Experimenting with Night Photography in San Diego

Last Saturday night, while Heather and I were waiting for a play to start at the Old Globe complex in San Diego's Balboa Park, we spent some time sitting in the Alcazar Garden. From the little tile bench we were on there was a fountain directly in front of us, then a large bed of flowers, behind which was an arcade, and then the Museum of Man tower was visible in the background. As I sat there I was thinking that with about a 15mm lens I should be able to get all of that view in, and all I needed to do was to find a way to light up the little fountain that would be down low in the foreground. A small but powerful flashlight came to mind. There were a lot of clouds in the sky the first few nights of this week, so I waited until we had what looked like a blue sky on Thursday night, tossed my tripod in the car and headed down after work.

I wound up with several variations of the amount of light on the fountain - I think this is the one I like the most. 

Here it is from a different angle (sort of).

It was still early, so I wandered around the Park for a bit before heading over to the Fish Market for dinner.

I managed a few shots after dinner, looking over towards the Hyatt and the fishing boats parked next to the Fish Market Restaurant on Harbor Drive.

  
Click here for a few more evening shots in San Diego. The ones from Thursday night start with number 34.