Back from Gettysburg now, where I spent two delightful nights in a small cottage full of antique furniture and was served breakfast on old crystal-ware each morning by a wonderful Southern cook.  Suffice to say, it was a good trip and very relaxing.  A bit self-indulgent, sure – but I figure I’ve earned it.

Since this wasn’t a dedicated photo trip, the photos are somewhat fewer than usual.  But I still managed to get some keepers, even with just the G10, which performed quite well.  I was able to keep it at ISO 80 during the daylight hours, which is definitely it’s preferred setting for quality.  Once twilight hit I was up to ISO 200, but even then the performance is pretty darn good.

For all the good, this trip also helped me remember my mantra regarding the little P&S: it’s not a DLSR, don’t use it like one!  It is what it is, and does a good job at that, but I simply can’t push it the way I do my 50D (which I will be bringing with me when I return to Gettysburg in October).

So where did I go?  The battlefield was the first stop; we drove the tour road up to Little Round Top, where the Union forces repeatedly repulsed the Confederates.  From the summit of Little Round Top, you command the view of the battlefield, which makes it an excellent location for panoramas – especially if you climb to the top of the memorial and shoot over the parapet.

From there we drove 5 minutes more down onto the fields and stopped at Devil’s Den.  The huge boulders make for interesting photos, but I find that scale is always an issue – without something to show the relative size, the immensity of the boulders is lost.  One of the neater points, however, is that the location of a famous photo taken after the battle is atop Devil’s Den.  You’ve probably seen it; the Confederate soldier dead behind a crumbling stone wall thrown up between two boulders, his rifle still leaning against it.  Of course the photo was faked – the photographer actually dragged the body over there to get his shot!  Morbid, yes.  But I find it fascinating to be able to visit the same shot the original was taken.

We stopped at the Pennslyvania Memorial and then, at sunset, returned to the fields near Plum Run and shot some more, then back to the PA Memorial for twilight, at which point the light became too faint to work with.  This is only a small portion of the battlefield, which was just starting to show the green of spring.  There’s a lot more miles I wasn’t able to visit this time!

So the verdict?  I’m happy with what I got.  None are the “best photo ever,” but they’re good, solid shots.  For a non-photographic trip, I’m happy to have gotten anything good.  But I’ll definitely be returning to really work the field with the big gear.