Building (and sticking to) a Shot List...

[Cafeen]

Some background... last year. I had this list all done up of stuff I wanted to make sure that I shot. Of course, I thought "Oh, I'll remember it!"

Yeah, not so much. (I did get some...but others...)

So this year, I'm going to do it again! Hopefully without the forgetting part. I may even PRINT it out beforehand. Maybe. We'll see.

So, with that said, how detailed (if at all) do others make their shot lists. Specifically for Disney trips...

How close do you stick to them? Obviously, adding shots outside of the list is more than acceptable, but how close do you make sure that you cover what's listed? How detailed (in general) are they? And do you bother writing them out and printing them up, or just go with a general "I want to do something here" type of thing?

The trip is half-solo, half with Mom. The Mom half will have less focus on photography (but still some), but the solo half will be primarily focused on shooting (pictures). I have worked my plans to take this into account as well... it's just The List(tm) that it troubling me.

Basically, any tips and/or tricks involved? Or should I just write away and try to remember?

 

[Hockeyman]

Ive been meaning to make myself a list also but never do lol. I try to make a list in my head but by the time I get to the parks there is so much going on I totally forget. Even if I made a list im not sure how well I would stick to it since plans change a lot on the fly while at Disney

 

[Pea-n-Me]

To Do lists and vacations don't mix for me. I have enough of that at home and at work.

I might have a few things I'd like to find or shoot, but generally it's what's in front of me.

 

[WDWFigment]

Sometimes I'll make a shot list for trips (with anticipated focal length - perspective - time of day) prior to trips, but I almost never reference it while on the trip. I think the act of making the list in the first place helps me remember what I want to get...although I rarely get more than 10% of what's on the list!

I've found that my best photos are the spontaneous ones where I'm inspired by what's in front of me.

 

[2Tiggies]

First of all, you are waaaaay to orgainzed for my liking!

I have, as Tom has done, had a 'list' prior to leaving but it has always been in my head. If your must-do shots is quite extensive, since you are traveling with others and this is a vacation trip, it may be worth seeing if you can set aside part of a day or evening a couple of times to get those photos you want, where the time is dedicated to your goal without feeling like you are holding up the rest of the group. I am fairly fortunate in that having a party of two makes things a lot easier. How tolerant are your family members of your photography habits? My 10 year old is incredibly patient with me most of the time. I can't imagine trying to stop for photos and take my time playing with settings, timings and composition with most adults I know and the more people you have with you, the more of a protest you are likely to get which quite frankly I would find distracting.

I'm taking a new lens with me this year and one of the main reasons I decided to get it is to encourage me to take different kinds of photos to the ones I seem to come back with year after year, so I do have a list in mind for this trip. How many of those I will manage remains to be seen, but I haven't written it down. Maybe I should ......

 

[ThurlFan]

I'm developing a list, but it's more of a nudge list than a to-do list. In other words, if I'm in Epcot near Imagination, I'll try to get a picture of the monorail with the imagination pavilion fountain in the foreground. Would like to get that shot, but won't make a special trip over there to get it. That sort of thing. And I'm going to try to focus on night shots when possible, since I've not taken a tripod very often.

I'm also going to be working with the family to do more fun poses instead of everyone standing with shoulders squared, staring at the camera. A little bit of play acting and goofing off will hopefully help take our minds off the long, long lines just a bit (we've never been during the official 'summer season' and this trip will be the final week of June - eek!)

 

[Hockeyman]

I'm also going to be working with the family to do more fun poses instead of everyone standing with shoulders squared, staring at the camera. A little bit of play acting and goofing off will hopefully help take our minds off the long, long lines just a bit (we've never been during the official 'summer season' and this trip will be the final week of June - eek!)

What works well also for me is pictures when family and friends aren't paying attention to the camera or better yet while they are eating (which my wife hates lol). You get some of the best unexpected expressions and silly faces in situations like that and sometimes come out better than carefully thought out and planned poses.

 

[2Tiggies]

or better yet while they are eating (which my wife hates lol).

Now, see, in our family, that kind of behavior is just messing with your medical insurance

You get some of the best unexpected expressions and silly faces

Or alternatively, you could borrow my daughter for a day of surprises! The angelic expression on her face when I frame the shot is usually a far cry from the image recorded on the memory card

 

[Cafeen]

First of all, you are waaaaay to orgainzed for my liking!

It's all an act! I'll be all organized beforehand, but most of that it just escapism and trying to wait out the next 3 months .

I have, as Tom has done, had a 'list' prior to leaving but it has always been in my head. If your must-do shots is quite extensive, since you are traveling with others and this is a vacation trip, it may be worth seeing if you can set aside part of a day or evening a couple of times to get those photos you want, where the time is dedicated to your goal without feeling like you are holding up the rest of the group. I am fairly fortunate in that having a party of two makes things a lot easier. How tolerant are your family members of your photography habits? My 10 year old is incredibly patient with me most of the time. I can't imagine trying to stop for photos and take my time playing with settings, timings and composition with most adults I know and the more people you have with you, the more of a protest you are likely to get which quite frankly I would find distracting.

I'm taking a new lens with me this year and one of the main reasons I decided to get it is to encourage me to take different kinds of photos to the ones I seem to come back with year after year, so I do have a list in mind for this trip. How many of those I will manage remains to be seen, but I haven't written it down. Maybe I should ......

While, yes, it's a vacation trip, only half of my 10 days is with anyone else. Mom will be there days 1-5 (she'll leave after dinner on day 5), and then it's just me for the other 5. The first few days will be a little lighter (although, since she's Mom, she'll never cry foul over me taking my time to get pictures), but the last half of the trip, there is no one to hold up except myself (and those behind me in lines ).

Everyone else, thanks so far. I'm leaning toward the generalized "list", but there are certain things that I want to make sure that I shoot... and once I start writing it, it gets way too involved (as you can probably imagine from my overly wordy posts). For example, I started with a MK list. Simple enough... within minutes I was detailing out each location, ideal time of day, HDR vs non-HDR, etc. Felt that was too much and scrapped it to try again... nope, same deal the 2nd time around (and was even more involved than the first, e.g. which senses in which rides I wanted to make sure I got).

Just trying to get a sense of how others approach their trips and anticipated photo stuff and maybe, just maybe, I can convince myself to not go overboard! (Or, to go fully overboard, all depending on the responses...)

I think, at the end of the day, my list is going to be...

• MK
  • EVERYTHING
• Epcot
  • EVERYTHING
• AK
  • EVERYTHING
• DHS
  • EVERYTHING
• Misc
  • EVERYTHING

 

[BirdsOfPreyDave]

As I go through the Photo Sharing: Canon and ** Picture of the Day 2 ** threads every day, I've been keeping a mental list of all the shots I plan to steal on my next trip.

... wait, was that out loud?

 

[photo_chick]

I'm not working when I'm at Disney, so no shot lists for me. I really don't even go out of my way to do anything other than get personal memories of the trip so my shots are pretty much just documentary and not something I can plan.

 

[zackiedawg]

My Disney shooting is pure pleasure, and I love photography to be inspirational and situational - I see it, and decide to shoot it. So I usually don't do well with shot lists. I've walked around Disney parks and taken 15 photos for the day, and other times I've shot 200 in a day...it all just depended on the situation, the light, the inspiration, etc.

That said, I do occasionally get 'jealous' when I see someone post a shot that maybe I had never considered, or haven't seen - or a situation of lighting or happenstance that I haven't been lucky enough to encounter - and in those cases, I often have tried to put a little mental bookmark on it in my mind to try to remember or at least look out for while in the parks. Sometimes it has worked, sometimes not. I am sort of in between some of the folks here when I'm at Disney - I'm not on a mission to accomplish goals or complete todos in a workmanlike fashion, but at the same time I am sometimes there only for the photography and not worried about the distractions of friends or family. But my vibe is always casual and unplanned, so even when on a photography trip at Disney, I still tend to do a lot of random wandering, just looking for shots or ideas that jump out at me or grab me, while mixing in fun, peoplewatching, some rides, etc.

One time I attempted to write down shot lists of sorts at home, in between Disney trips...it was mostly an analysis of 'what do I NOT have shots of from Disney', which also included some of the 'what cool shots have I seen that I'd like to try'. I divided them into different shot lists for each park or section (MK, Epcot, DHS, Resorts, AK, Downtown). That was 2 years ago or so - I've been to Disney 7 times since, and have not dug up or referenced that list since I wrote it down. In some ways like Tom mentioned, the act of writing it down had some impact - reviewing the list after my last trip, I had actually managed to cut it in half - so without looking at the list, I still managed to check off some 40 shots from it!

 

[Hockeyman]

As I go through the Photo Sharing: Canon and ** Picture of the Day 2 ** threads every day, I've been keeping a mental list of all the shots I plan to steal on my next trip.

... wait, was that out loud?

So im not the only one who does that lol. Matter of fact I saw one on here of some bonsai trees at the Japan Pavilion with the Torii Gate in the back. . . . . . . oh wait . . . . awkward!

 

[2Tiggies]

So im not the only one who does that lol. Matter of fact I saw one on here of some bonsai trees at the Japan Pavilion with the Torii Gate in the back. . . . . . . oh wait . . . . awkward!

Oh and here I though that was the whole reason you all share your photos on here ...... there goes my list!