Exactly how good are the Photopass Photographers...

[BrittyRo]

Sorry, I don't agree with the majority, I think they could do it, and even if they couldn't get that blur during the shot, it's easily done afterward, and I could do it for you in two minutes for free. I could do a slight blur, heavy blur, vignette....

Here are two MM shots of me. One at Epcot and you can see the closeup and blurred background. The other is me being silly, as Minnie Mouse at the MNSSHP, it was from a series of shots they did of me, there was one with my leg up, one holding my dress to the side.... Each one had the castle in the background a bit blurry.

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Yes, they can get super close to you. On this one, I blurred the background myself, I set it next to the original for comparison.

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Those came out awesome!! Maybe there is some hope! I guess I can try it (I was going to be getting MM anyway most likely) and if they don't come out right I can have a friend shoot some shots in Central Park instead.
FBB I took your comment to mean I was "cheaping out on my wedding" by doing this. I didn't even notice the dates on the hats. Looks as though I was the one being rude. I apologize.

 

[photogineer]

Those came out awesome!! Maybe there is some hope! I guess I can try it (I was going to be getting MM anyway most likely) and if they don't come out right I can have a friend shoot some shots in Central Park instead.

Ah Central Park, so you're a NYC resident? I am soon to be in Queens and I know a lot of guys in the area that can help you with your photo if Disney doesn't work. Good luck!

Adam

 

[MataHari22]

I think as some said it's going to be really dependent on which photog you get, some are really passionate and talented, some push the button for a paycheck, I've had a mix. That said, I'm sure OP is not planning a trip just for this photo, so if you're going anyway, there's no harm in trying. Depending on your skill with a camera you could possibly do it yourself if you have the right gear. My DSLR can be remotely controlled by my smartphone, so I'd just set it up on a tripod and adjust the focus once we were in place.

Adam

I agree that it can depend on the quality of the photographer you get, but what I am saying, is that I could add the blur after photo is taken, like I did with my second photo. So, if she wanted a photo of them holding the button, and the photographer didn't get that depth of field, I could do that for her, she would just need to email me the photo. Same with the ears photo. If they just took a photo of them in front of the castle, with out the blur, I could create as little or as much blurring of the castle.

 

[MataHari22]

Those came out awesome!! Maybe there is some hope! I guess I can try it (I was going to be getting MM anyway most likely) and if they don't come out right I can have a friend shoot some shots in Central Park instead.
FBB I took your comment to mean I was "cheaping out on my wedding" by doing this. I didn't even notice the dates on the hats. Looks as though I was the one being rude. I apologize.

If you're going on a trip and getting memory maker, you have nothing to lose and you can pull up the photos that were taken on your smart phone pretty quickly and see what they look like. You can always try again later, and try at different locations, and different times of day to get different lighting and photographers. I cannot imagine you wouldn't be able to get a few good shots, or decent ones that could be enhanced with a bit of tweaking, which as I said, I would happily try and do that for you for free. I'm constantly messing with photos and artwork and photoshop type stuff.

 

[MinnieMeep]

Nevermind

 

[DisneyFreak06]

My suggestion would be to try with various photographers, then at least you may have a better shot at it. Like others have said, it depends on the photographer, and by having a few different photographers help you, then you'll have better odds at getting what you want. I'm not sure if they are allowed to adjust the settings on their camera or not, so that may be harder, but I have had one in particular take a look at my camera settings and talk to me about them, so if you have a DSLR there may be an odd photographer who could do that for you. Good luck and congratulations on your engagement and upcoming wedding!

 

[RafikiTiki21]

We got a shot very similar to the "hats from behind" example picture without trying. The castle isn't blurry but it's a wonderful picture of my husband and son with the names on their hats. The photographer was on the bridge on the side of the castle leading into Liberty Square. You may luck out!

The good news is, you can take plenty of pictures on your MM and hopefully one will be great. Also bring your own nice camera and have them try with yours (line up your own settings ahead of time) as well as their own camera. It won't be as professionally perfect as if you hired your own private photographer but I believe you'll get something worth using for a save the date. Congratulations!

 

[wdwpracticalprincess]

I would also try for a pre-park ADR to mitigate all the people in the background. Are PPPs available that early?

 

[Crystal824]

It really depends on the photographer. Try a few different ones. Most of the PP aren't professionals and some frankly just don't care, others are really trying to get great photos for guests.

 

[FargoBear]

There's a gent here on the forums with the moniker SrisonS, who is a fantastic photographer. Maybe he'd be willing to meet up for a free ticket or two, who knows.

But seriously, I bought one of his photos of Hogwarts after seeing some of his pics here. Shot hangs in my living room. Lol.

 

[HockeyMomNH]

A Photo Pass photographer at DHS took this one of my DD in June.



I think it is a little hit or miss at how good the photographers are. Some are much better than others. There is a photographer that we have seen at AK over several trips that has taken my very favorite pictures.

 

[Cynister]

I want to do my Save Date Photos at the Magic Kingdom and have examples of photos I want to have done...
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Do you think they would be able to capture these photos correctly?

I agree with the others that it is likely hit or miss, however I think there's probably a few things you could do to increase the odds. We get MM for our trips & sometimes the PPs just point & click, then send you on your way. Other times you get PPs who clearly enjoy what they are doing & take the time to stage you just right in the picture.

I'd recommend printing a copy of these examples to carry with you so you can show the PP what look you are going for. I'd also watch how they take pictures of the people in front of you. If they point & click, come back to that spot a little later in the day when a different PP is there. Lastly, I'd take these shots with all different PPs at different locations. There's a ton of them on Main St. for the central castle view, but there are nice nooks by Fantasyland & Crystal Palace with side views of the castle & gardens that make for great backgrounds too. If you are going to get MM anyway, I'd try these shots all over the place with different PPs & chances are you'll get some good ones.

 

[walker0829]

It really depends on the photographer. Try a few different ones. Most of the PP aren't professionals and some frankly just don't care, others are really trying to get great photos for guests.

Yep. YMMV(your mileage may vary) is the best advice I can give. Some are willing to work with you and help you create a magical shot, some just want to click click and move on to the next shot.

 

[cvjw]

We just had the memory maker for 10 days on our last trip. We had hundreds of pictures taken by the photopass photographers. My DH is an avid photographer, and was very disappointed in the quality of most of the pictures.

He loves to play around with the camera settings and does edit his own photos. After downloading all of our photopass pictures, he wasn't happy with the settings the photographers used for the pictures. Most were on "auto", and the photographers never tried to manually play with the settings. He wondered if the settings are fixed by Disney, and the photographers just take pictures.

You might could ask one to change the settings to achieve the blurry background, but I would venture to guess that most would not know how to achieve the desired effect.

 

[bc7ate9]

I've heard the Photopass Photographers say that they're not allowed to change the settings on their cameras...no idea if this is true or if they just don't know how or what...We've had really great luck with awesome photographers behind the castle, kind of by the Sword in the Stone. One older gentleman secretly followed us down Main Street and got a bunch of really nice candids of my husband and I on our honeymoon trip. I think a photographer without a line, NOT using a tripod (the tripods can't move or adjust at all), who likes what they are doing might get something close to what you want. We stop at MANY Photopass Photographers and have gotten a WIDE range of results. It's really fun when THEY are having fun - you'll do poses you never thought of and you'll look better because you'll be genuinely happy. Many of your photos will just be terrible, though, so be prepared for that.

 

[TinksMyGirl]

If you have your own DSLR - look for someone with a similar camera, have the shot you want on your phone, show them and ask if they would take a shot with your camera..... I would do it if anyone asked me. People who like to take pictures wouldn't mind at all.

 

[JimmyV]

I'd be willing to bet they weren't that close, long zoom lens compress the background, as well as narrow Depth of Field. The practical side effect is to both blur the background and make it appear significantly closer, as it does in that image.

Adam

I was going to say the exact same thing. That photo was taken quite a ways away from the castle, with a zoom lens. Which is exactly why the Disney photographers won't be able to replicate it. I have never seen one snap on a 300mm or 400mm lens, which is what I'll bet was used for that photo.

 

[::Snow_White::]

Depends on who you get. PP are not professional photographers or experienced until they get into the field half of the time. 95% of our PP photos are definitely the run of the mill kind, though we did meet Gaston in March and the PP took some awesome pictures. Hard to think that they can't change the settings with the kind of pictures he got. Not sure the truth on that. I'm asking a friend who is in PP right now to see if I can get an answer.

I would generally use 50mm lense for those photos and PP doesn't have that kind of ability. Not saying they can't, but I wouldn't count on them being as good as those you posted.

 

[Raenstoirm]

Bluring when you take the shot and bluring with photoshop have two different effects. Neither one is bad, just different so if you aren't picky the latter can be done once you are home in a matter of maybe 60 seconds. If you post on the photography board on here, pretty much anyone will do it for you. Its really easy to do in photoshop. Photo snobs (i am no where near as bad as some! lol) would never accept the photoshopped version, but it is just personal preference. If you want to shot "correctly" (again personal preference) bring your own SLR, set up the shot yourself and have the photpass guy/girl just hit the shutter for you. Or if you want to get really crazy bring a tripod and remote. I personally have never gone that crazy but the best disney photographers always carry a tripod.
I LOVE your thought process by the way. Wish I had done that!

 

[Geoff_M]

I agree it's a long shot. You need to understand that the PP shooters often have no prior photographic experience and are basically paid base wages. The equipment they are given to use are basically aimed at taking vacation "snap shots" and they probably never take it off "P" mode (auto). If you asked one of them "If you have the camera set for proper exposure and you change the ISO from 200 to 800, stop the lens down one stop, and the shutter was set to 1/125th a sec, what should your new shutter speed be to compensate for the change in ISO?", the chances are slim they'd give you the right answer. This isn't to say that none of them take their jobs seriously and learn about photography in depth to better their skills, but that's not really part of what's required of them to be able to do their jobs.

To get the effect you're wanting, you'd need to find a PP shooter that knows that they'd need to set the aperture as wide a possible (and given the "consumer" lenses they normally use that probably isn't wide enough to get the full effect), and you'd probably need a lens that'll zoom to 200mm to get that kind of compression in the image (again, as I've seen in the past, they normally use 18-70mm "consumer" lenses).