For The Love of Disney - More pics, less talk

[LarryFmScotland]

Wow what great photography. I really enjoyed your photos. My Disney one's don't seem to come out as good as ones I take elsewhere, I'm probably too busy having fun to take good photos. It was great to see these.

Kool.

 

[RDP]

Lovely pictures, great TR.

 

[Cyrano]

Love your keen photographic eye and attention to detail.
Great report and second looking forward to Animal Kingdom.

 

[2Tiggies]

Wow what great photography. I really enjoyed your photos. My Disney one's don't seem to come out as good as ones I take elsewhere, I'm probably too busy having fun to take good photos. It was great to see these.

Kool.

Is Larry From Scotland still living in Scotland at the minute? I'm in central Scotland

If you go with family it is definitely harder to take your time composing photos! Coincidentally, I had a conversation with someone last night and said that I have become more and more aware what an anti social sport photography is!

Lovely pictures, great TR.

Thank you for stopping by

Love your keen photographic eye and attention to detail.
Great report and second looking forward to Animal Kingdom.

Thank you Reid Busy typing out the first installment right now

 

[2Tiggies]

Welcome to the Animal Kingdom by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

I love Animal Kingdom! I loved it from the first visit. I think the colors and attention to detail and the theming carried through this park is just incredible.


Some theming details in Asia by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Everest by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Asia by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


We made several short visits to this park. Rain this year, something we have never had to deal with, caused havoc with our plans. Quieter parks mean more things down and / or unavailable and the torrential rain and thunderstorms on two occasions had us miss the Finding Nemo show as well. We enjoyed what we did there but I should preface this part of the report by mentioning that we did a lot of our favourite things over and over and there was plenty that was skipped out. For example, on our first day we went to ride Dinosaur and that was down, from shortly after we arrived and still not running when we left the park around 3 pm that afternoon. Primeval whirl was down, we found ourselves going to three places to finally get an ice cream as there were problems which are so insignificant I dont even recall them. Plenty of the characters we have always seen around AK were not there because of the slow season as well. It didnt detract from our enjoyment of the park but you will start to pick up very quickly that I dont like dead quiet parks because the trade offs for me are too great. Anyway, its not a negative review (although I was disappointed with most of my photos here  never deleted as many from a park ever, lol). Lots of issues with blown out skies and washed out colors so if not the weather, it may just have been the time of the year. Anyhow, that all out of the way, on to all the many good bits (and there are plenty).

First stop, every time? No introductions needed for this! The good part is that this was walk on pretty much throughout the day on every visit (although they did close it during one horrific thunderstorm but that didnt affect us as wed only ridden it about 8 times that morning).


Expedition Everest by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

For those of you who read other sections of the DIS, you will be familiar with the frequents questions posted: Is it safe to take my camera on rides? Well I have the answer to that and will never be persuaded otherwise. Safest place for my camera is right in my hands. What is the best way to ride a coaster? Why, like this of course:


Everest by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Everest by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

So that you can get these kind of photos


The Everest face by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Your train awaits by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Parked by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Going for a spin? by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


The Everest rush by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Hang onto your ears by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

We love the rides and seeing my daughter's sheer delight on her face every time is something I want to have recorded in history, no matter what the quality of the photos.

 

[newlittleminnie]

I love the photos of your daughter on Everest, you can just see the pure enjoyment on her face, truly magical

 

[BethEJo]

Great report Lee, and uh-maaaaaaaz-ing photos!! Please, teach me everything you know haha!!

Adore your photos from EE - especially those of your DD! Also, would like to specifically mention that lady sitting in front of you on the second EE ride photo... she is NOT enjoying that!! Loving see pictures like that

 

[2Tiggies]

I love the photos of your daughter on Everest, you can just see the pure enjoyment on her face, truly magical

I think seeing the enjoyment of your kids (or even family or close friends with you) is such a big part of the pleasure of the whole Disney experience

Great report Lee, and uh-maaaaaaaz-ing photos!! Please, teach me everything you know haha!!

Adore your photos from EE - especially those of your DD! Also, would like to specifically mention that lady sitting in front of you on the second EE ride photo... she is NOT enjoying that!! Loving see pictures like that

Yes, but Grandma was quite brazen, she's only holding on with one hand!

 

[2Tiggies]

Festival of the Lion King

Definitely one of Disneys finest shows and by the time I return it wont be there any more, if Disney rumors are accurate and the plans for Avatarland go ahead. So we made a point of watching it  twice in fact. This was a very challenging show to photograph, with the smokey effects, bright colors and movement and general low, but fluctuating and ever changing light. It is fair to say that at least 70% of the photos I took were deleted and I kept about 30 (yeah I took a lot  I was determined ) They are a little noisy, as a result of having to crank the ISO a bit higher than my sensor probably cares for, but that's the trade off until I learn more


FOTLK September 2012 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


FOTLK September 2012 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


FOTLK September 2012 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


FOTLK September 2012 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


FOTLK September 20122 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


FOTLK September 2012 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


FOTLK September 2012 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

 

[petals]

luvin all your pics.

 

[2Tiggies]

Character meet and greets

As mentioned in my earlier post, character availability seemed to be limited this year and despite 3 visits to the greeting trails, only Mickey, Minnie and Donald were there.

The first picture is one I made sure had a border on so you can see it was a photopass one, as I cant' take the credit for this one Ask me why, ask me why .....

Because .... to save battery on my flash when Mickey took a quick break just before we had our turn, I switched it off. And took all my pics without realizing that I had forgotten to turn it back on .... d'oh!!


Photo0561FourBySix by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Minnie and Tové by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Safari Donald by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

And I do believe it was Minnie's Photopass photographer who caught me red handed .... I only discovered the evidence going through my photos when we got home


Pictures of pictures by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Picture must have looked ok on the LCD .... by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

Chip and Dale and Baloo and King Louis were also around however, but it seemed to be intermittently as we met them on our first visit to the area before heading for the trails, and then didn’t see them on our returns to that part of the park.


Those chipmunks ... by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Baloo & King Louis by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

What we did notice however was that lines for the greeting trails were somewhat long, considering the low crowd levels in the park and I am assuming that was down to only having fewer characters available for meet and greets. It didn’t matter – we met them once and were first in on the first day, returning only to see Mickey (whose line had grown to a whopping 30 minutes by the time we’d done Chip & Dale, the Jungle Book guys and Minnie! ) Anyway, no harm done as we got to see most of them. And also, DD announced halfway through the trip that she wasn’t as ‘into’ getting autographs any more, which felt like a kick in the face at the time, after I had spent hours and hours making her an autograph book at her request earlier in the year ....Kids ... who'd have 'em? But then they grow up suddenly I suppose. And it will free up time to do other things on our next visits.

We pretty much skipped Dinoland this year. We were in there the first morning when Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl were down and returned on our second visit and only stopped on our way through to another part of the park – I forget which because I was so ill we never made it there – and I sat on a bench for about 20 minutes until I realized I needed to get onto a bus ASAP and get back to our room. Being sick on vacation sucks BIG TIME!

DD was amazing. She came with me to the resort store to get some meds for the fever and ran down to the foodcourt and fetched me juice and water while I lay good for nothing on the bed for an hour waiting for those (awesome) tablets to work. Being the hard core Disney lover that I am I still insisted on going to our next park for the evening and she dutifully attempted to reason with me that I may be better in bed and promised to take care of me because “It’s not your fault Mum and you should rest” Bless her

We didn’t find the weather to be as hot as it was in the previous two trips, although DD had moments when she disputed this. She gave me strange looks which suggested that I was talking nonsense .....


The look ... by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

.......... and then she made friends with a fan


Fan Club by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


DSC_0833 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

 

[BethEJo]

Yes, but Grandma was quite brazen, she's only holding on with one hand!

I see! She was either holding onto a hair piece, or her hand was stuck to her head in sheer disbelief as this definitely wasn't the experience she had signed up for


Your FOTLK are superb! Loving the expressions in the performer's faces! I am absolutely gutted that I'll never get another chance to photograph this when we return next year Any info about when it's closing - is it January?

And also, DD announced halfway through the trip that she wasn’t as ‘into’ getting autographs any more, which felt like a kick in the face at the time, after I had spent hours and hours making her an autograph book at her request earlier in the year ....Kids ... who'd have 'em? But then they grow up suddenly I suppose.

Don't worry, from personal experience, I can confirm that it will become cool and desirable again when she's in her 20s!! When I was younger, I went through that phase where I used to feel a bit shy and awkward meeting the characters, but I've worked through it lmao and spent hours and hours meeting characters again last year!!


Sorry to hear that you were ill during your trip But Tove sounds wonderful - I bet you're so proud!! Love the 'fan club' photo - what a gorgeous daughter you have!

 

[DISWolves]

More lovely photos Lee, especially the pics of Tove on EE. On the going for a spin pic, have you reversed the photo, as I was trying to picture where it was shot from. FOTLK again nice photos. What ISO were theses taken at? I agree grain is an issue in low light, but you could always treat yourself to some faster lenses Did you ride the safari at all?

 

[petals]

I love the way photopass always capture things you don't think they've captured lol

 

[2Tiggies]

I am absolutely gutted that I'll never get another chance to photograph this when we return next year Any info about when it's closing - is it January?

I'm not sure Beth. I did ask and the CM said at the time 2 weeks but I knew that he didn't have correct info so I just thanked him and we moved on. It is sad as it is such a popular show. Even with the low crowds, the place was full both times we went in.

More lovely photos Lee, especially the pics of Tove on EE. On the going for a spin pic, have you reversed the photo, as I was trying to picture where it was shot from. FOTLK again nice photos. What ISO were theses taken at? I agree grain is an issue in low light, but you could always treat yourself to some faster lenses Did you ride the safari at all?

Hi Nigel, no I didn't reverse the photo so it may have been the angle at which I was holding the camera. Or more likely, I turned around and took the photo 'behind' me, over my shoulder, which I do quite often on EE, but I honestly can't remember.

FOTLK - checked the EXIF info: Shot at 72 mm F4.5 and ISO at 2500. Second show I used my 50 mm prime (similar to the Canon nifty fifty I think) and it was obviously fixed focal length but ISO 1500 - 2000 at F2 and F2.5

The 50 mm would have been great if we had been closer to the front but although we were early and got good seats, I couldn't see for the kids jumping about in front of us and we actually moved back as it was my only chance so the ones with the 50mm are ok as shot, but I had to crop them. FWIW, the kids in front of us were little and not being naughty, but just excited and it would have been mean to say anything. Next trip, if I haven't bought it, I am hiring the Nikor F2.8 24-70

I love the way photopass always capture things you don't think they've captured lol

They were really super this year. There are always the ones I don't keep and it can be bit hit and miss, but with longer trips I think you have the opportunity to even out the odds and we did get a few non 'typical' photos which always makes it worth it.

 

[2Tiggies]

We didn't do the Safari this year as the day we were going to do it was the one where we went home when I just didn't feel up to anything much. We also never got to Rafiki's Planet Watch, which DD really wanted to do, as well as not doing any of the nature trails. It was a strange visit this year but I think the combination of shorter park hours, weather we weren't used to dealing with there and me being sick all played a part. I suspect our saving grace is that we have done this several times before and we know we are going back again, and sometimes you just have to write off these things as stuff that happens now and then and just enjoy the good bits

We rode Kali River Rapids a few times the first day we were there, which was really hot and I'm glad we did because if we hadn't, we probably would have missed that out too. I am sure they have changed that attraction to make you get wetter We are always wet, usually drenched but this year everyone in the raft was dripping with water and each time we rode, there was at least half a foot of water lying in the bottom of the raft. It was good fun, even though it spelled out the end of the contact lenses I was wearing

We had to visit our favorite friends from the 100 acre wood of course. For those of you who don't know, or haven't figured out by my user name, I LOVE Tigger - so much so that I called my daughter Tigger (shortened to Tiggi) before she was even born and the name stuck. She then started calling me Tiggi back (and we still do!) hence, the 2Tiggies (It's not her real name though She's called Tové)

Anyway, on with the report


Tigger & Tiggi by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Eeyore and Tové by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Pooh and Tové by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Pooh and Tové by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

Tove likes Piglet but we had to go elsewhere to meet him so those pics will follow in another park. Photopass is a great service to have in this location, as some people don't test the batteries in their flash until it's too late and then have to 'steal' the flash light by trying to anticipate when the PP guy is going to hit his shutter button I will get some of the Photopass pics on here as well as theirs came out nicer

This year brought in a new past time for DD: SHOPPING!! Have I mentioned it before? I'm sure I will again. It was quite incredible to see the girl who used to always hate shops, seemingly incapable of walking past any location with a cash register without wanting to go in Anyway, she was VERY patient with me and my photos so I tried to offer the same courtesy and she is always more than willing to pose for a photo


Tové in Asia by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Tree of Life by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


DSC_0827 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Grumpy? Yeah! by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

I haven't uploaded all my photos to Flickr yet and seem to be missing a bunch of them but I think there are enough AK ones here to give a fair overview.


Pretty creatures by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Feathered friend by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


DSC_0998 by 2Tiggies, on Flickr


Awesome carvings by 2Tiggies, on Flickr

 

[rex008]

Loving the latest batch of photos, especially the ones from FOLTK. That was one show we didn't manage to get to on our trip. If I'd known it was closing I'd have made more effort. Doh!

Your links behind the photos are going to a "No Permission" page on flickr for me. I don't use flickr myself, but I presume you need to make them semi-public (ie viewable for people with the link)? I was going to look at the EXIF for the FOTLK photos and see just how good your Nikon is if these are unadjusted . There is noise but it's not bad at all.

It's another good reason to use LR4 or some other image editor though - if you take these RAW, LR4 can do amazing things with noise reduction. A great thing about it is that you can filter your photos by ISO, and then apply the same NR setting across all the iso-ISO photos (hah, geek joke!) in one go. Very handy. My 7D will go up to ISO 6400 normally, and LR4 deals with noise at that level pretty well (most of the low light ones on my TR are at ISO6400). If you've got a FF body (not sure what yours is), obviously you should be able to go even higher for the same noise.

I'm sounding like an Adobe salesman now. I'll shut up. Carry on! .

 

[2Tiggies]

So I posted a response on here two days ago .... and it's not here I can't imagine posting anything bad enough for a mod to delete it (check: nope, no PM's ).

Rex008, I will have to redo my answers to your questions/comments again as soon as I've grabbed some dinner. Apologies. Not sure what happened here ... unless I didn't hit submit and closed the browser

 

[2Tiggies]

Loving the latest batch of photos, especially the ones from FOLTK. That was one show we didn't manage to get to on our trip. If I'd known it was closing I'd have made more effort. Doh!

Your links behind the photos are going to a "No Permission" page on flickr for me. I don't use flickr myself, but I presume you need to make them semi-public (ie viewable for people with the link)? I was going to look at the EXIF for the FOTLK photos and see just how good your Nikon is if these are unadjusted . There is noise but it's not bad at all.

It's another good reason to use LR4 or some other image editor though - if you take these RAW, LR4 can do amazing things with noise reduction. A great thing about it is that you can filter your photos by ISO, and then apply the same NR setting across all the iso-ISO photos (hah, geek joke!) in one go. Very handy. My 7D will go up to ISO 6400 normally, and LR4 deals with noise at that level pretty well (most of the low light ones on my TR are at ISO6400). If you've got a FF body (not sure what yours is), obviously you should be able to go even higher for the same noise.

I'm sounding like an Adobe salesman now. I'll shut up. Carry on! .

Oh you don't have to sell Adobe to me .... I am purchasing Lightroom this month I wasn't smart about when I downloaded the free trial, but ironically the Lion King show photos were the ones that I put through there as they were the ones that needed the most help. I deleted a LOT though and had many that were completely unusable! I am going to get a book/eBook (yes, the Scott Kelby one) as I don't know anything really about post processing and will need a complete version for dummies course. I did like the little sliders that let you bring out the shadows though and that helped a lot with these ones. I don't know how to work the de-noise though. The luminance slider that I thought was meant to do that softened the images and I really like mine sharper than not. But as stated, I need to get the product now and spend some time using it to get the most out of it

I have a Nikon D90 which I love. There is really no merit in me going full frame at this stage, if at all.

Regarding Flickr, my albums are private - it allows you to post the code onto forums/websites, etc but I didn't realize it doesn't allow the viewer to see the exif info. I am happy to post it on here for you Just let me know which ones you are after the info for and I can give it all to you.

I can't remember what my camera's max ISO setting is but I never bump it to the max because if pictures are too noisy I WILL delete them so at 2000 I could live with it and I didn't push it any further except for a few that were at 2500, only a handful of which I kept (I think I kept 3).

Next up, wrapping up AK with a few photopass photos and a quick overview and then I though Magic Kingdom? I'm open to any requests however

 

[rex008]

Oh you don't have to sell Adobe to me .... I am purchasing Lightroom this month I wasn't smart about when I downloaded the free trial, but ironically the Lion King show photos were the ones that I put through there as they were the ones that needed the most help. I deleted a LOT though and had many that were completely unusable! I am going to get a book/eBook (yes, the Scott Kelby one) as I don't know anything really about post processing and will need a complete version for dummies course. I did like the little sliders that let you bring out the shadows though and that helped a lot with these ones. I don't know how to work the de-noise though. The luminance slider that I thought was meant to do that softened the images and I really like mine sharper than not. But as stated, I need to get the product now and spend some time using it to get the most out of it

Unfortunately you get nothing for free, and de-noise is certainly included in that; it will almost always soften the images somewhat. Usual way I do it is do the colour (color ) noise first, change that until the coloured spots just disappear, then gently increase the luminance until the noise is nearly gone, but don't go too far. Then up the detail and contrast a bit until the noise starts coming back. Can then play with sharpening and clarity a bit, but that may reintroduce the noise, so have to be careful. I've got a few presets saved in LR for various ISO, so it's a one click job to get pretty close, and then little tweaks depending on the conditions in the shot.
Of course at the end of the day it's not magic, and a lower ISO will always be better, but that's always a compromise with something else.

I have a Nikon D90 which I love. There is really no merit in me going full frame at this stage, if at all.

I thought that until I went to Disney . I did come away with a bit of gadget-urge. FF cameras handle high ISO soooo much better - I've seen test shots of the new Canon 5DMkIII where you can barely see any noise at 6400, and it goes up to 128000, which gives you >4 more full stops to play with if you need quick shutter speeds.

Regarding Flickr, my albums are private - it allows you to post the code onto forums/websites, etc but I didn't realize it doesn't allow the viewer to see the exif info. I am happy to post it on here for you Just let me know which ones you are after the info for and I can give it all to you.

I can't remember what my camera's max ISO setting is but I never bump it to the max because if pictures are too noisy I WILL delete them so at 2000 I could live with it and I didn't push it any further except for a few that were at 2500, only a handful of which I kept (I think I kept 3).

Totally fair enough. I was just curious what the FOTLK were shot at. 2000-2500 is nice. If they'd been shot at 6400 I might have been tempted to defect to the dark side! . I suspect my Canon 7D would perform similarly at that ISO, so that's ok .

Next up, wrapping up AK with a few photopass photos and a quick overview and then I though Magic Kingdom? I'm open to any requests however