s Photography Interest Groups main themes were: “Planes, Trains, & Automobiles (+Boats)”, “Halloween/Dia De Los Muertos”, & “Fall Colors”. The “Fall Colors” theme was not represented because some of us went to the Nov 2nd San Diego Old Town Dia de Los Muertos celebration. It was a fun street photography outing and many photos this month were from that celebration. The candlelight parade was under-whelming but the afternoon festivities in Old Town presented a lot of photo opportunities. Other non-theme photos shared were of the mid-October Supermoon and Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS).
The “Planes, Trains, Automobiles, & Boats” themes were well represented with everyone sharing photos of vehicles or taken from vehicles .

Barbara

Cathy

Gary

Heather

Jerry

Jim

16 Oct 2024: Above/Below, Fall, Moonrise

Posted on October 16, 2024November 22, 2024 by jrwilkinson

Participants of our Oct 16th photography interest group Zoom meeting shared a variety of images with most following one of this month’s themes. The Above/Below theme criteria was images captured at any viewpoint other than typical eye-level. Fall was a continuation of September’s autumn theme, fall colors or events. Moonrise photos were images captured at our September 17th moonrise meet-up on Mission Bay. Here are the photos shared:

Barbara

Cathy

Gary

Heather

Jim

Sharon

18 Sep 2024 Themes: Fall, AppArt, Artificial Light

Posted on September 18, 2024September 24, 2024 by jrwilkinson

Our September 18th photography interest group meeting followed a September 17th moonrise outing. Although it was a little quick to post-process photos from that shoot. Some members had a few quickly edited images to share. Plus the discussion before photo-sharing was pretty much taken up by discussion on how to be successful at photographing the full-moon.
It is a little early for Fall photos but many of us have autumn images in our archives. Heather just got back from a 6wk roadtrip to Alaska so she saw the seasons already changing. She had recent Fall color photos to share.
Using iPhone apps to convert photos to paintings was a discussion last month. So this month, people were able to share images they generated using different phone apps: Brushstroke, BeCasso, WaterLogue, Reflect, and Snapseed are represented.
Artificial Light were photos taken under anything but sunlight/moonlight. I was hoping to take some night photos with neon but ended up sharing photos taken at TeamLabs Tokyo. An immersive art installation in Japan. Here are the photos shared:

Barbara

Cathy

Gary

Heather

Jim

21 Aug 2024 Theme: Beach & Summer

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

Appropriate themes for an August Photography Interest Group meeting, Beach and Summer photos were shared. Living in Southern California, it’s not difficult to find subjects that fit the theme. BUT with everyone’s busy summer schedules, it can be hard to schedule time to take photos. An “EDC” (every day carry) camera is often suggested by avid photographers so I try to bring a small camera everywhere I go. Everyone has a cell phone camera so the need for an EDC camera is lessened. But I still prefer a small zoom lens camera that I can take ‘grab shots’ when something catches my attention. Cathy and I did a beach ‘walk-about’ and looked for interesting moments. Barbara always carries her Olympus camera when she walks. The beach can be a really fascinating place to people watch. Here are the photos shared, most fit the theme or are close enough.

Barbara – shared an awesome surfer photo and pelicans at La Jolla Cove from early in the year.

Cathy – shared photos from a beach walk-about and summer fireworks from Sea World

Gary – shared some photos of his boat in Mission Bay and photos converted to watercolor-style paintings using the Waterlogue iPhone app. He also talked about astrophotography using the Seestar astrophotography camera. Images from that camera are copyrighted so I did not post them here.

Jerry – shared some great shots from Sunset Cliffs during a recent beautiful summer sunset.

Jim – shared photos taken during a recent beach visit with his grandson. Always a great place to catch photos that capture the summer theme and people watch.

17 July 2024 Theme: Food & Color

Posted on July 17, 2024July 18, 2024 by jrwilkinson

July’s themes were Food and Color (or colorful food). Participants shared a wide variety of subjects because a color theme can be virtually any color subject. We chose a broad theme this month because the last few months have been pretty specific, appealing to members who enjoy post-processing.

Barbara

Cathy

Gary

Heather

Jim

John

Sharon

19 June 2024 Architecture Theme

Posted on June 19, 2024June 21, 2024 by jrwilkinson

A second theme for June’s Photography Interest Group meeting was Architecture. Since some of the participants do not dabble in post-processing very much. An architecture theme was proposed because a Harbor Drive pedestrian bridge meet-up was proposed. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen, but here are the images that were shared:

Cathy

Gary got some great shots while re-landscaping his backyard.

Heather shared images from a recent trip to Idaho State Penitentiary museum.

Jerry focused on the “how I’d edit theme”, not architecture:

Jim was inspired by recent tutorials on converting architectural images into high contrast black & white.

BTW – Thufa’s ‘outhouse’, on the grass mound, is a fish-drying shack.

19 June 2024 “How I’d Edit Your Photo” Theme

Posted on June 19, 2024June 21, 2024 by jrwilkinson

Inspired by May’s meeting of “Before and After” where participants shared their straight-out-of-camera photos then their final processed images. This month’s “How I’d Edit Your Photo” participants edited other peoples images ‘their’ way. There were four images uploaded so here’s how the final edits from different members turned out:

Here’s a photo Cathy took recently with snow on the mountains overlooking San Diego. Photo was taken from Point Loma Bayside Trail March 2023 after a recent snow storm in the local mountains.

Gary submitted a photo from his friend Sarah. It’s a poignant story – this is the only photo she has of her and her father before he disappeared. The original photo was scanned and shows its age. We used many of the Photoshop/Lightroom tools to improve the photo.

Jim had two images from Yosemite – a Milky Way image over Half Dome and Bridalveil Fall from the Merced riverbank. The Milky Way shot was a single exposure so not ideal for best post-processing – stacking multiple images is usually preferred.

Milky Way Over Half Dome

Bridalveil Fall From Merced River

Jerry’s Grand Teton Fall Colors

June 2024 Photos-To-Edit

Posted on May 18, 2024May 23, 2024 by jrwilkinson

Photos to edit will be added here when received. Please note that these jpgs are linked to the Google Drive high-resolution raw files (as dng). Click the raw image to download – note these may be ~55mb.

From Gary

15 May 2024 Before/After Theme

Posted on May 15, 2024May 17, 2024 by jrwilkinson

When sharing photographs during our Zoom meeting, much of the discussion involves image processing. Some critiques and suggestions involve the different perspectives of some participants visual aesthetic. This difference is what make sharing photographs an interesting pursuit and can be educational. With this in mind, this month’s theme was Before/After. Participants could share their straight-out-of-camera – before – and their final image – after. It’s interesting and educational to hear the photographer’s thought and image process, resulting in their end product.
Some participants did not show photos this week so here are the Before/After sets shared at the meeting:

Cathy

Jerry

Gary – Gary shared primarily final edits except the Half Dome Before/After

Jim

17 Apr 2024 Theme: Solar Eclipse & Street Photography

Posted on April 17, 2024April 19, 2024 by jrwilkinson

With the Apr 8th solar eclipse happening between the March & April photography group meetings. It was proposed that Solar Eclipse be a theme. Additionally, since photographing people gathering and watching the eclipse would be interesting. Street photography was added as a second theme. Cathy wanted to photograph the people gathered at Reuben H Fleet for the event. As always, sharing photos regardless of theme is an option. Some of us considered traveling to the area of 100% totality since San Diego would only experience ~55% coverage. But with weather concerns and busy schedules, none of the group managed to make it an area of 100%. Here are this month’s collection of photos:
Click any image for full resolution although photos are downsized to ~4mb for online sharing.

Cathy

Gary

Jerry

Jim

Sharon