Disney Photography Tips

[brack]

I know that when you go to WDW you're on a free and easy type vacation but plan some of your shots before hand. I go with a planned theme for some of my pictures.

This is one of my planned panoramas:

 

[brack]

I have over 10,000 photos taken at WDW and sometimes run out of things to do with them.

Try some of the software out there to manipulate them and give them new life.

 

[YEKCIM]

A couple that have worked well for me:

1. Use long focal length and/or wide aperture to isolate the subject (out-of-focus background)

2. Vary ISO setting, as required, for changing lighting conditions.

~YEKCIM

 

[woody64]

Someone asked for night long exposure shots. Here are my 2 examples from Disneyland. The first shot I actually thought the ferris wheel moving would hurt the look of the shot but I definately think it improved it and made the "rays" of the "sun" look better.

This second shot you will notice the water wheel has no spokes.

With both shots I also took many versions with many different settings.

 

[Castillo Mom]

This is a great thread, especially for a newbie like me. Just bought my Rebel XTi two weeks ago. Bumping to see if anyone else has more tips.

 

[deletedpenguin]

wood64, those are great shots. My biggest delimma about my upcoming trip to DLand is which bag to use/bring. I have a smaller Lowepro Slingshot and a Tamrac Adventurer 9, which is bigger, but has room for stuff, other than camera equipment.

 

[donaldduck1967]

Shoot the Your Trip

Everyone gets the standard shots of the Castle, the Tree, etc. Those are good to have, but it's just as important to shoot the things that mean something special to you. Take time to shoot the little things that make your trip special.

I always like to take a shot of the pastries that we buy in France. Those are a highlight of our day at Epcot. Is it a great picture? Not really. That doesn't matter. It means something to me and that's what is important.

Actually I think that is a great shot. Thanks for all the tips. Keep them coming.

 

[Granite State Heidi]

This is a great thread. I have a new Canon S3 IS, and I really appreciate all of these tips!

 

[jaycat]

One Tip for shooting fireworks is to shoot before the shell goes off, because of shutter lag time if you shoot right after the shell goes off you may miss the shot completely. I also have the best luck shooting in ISO mode for fireworks, but that of course dependes on the camera and the person operating the camera, and weither you are using a prop (tripod, trashcan, wall, etc...).
These two shot was taken at DL in ISO mode without the use of a tripod, or a trash can. They look better than this as prints for some odd reason.

The little green thing in the pictures is Tinkerbell.

 

[coreyjune12]

To take a picture of fast moving objects you can trick your camera into focusing before it needs to. You can achieve this by pressing the button down on the camera to take a picture halfway, wait for the object to come by and press it the rest of the way.

 

[meliahz]

Subscribing I recently got a Canon S3 IS and I LOVE taking pictures!!! I'm loving all the helpful tips on this thread

 

[zipuzee]

Great tips! Thanks for putting this together. I'll definitely be printing these out and taking them witn me!

Check Your Histogram
Most digital cameras have a little chart called a histogram. The histogram shows you how many pixels you have at different brightness levels. The values on the left edge of the histogram are pixels that are black. The values on the right edge of the histogram are pixels that are white. Your goal is to get an exposure in which all of the pixels fall somewhere in the middle.

And thanks for explaining this. I was having trouble figuring this out from the instruction book that came with my camera!!

 

[Renysmom]

Thanks to everyone for sharing these tips, keep them coming.

I have copied several to my index cards which I print out and carry in my camera case for a quick lesson when I am out and about.

 

[decomouse]

I have over 10,000 photos taken at WDW and sometimes run out of things to do with them.

Try some of the software out there to manipulate them and give them new life.

I like this one. What did you use to create it?

 

[miss missy]

subbing... cool thread!

 

[DBL101]

A lot of great tips. We're about to pick up DL passes again and I plan on spending some nights at the park trying out some of these firework tips.

 

[great]

I have over 10,000 photos taken at WDW and sometimes run out of things to do with them.

Try some of the software out there to manipulate them and give them new life.

Nice one....I love it.....it's so lovely. I want one too. I've never seen a photo like this one until now.

 

[MarkBarbieri]

I just found out this thread got mentioned on the 12/18 Disboards podcast. That's pretty cool.

 

[william4192]

Subbing!

 

[bubba]

Thanks for getting this thread started Mark ! I'm a relative newbie and can't wait until our next trip to WDW to try out some of these tips !