It is not a coincidence that I am featuring a photo of The Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps as Deb Wills did early this month. With this post happening the day before America celebrates it’s 233rd birthday on July 4th, 2009, I wanted to add on to Deb’s excellent post (psst, Deb I think this is called “synergy”) and show you something which surprised me.
I’ve seen the Fife and Drum Corps on several of my visits yet never had I stopped to watch them. I made it a point to do so on my last trip and enjoyed their preformance immensely. I believe they do several different routines. The one I had the pleasure of seeing included a salute to each of the United States Armed Forces. They played each theme song for the Air Force, Army, Navy and the Marines. It was during their salute to the Marines that they took the formation of the raising of the flag on the island of Iwo Jima during World War II. Everyone applauded and it gave me patriotic goose-bumps to hear and see this as I had no idea that was coming.
The Spirit of America Fife and Drum Corps performing outside the American Adventure.
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/200s, f/18, ISO 200, EV -0.3, 18mm focal length
Can’t end a post without a little tip. You’ll notice I used a small aperture of f/18 (remember the larger the f-number, the smaller the opening of the aperture), this was to make sure I’d have a large plane of focus or depth of field. Most good travel photos will use this technique. Another tip, when shooting in bright Florida sunshine, use fill flash. I didn’t here and it would have helped to fill in the dark shadows. Next time!
Have a Happy and Safe 4th of July holiday to everyone in the United States of America!
Scott:
Thanks for all the pointers, tips, and instructions. I’ve just purchased a digital SLR and reading your archives has given me some great tips to get started. I’m a little lost on the “EV” settings and how to use them though. I have noted that a lot of your pictures were taken with EV +/- 0.3. What effect does this produce and how do you know when to make this adjustment?
Scott replies: Hi, Steve! Congratulations on getting a dSLR! EV is short for exposure compensation. If you look in your camera’s manual, you should find how to control it. I have a blog entry on it here if you do a search.
My camera underexposes slightly. This is something I learned over time and research. To compensate, I add a little exsposure, the +0.3, which makes post-processing faster as I don’t have to make that adjustment then. Also, look for my histogram article which is one way to tell when you need to adjust EV.