I got the camera out today and went down to
Balboa Park. Balboa Park is San Diego's "Central Park," so to speak. It's close: only about a 14 min. drive (40 minutes with traffic). Balboa Park is a very photogenic place, as long as it's not too crowded.
The goal was to
- Continue getting used to the new camera, and
- Take a picture of of Lily Pond while I still can (see below).
I got a pretty good parking space and soon found a pathway that leads to the Lily Pond. I thought it looked pretty cool -- slightly foreboding even -- so I got the camera out.
Leica SL3
Leica APO-Summicron-SL 35mm f/2 ASPH
(f/4.5, ISO-100, 1/100 sec)
I sized up the situation at the Lilly Pond, but it was still a bit too early. The thing about the Lilly Pond is that in order to get a good photo, it must be done near the summer solstice during the evening "golden hour;" otherwise the lighting isn't quite right.
Having found some time, I took pictures of a bunch of other stuff, most of which I won't show here. Most of the shots were boring or bad, which was expected. I was just testing out how much dynamic range I could eke out of the high-constrast, sunny day. (The Leica SL3 does have its limits.) Anyway, most of the photos were just test shots that I didn't expect to be very good anyway.
I also missed a few timely opportunities because I was fiddling with camera dials. The Leica SL3 has three dials (along with several buttons). None of them are labeled. They're not labeled because you can configure each of them however you want. Even the dials' directions are configurable. I had that all setup to my liking, but my brain hasn't reached reflex memory yet. More practice is needed.
So anyway, I missed a few good opportunities of cute puppies and whatnot. Sure, I could have been quicker had I used aperture-priority mode (or a program mode), but I'm trying to get my brain to memorize all the dial settings, thus I was shooting everything in manual (with only ISO being auto, but that was often hitting the floor). I'll get speedier with more practice.
I did manage to get this shot though.
(f=35mm [same lens], f/8, ISO-200, 1/125 sec)
Then I walked up to the Bea Evenson Fountain. I had actually planned, as a secondary goal (not listed above), to use the Bea Evenson Fountain as the subject for another Pep-Ventosa-technique photo.
Here is what the Bea Evenson Fountain actually looks like, from one particular vantage point. By the way, this was one of the 18 photos I took of the fountain.
One of Eighteen different vantage points for my Bea Evenson Fountain project. Yeah, I know: not particularly impressive. But wait a second before passing judgment (final result still to come, below).
I walked around the fountain, with my camera mounted on a tripod, and placed the camera such that main nozzle was right in-between two of the outer nozzles, from my camera's line of sight. I was careful to keep the camera position at a constant radius from the center. I did this 18 times, one for each of the outer nozzles.
Although not shown above, there were many people coming and going -- some of them quite up-close to the fountain. I paid no heed to their presence. This was all intentional. A couple times people asked me if I wanted them to move as I plopped my camera tripod down right in front of them: facing them. "No, I'm fine," I said, "Don't mind me. You're good. Please carry on." Then I would take a picture as they milled around the fountain, sometimes in front of the camera. Again, this was all intentional.
I'll come back to the fountain with the post-processing result later, below. But first, the Lilly Pond.
I walked back to the Lilly Pond. I had to share the best spot for photography with several other people, mostly people using their cell phone cameras. We all took turns. I fiddled with the dials while I was waiting, so as not to hog the spot when it was my turn. But when I got up to take the shot, I did need to make some adjustments, and I did feel a little rushed. Anyway, here's the result:
Lilly Pond, 2024. (f=35mm [same lens], f/2, ISO-100, 1/2000 sec)
What the hell? f/2? What in the world was I thinking? I meant to take this at f/8 for more depth of field. Not f/2! I didn't realize it until I got home. Good god. I mean, it didn't turn out half bad, but the ducks in the foreground are soft.
What happened was, before I took the shot, the exposure blinkies were warning me of blown highlights. The exposure compensation wasn't helping because the ISO was at its minimum of 100 (as it should be for this shot). But instead of raising the shutter speed, I mistakenly twisted the wrong dial and made it worse by widening the aperture. Then I figured that out, and raised the shutter speed until the blinkies went away, but not before putting the aperture back. Ghaaa!
I might have a chance to try again next week (when it's not as crowded as a holiday weekend). But I'm running out of time. Otherwise, there's next year.
I've been kind of obsessed with reproducing an image I took of the Lilly Pond about 19 years ago, but with better equipment. Now I have the better equipment. The rest is on me.
When I got back to the car, I looked over my shoulder and saw this. I decided to test out the 90 mm lens. This is first time I ever used this lens:
Something about the way the lines lined up caught my eye.
Leica APO-Summicron-SL 90mm f/2 ASPH (f/8, ISO-100, 1/80 sec)
So when I got home, I processed the Bea Evenson Fountain project. Here is the result. I have to say, this is my favorite photo of the outing:
Bea Evenson Fountain, July 2024. Eighteen photos from multiple vantagepoints, blended/stacked. There are several people in the image, but you'll have to look for them. This is my second attempt at a Pep-Ventosa-technique photo.
(All photos in this post were touched up, at least a little, in Lightroom.)
