I agree with Linda. I grew up in Maine and the coastal scenery on RT. 1 north of Freeport is your best bet given your limited amount of time. Pop into the Boothbay Harbor area. Any of the small towns on the coast offer great photo ops. Once you get near Bar Harbor Rt. 1 is no longer coastal so it's just pretty farmland. You can enter Canada near Houlton and head to Canada's coast. If you have time, do a loop around the coast of Nova Scotia (the bay of Fundy has the greatest tidal change in North America) and Prince Edward Island is beautiful.
Billnikon nailed it. "To get the shot they want". If you get the shot you want, not accept the shot the mode gives you, then it doesn't really matter how you got there.
I use my light meter. Guess I'll never aspire to full manual!
Two thoughts. Steve R. Mentioned photographic horizons. They are different for different people. If you can reach yours in auto or a program mode, fine. If you find yourself falling short, it might be time to explore and master other modes or manual. The other is that if you are not getting the shot you visualize, such as desired depth of field, exposure or motion, but accepting what the camera gives you, it might be time to explore and master other modes or manual.
They are handy to enhance composition so I sometimes go left or right one point. The only other time I go off center is that I've had problems with lens flare with longer lenses with sunrises or sunsets. I've found the moving a couple of points left or right usually resolves this problem.
Bit of envy on my part. I haven't been back for a few years. Stop at Sparky's Landing in Marathon for lunch or dinner. Tell Carolyn and Matt that Larz sent you.
Any where gulfside will yield beautiful sunset ops.
If you're driving south near sunset, go someplace gulfside.
About eight years ago, just for a short time. My brother still lives there. He is a civilian employee for the Navy.
Sadly, the LaConcha has been sold and I've heard they no longer let the public on the top.
[quote=sb]Unless there is a big cruise ship docked there blocking the sunset! We encountered that one time.Not that we couldn't walk elsewhere - fortunately we had time.[/quote
That's puzzling. Local ordinance requires cruise ships to be gone from the Mallory Sq. Docks by sunset.
Yes, congrats! There is little more satisfying than being able to almost subconsciously being able to evaluate exposure while composing.