Braved the Sept humidity in WDW - We're back! (new pics added 12/2/09)

[All7OfUs]

Wondered if you'd be willing to do a few cyber-tutorial sessions?

I'll PM you soon, if you think you would want to give a few hints...

 

[annnewjerz]

Wondered if you'd be willing to do a few cyber-tutorial sessions?

I'll PM you soon, if you think you would want to give a few hints...

First, buy a Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

In all seriousness, I think Todd can give everyone a few good pointers even if they don't have such an impressive beast of a camera. Your average p&s won't get pictures like that in dark rides, but there are always ways to learn how to use your current gear better!!

 

[Todd_H]

Wondered if you'd be willing to do a few cyber-tutorial sessions?

I'll PM you soon, if you think you would want to give a few hints...

Sure. I'd be happy to give a few hints. If you have specific questions about pictures that I post, it might be good to ask them in this thread because others may have the same question (but feel free to send me a pm also). For some general ideas and tips on shooting dark rides, there is a great reference thread here http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2212739&highlight=dark+rides

First, buy a Canon 5D Mark II and a 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Wow... just for the record, I didn't pay nearly that amount for my 5DM2! That's an insane price at Amazon !

 

[Todd_H]

I didn't spend much time talking about what we were planning to do on Day 1 at MGM (oops, I mean DHS). The main attractions to hit at DHS would normally be the Tower of Terror (one of the best attractions I have ever been on anywhere) and the Rock 'N Roller Coaster. I think DD is tall enough to ride the RNRC... we'll have to wait and see. She's definitely tall enough for the ToT, but we're also going to play that one by ear. One thing I don't want to do is set her up to be scared of all the rides by throwing her on something too intense right off the bat . For that reason, we may skip these two thrill rides the first day and try to hit them again later in the week after she's been "warmed up."

In looking back through my notes, we actually have two ADR's on Sunday afternoon. The first is at 2:30 at Mama Melrose. We have never eaten there, so this is going to be our late lunch, I think. Then we still have the 3:45 ADR at Sci-Fi that I mentioned earlier.

We'll definitely hit Toy Story Mania (we've never done it), Muppets 3-D, Star Tours, and probably the Little Mermaid show. I hope the kids don't want to do the Playhouse Disney show, but we may do that too. I want to do the Indiana Jones Stunt show since we haven't seen that one in about 10 years and I want to take some pictures of it (plus the kids have obviously not seen it... who knows, this might get my son off of the pirate kick and onto Indiana Jones ).

Of all our trips, we still have not seen the Lights, Motor, Action stunt show. With our ADR's I'm not sure we'll get to see it this trip either, but we'll try to make it as it is another show I would love to photograph.

Our day will come to an end with Fantasmic! This should be a perfect end to our first day in WDW.

 

[annnewjerz]

Wow... just for the record, I didn't pay nearly that amount for my 5DM2! That's an insane price at Amazon !

I didn't think so (or at least I hoped not). I just picked the highest price I could find on Amazon through a third-party vendor and linked to it for added shock value. I think the normal price is around 1k lower than that through regular places like Adorama and B&H.

 

[Todd_H]

Welcome to Day 2
This will be our first full day in WDW and we plan to start it out (not too early) with an ADR Character Breakfast at Chef Mickey's! Woohoo! If Fantasmic didn't get us totally in the WDW spirit the night before, this surely will. This will count for our TS meal for the day (that is, assuming we get the DDP, which we are still undecided about).

After taking the boat launch to the Contemporary for our character breakfast, we'll hop aboard the "highway in the sky" and head over to the Magic Kingdom. We'll hit a few rides like PPF (again, no flash was used for any of these dark ride shots):

And this familiar ride that will make DS go completely nuts:

I'm really hoping to get some good shots of DS enjoying PotC. It's going to be really challenging to get a good picture of him on the ride since it's so dark in there, but i have a few ideas (again, NOT using a flash )

I'll continue with Day 2 and might throw in some HM pictures for good measure next, so stick around

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

I'm in!

I love all those pictures! I'm so jealous that you've been able to take such wonderful pictures without using a flash...

I'll keep an eye out for you guys since we're staying at WL Sept 22-25!

 

[oregonmommyof2]

Hey Todd... I found ya....

Your kids are gorgeous...

We will be at DHS on the 20th all day and watching Fastasmic! also...

So, if you see us... RUN!!! If you are anywhere near us, Terry will be asking you 53 questions...

What lens are you using?
What is your shutter speed?
Is your camera heavy?
Does your flash take batteries?
Is your lens cap on/
Do you like churros?

Okay so that last one was probably me, but you get the idea...

Can't wait to hear the rest of the plans!

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Hey Todd... I found ya....

Your kids are gorgeous...

We will be at DHS on the 20th all day and watching Fastasmic! also...

So, if you see us... RUN!!! If you are anywhere near us, Terry will be asking you 53 questions...

What lens are you using?
What is your shutter speed?
Is your camera heavy?
Does your flash take batteries?
Is your lens cap on/
Do you like churros?

Okay so that last one was probably me, but you get the idea...

Can't wait to hear the rest of the plans!

I like the last question the best... the churros at DLR are sooooooo good.

 

[Todd_H]

I'm in!

I love all those pictures! I'm so jealous that you've been able to take such wonderful pictures without using a flash...

I'll keep an eye out for you guys since we're staying at WL Sept 22-25!

Hi Dayna! Welcome! Maybe we'll run into you while we're at the WL. I checked out your flickr page... wow, that's quite a collection of WDW/DL memorabilia you've got there . I don't know how you collected all those fast passes (and dream fast passes) without using them! My willpower would never let me do such a thing

 

[Todd_H]

Hey Todd... I found ya....

Your kids are gorgeous...

We will be at DHS on the 20th all day and watching Fastasmic! also...

So, if you see us... RUN!!! If you are anywhere near us, Terry will be asking you 53 questions...

What lens are you using?
What is your shutter speed?
Is your camera heavy?
Does your flash take batteries?
Is your lens cap on/
Do you like churros?

Okay so that last one was probably me, but you get the idea...

Can't wait to hear the rest of the plans!

Hey Toni! Glad you made it over!

It's o.k., Terry can ask 53 questions, just not 54. That's where I draw the line .

Ah yes, the churros. You guys are not WDW novices so you probably already know this, but the best churros we have found on the resort are the ones in the Cantina in the Mexico pavillion (outside the pavillion actually). Every time we've gotten them, they've been really fresh and hot. That's one of our Epcot rituals... to get a fresh churro from Mexico and then a Grey Goose Slushy in France (not necessarily in that order).

 

[disneymomof1]

Loving your PTR so far, very clear and concise, good job, I am also not looking forward to the humidity for our trip. We will be there 9/14-9/20. We are having a bit of a heat wave here in NJ this week and I keep telling DD that this is probably how hot and humid it will be when we go to Disney. I forsee lots of afternoons spent at the pool.

 

[All7OfUs]

Well, if you insist...

My basic questions are:

I have a simple, very inexpensive, p&s, (Nikon Coolpix), that generally I'm pretty happy with.

But, EVERY single stinkin' one of my POTC pix, and ZERO of my nighttime parade pix turned out.

I've gone through the owner's manual (you are probably hysterically laughing at these kindergarten-style questions right about now (either that or groaning with pain in your photographer's heart)), and have practiced a ton. I've got macro down, and general day time portraits okay, but, can't get dark room or motion shots AT ALL.

What am I doing wrong. One thing, I think, is that the camera has to be absolutely still when you switch the mode to nighttime shots. Right?? Is that why people try to set up near a trashcan on the parade route, so they can have that as a steady surface??

If there just is no way to photograph, say POTC or IASW, with my cheap POC, then I won't bother, but if you can give my any hints to try out/ practice here at home over the next year, I'd be very much obliged!!! I tried to get a shot of my daughter next to the cannon, but it turned out yellow-ish and blurry.

What mode should I be in?
What techniques do I need to use?


Thanks for whatever advise you can give

Liesa

 

[Todd_H]

Loving your PTR so far, very clear and concise, good job, I am also not looking forward to the humidity for our trip. We will be there 9/14-9/20. We are having a bit of a heat wave here in NJ this week and I keep telling DD that this is probably how hot and humid it will be when we go to Disney. I forsee lots of afternoons spent at the pool.

Hi, Lisa! Welcome! Wow, lots of folks headed down in September.

Well, if you insist...

My basic questions are:

I have a simple, very inexpensive, p&s, (Nikon Coolpix), that generally I'm pretty happy with.

But, EVERY single stinkin' one of my POTC pix, and ZERO of my nighttime parade pix turned out.

I've gone through the owner's manual (you are probably hysterically laughing at these kindergarten-style questions right about now (either that or groaning with pain in your photographer's heart)), and have practiced a ton. I've got macro down, and general day time portraits okay, but, can't get dark room or motion shots AT ALL.

What am I doing wrong. One thing, I think, is that the camera has to be absolutely still when you switch the mode to nighttime shots. Right?? Is that why people try to set up near a trashcan on the parade route, so they can have that as a steady surface??

If there just is no way to photograph, say POTC or IASW, with my cheap POC, then I won't bother, but if you can give my any hints to try out/ practice here at home over the next year, I'd be very much obliged!!! I tried to get a shot of my daughter next to the cannon, but it turned out yellow-ish and blurry.

What mode should I be in?
What techniques do I need to use?


Thanks for whatever advise you can give

Liesa

Hi Liesa,
There's not an easy answer to the question, but I'll give a quick rundown of what the main issues are. Generally speaking p&s cameras don't do very well in low light conditions. That's not to say they can't take pictures in low light, but pictures are going to be challenging in low light with a p&s camera (you've already figured that out). The reason for this is that the digital sensors in p&s cameras (which is the digital equivalent of film) are usually very tiny. When you press the shutter release button to take a picture, your camera's shutter opens up and light passes through a small hole (aperture) before landing on the sensor (film). The sensor (film) receives the light (which it will translate into the scene you're shooting), but only for the duration of the shutter being open. If you're shooting in brightly lit conditions, it's easy to get a good picture as there will be plenty of light getting into the camera to the sensor to expose your picture properly. On the other hand, if not enough light can get in, your picture will be too dark (underexposed). What you are experiencing is your camera not being able to get enough light to the sensor to create a good exposure (the shutter isn't open long enough for the sensor to "see" and record the scene). There are a couple of possible solutions: 1) find a way to leave the shutter open longer to allow more light to hit the sensor... this is why you see tripods and trash cans being used, so the camera can rest absolutely still while the shutter is open and the sensor is recording the scene 2) find a way in increase the size of the aperture to let more light in so your shutter doesn't have to be open for a longer period of time and 3) raise your ISO settings... however raising ISO will result in a grainy looking picture (called noise). Raising ISO is just making the sensor a little more sensitive to light, allowing it to record a scene in a shorter period of time.

Some p&s cameras have manual controls where you control the aperture, the shutter speed, and the ISO settings. Others have the program modes like "night shot," "fireworks," "portrait," "macro," etc. These program modes are changing the aperture, shutter speed, and ISO for you according to the camera's internal metering system, which just measures the amount of available light in the scene you are shooting.

So to answer your question about taking pictures on PotC or of Spectromagic with a p&s, can it be done? Well, it really depends on the camera. I would suggest trying one of the program modes like night shot and maybe even seeing if you can change your camera's metering system to something called "spot metering." The best solution for shooting on dark rides is going to be with a camera that has a larger sensor, high ISO capabilities and a lens that has a very wide aperture.

That's just a quick rundown and I probably left some stuff out, but hopefully that gives you a better understanding of the limitations of a p&s in low light conditions. Let me know if you have any other questions and I'll try my best to answer them.

 

[Todd_H]

After breaking through the MK entrance, the first thing we're going to do is pick up a Fast Pass for Peter Pan's Flight. It's amazing to me how long the lines are for PPF throughout the day! You hardly ever see it under 30 minutes and most of the time, it's 50-60 minutes! That is completely nuts! After picking up our FP, we'll probably backtrack over to Adventureland to ride PotC, the Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets of Alladin, see the Enchanted Tiki Room show, and maybe Splash Mtn and BTMRR. From there, we'll probably make our way over to Liberty Square to see if DD wants to ride the HM (DS says he wants to also... hmmm not so sure, but he's not really afraid of anything... yet). I don't know... it's a little scary in there

And one of my favorite shots:

If you can't tell, I really love the HM. It's my favorite ride in the entire WDW resort. It's really amazing how this ride has stood the test of time. I think the DL version just celebrated it's 40th anniversary!

day 2 to be continued with evening activities and dinner plans...

 

[All7OfUs]

Thanks!!! Your info was actually very helpful, and I'll keep it handy over the next weeks as I get more practice.

Let me get this straight... I want "Hi ISO"?? It actually has a mode setting that says just that. If I choose this mode, that is the one that MIGHT be helpful for dark or parade photos, right? (Actually, I'm more interested in getting some quality Spectro pix.)

Let me play with that mode for a bit, and see what it does. For those purposes, can you give me some ideas on what kinds of shots/subjects would be helpful for practice? I tried my sleeping baby in a low lit room- how bout some others??

Added on just now... Yes, I see what you mean about "noise" with HI ISO on. No way to fix that, eh, without a bigger better camera? BTW, it is 8.0 megapixels. Does that make a difference with my problems??

Thanks again!!

Liesa

 

[mreid1974]

Im in.. Nice to see a guy writing a pre trip report.. Your kids are adorable.. ANd your pics are amazing..

 

[Todd_H]

Let me get this straight... I want "Hi ISO"?? It actually has a mode setting that says just that. If I choose this mode, that is the one that MIGHT be helpful for dark or parade photos, right? (Actually, I'm more interested in getting some quality Spectro pix.)

It will help, but your images will be a bit noisier (grainier). Raising ISO is kind of a last resort setting if you still can't get your shots to be properly exposed by the other methods. There are software programs available to help reduce noise, but you also lose a little detail when these noise filters are used.

can you give me some ideas on what kinds of shots/subjects would be helpful for practice? I tried my sleeping baby in a low lit room- how bout some others??

Added on just now... Yes, I see what you mean about "noise" with HI ISO on. No way to fix that, eh, without a bigger better camera?

For subjects in low light, I recommend shooting anything around your house in either dim light or by candlelight. You might just want to set up a nice table setting, lit by candlelight and set your camera to night shot and rest it on a table if you don't have a small tripod and see how that works out. If you're using this method, try to not use the High ISO setting first.

I also recommend taking your camera out with you at night to a restaurant, or any other place that may have some interesting lighting to practice.

BTW, it is 8.0 megapixels. Does that make a difference with my problems??

The # of megapixels really doesn't matter. Generally speaking, megapixels do not directly translate to image quality (a common misconception).

Ann, if you're reading, please feel free to jump in with any other advice/tips!

Im in.. Nice to see a guy writing a pre trip report.. Your kids are adorable.. ANd your pics are amazing..

Thank you very much for the compliments! And welcome aboard!

 

[annnewjerz]

Ann, if you're reading, please feel free to jump in with any other advice/tips!

Of course I'm reading, just trying not to have more comments on this PTR than you, since you are the one going on the trip after all.

The only comments I came up with to help with the p&s and dark ride photos were:

1. To clean up the noise if you are shooting in higher ISO modes, you can try running the pictures through noiseware. I'm not sure if this is something most p&s users do, but they can take a photo from absolutely horrible to somewhat acceptable depending on what your expectations are. Google Noise Ninja (and maybe Todd can recommend another) and see what you get. I'm not sure if they offer a free trial or a free version---but I know there is some free noiseware out there.

2. For shooting Spectro (which I haven't yet) so I'm not sure if my advice is 100% sound, but I don't think that using something like a trashcan or travel tripod with a longer shutter speed will help too much since the parade is moving. For all intents and purposes, I think Spectro should be shot more like a dark ride. The higher ISO with the fastest shutter speed possible to avoid motion blur. The tripod comes in handy for the fireworks because you want the fireworks to streak in the shots---but I would think most people trying to shoot Spectro would want the floats as clear as possible.

3. Have the correct expectations for your camera and its capabilities (which it seems you do). I have a "fancier" camera that I will be using in WDW and I still have no expectation that I will come home with great shots of Peter Pan like Todd did. His gear is definitely at least one step above mine and while I expect to come home with "better" shots of Haunted Mansion and Pirates than the average visitor to WDW, I know with almost 100% certainty that won't be getting the Caretaker in HM.

4. Check out the Photography Board and ask lots and lots of questions! Everyone over there is great and more than willing to help. One user in particular has created a series of "How To" shots for everyone to use as a reference. Check out the first post for this thread for topics such as "How to Shoot: Fireworks, Dark Rides, Parades, Indoor Shows, etc."

5. PRACTICE! I know from reading your PTR that you are basically living in the middle of nowhere (or something-stan as I seem to remember reading) but like Todd said, set up some candles, try taking pictures with the room lit up by only one lamp or a tv or something---use what you have to practice now so it's less frustrating when you go on your trip.

Good luck (and sorry for the novel).

 

[Todd_H]

Thanks, Ann. I didn't want to go into that level of detail, but I'm glad you did . You just saved me some work

The main thing is to realize what the limitations of your camera are and have reasonable expectations of it.

To summarize the main points above:
1) when shooting still objects in low light, try to stabilize the camera on something (tripod, table top, trash can, pretty much anything that begins with the letter "T" ). This is also good for fireworks to get those nice trails
2) when shooting a moving object like Spectro, or if you are moving under low light conditions (i.e. dark rides), you need to be able to stop the motion so the image will come out clear. This has to be done through some combination of faster shutter speed, wider aperture, and higher ISO. If you can't manually control the aperture and shutter speed or if your night shot mode doesn't work like you want it to, setting to High ISO may be your best (and only) option.

Oh, and I use Noise Ninja for my noise reduction program. I've also used Noiseware, which has a free version if I'm not mistaken and works pretty well.

This is getting a little more technical than really should be discussed here (and I'm probably starting to lose the interest of a few readers by this point ), so let's get back to the PTR!