Happy 4th of July, which is known as Independence Day in the United States. This year is the 245th anniversary of when the US declared independence from England. I’m also hoping that it’s the start of independence from the worldwide pandemic. While COVID is still a big concern throughout the world, at least in the US and where I live in Austin, things appear to be getting back to normal. It’s certainly better than last year.

This four-person firefighting crew was in the firetruck that I featured yesterday. They lead the neighborhood’s 4th of July parade.

I asked for their portrait. The spot underneath trees was not ideal for portraiture with the uneven lighting. However, the benefit of using the Fuji GFX 50R is the increased dynamic range. I made the image with -2/3 stop exposure compensation. The post-processing was able to tame most of the harsh shadows and highlights.

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