Fujifilm XM-1 at Chisholm Trail Days

   Bright sunny days has its challenges with digital photography. I used to experience anxiety with such days as exposures might be fine on the ground yet blown out in the sky. Well, the SR+ setting on the Fujifilm XM-1 (and X20) is quite remarkable. I really prefer shooting manual, but in a pinch, or while casually shooting an event I find this setting to impress every time.
   The Chisholm Trail cattle drive through San Gabriel Park started around noon and I was fortunate enough to be on the forbidden side of the line of safety.  In fact, I moved to the absolute edge of the river bank so the sunlight fell on all before my lens. Perfect.

 A few test shots revealed a blue sky in the display monitor that excited the eyeballs. The cowboys began their procession as the cattle slowly followed while grazing at every opportunity.

   Above the 18-55mm lens is at 55mm f5.6 but I'm also pretty close to the cowboy on the horse. Below, the lens is zoomed to 55mm  and then I cropped the image by about 20%.

 Above, I made a few color corrections in Lightroom, namely, reducing yellow after turning up Vibrance a little, and hit the clarity button a few times.  ISO 400, f11, 1/350 sec.

Even though it was bright sun over my head, I had little trouble seeing the display of the articulating viewfinder.