From my visit to the San Juan Capistrano mission. This is the oldest part of the mission reflected in one of the many ponds in the courtyard. In the summertime water lilys grow thick and obscure the reflections, so I took advantage of the seasonal opportunity.
What I learned in taking this photo: It is possible to bump the ISO beyond 100 as the Sony A7 RII offers spectacularly noise-free images even at ISO 400.
Gorgeous image full of colour, light and pin sharp detail, your Camera certainly delivered on this shot Ron or was it simply down to the skill of photographer as a point of interest I've pushed the ISO into the thousands in exstream low light and still got acceptable images, an instant Fav:)
LOVE this beautiful site and sight! Your reflections are gorgeous, and what's not to love about the old architecture?! It brings back to mind, too, Joy @joysfocus leaning in to get the beautiful close-ups of the water lilies Yes, taffy @taffy, this IS a magical place! (and the Los Rios district across the tracks as well! MUST return!).
@pcoulson Thanks so much for your kindness Peter. I come from the old school where you got your knuckles whacked for going beyond an ISO setting of 100. Hard to break out of that!
@summerfield Ha ha, yes, as I mentioned above, I'm sure you'll see a good number of postings when the water lilies come into bloom. I'm sure I'll get a reminder from at least a few of you!
@joysfocus Thanks Joy - I guess that's about as ancient as it gets in these parts. Parts of the mission, the part in the background in fact, date back to over 200 years ago. The historian that I got to meet showed me a photo of a car passing by this very spot, and it appears to have been just about 100 years ago. The structure hardly has changed since that photo was taken.
@lyndemc Thanks Denise - you are absolutely correct. On black, things just jump out that much more. Thanks for that observation! As for some of those stories that the walls could tell, I'll bet they could rival some of the stories that I was told about a monastery that I had the opportunity to reside in during a stay in Holland years ago. Seems there were some "secret passages" that spanned between the monks and then nuns' quarters. Woo hoo!! Chastity wasn't all it was cracked up to be in the old days it seems.
@terryliv The swallows are still in South America it seems. They usually return around mid-March. The mission is actually fighting to bring them back in to the grounds there. Due to renovations at the mission and the growth of housing around the area, they seem to have chosen alternate nesting spots. As a result the people at the mission have taken to putting in fake nests and piping in sounds to try and bring them back. They're still all around the area come March, but the mission itself lacks the overall population that made it famous. I do hope they succeed. I came to be one of the alternate nesting spots for a few years. I had the "pleasure" of hosting a next on my front porch for a few years, but after two years mama seemed to have chosen al alternate spot for bringing new swallows into the world.
what peter said. :-)