But when you're whisking from one sight to another with your family, amongst throngs of tourists and their anti-social selfie sticks (grrr!), the last thing you want to be doing is checking every last angle for that perfect shot, and holding up the group to glean one more shot requiring complex manual camera settings. I feel guilty just getting my fair share, especially if the sun is beating down, my group is ready for lunch, or the crowds are maddening.
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| Cristo Redentor |
To expedite my picture-taking and reduce frustration time, I made one crucial decision early on my trip and I stuck with it: Since the sky was going to be cloudless nearly every day, I didn't dawdle with many manual settings; I used Shutter Speed priority mode (set to 1/160th sec. or quicker) almost exclusively, and let the aperture open as it would. There would be enough light to get a super-fast, in-focus shot almost every time.
But, when I finally dive into Adobe Lightroom to check my hundreds of shots, I'm sure they won't be all I hoped they'd be. But, the justifications for sub-perfection are easily understood and provide me with some comfort:
1. The sun is at a crappy angle from mid-morning to mid-afternoon, when I would be taking all my shots, and a postcard-beauty photo would have to suffice. No tour guide is going to get me a special entry to Christ the Redeemer at sunrise for a magical golden-hour shot with no tourists around.
2. I didn't make my family wait around while I indulged in inventive shot-taking. Well, OK, I did. But just a couple times for a couple minutes.
3. I was there to have fun and experience a new culture. It's harder to do that from behind a viewfinder. And it's less fun than seeing something new while holding hands with your wife.
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| Ipanema Beach |
