DON'T Read This TRIP REPORT If You're a Princess Hater!

[kwitcherkicken99]

By the way, I hesitate to tell you to use an aperture BELOW F/4. If you go too open and have a character with a long nose/exaggerated face (Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Baloo, Rafiki, etc) you can institute too much depth of field and parts of their faces will be soft. F/4 is really pushing the minimum, especially if you are close to them (< 8 feet).

Now for some examples…

On your Belle pictures, notice the heavy shadow from your flash? That is from the direct light hitting the girls. If you had a diffuser over the front of the flash, you’d still have a bit of a shadow, but it wouldn’t be so strong.

Belle’s dress is particularly difficult in this situation because it is so dark. Your exposure here is REALLY good. There’s not a whole lot you could do to bring up the background, and I’m not even sure you would need to. The backdrop is light enough to give proper separation between the girls and the back cloth.

Here at tea, notice the shadow on the chair in the back and the one under Katie’s chin?

The one under her chin is very strong because while the photog DID use a diffuser, they were really close to her, so it's stronger. The shadow on the chair is softer because the light fell off. The photog used a low shutter speed to the rest of the room was illuminated. Adding the diffuser makes the light much softer and prettier, especially in this type of a situation.

Remember what I was saying about watching your depth of field? Notice the flowers in the front corner are out of focus, but the table (starting with the teapot) and Katie are sharp, and then the background is a little soft? That was probably shot around F/4-5.6.

On this one... the diffuser is off - see the difference in the lighting? Katie is much brighter and there is the huge shadow in the back. If you don't 100% see the brightness on her face, look at her shoulder... she sustained a direct hit on her arm which makes the fabric way lighter than it should be.

 

[jenseib]

So which telephoto do you have? It did great! I'm having some issues with my Sigma 50-150 telephoto and am thinking of sending it in for calibration. The problem of course is that I have to send the camera body in with it, so they can it can be calibrated to the body, so I keep putting it off. Now I think I've waited too long to have it fixed before Robbie graduates in May. So I need another plan. Or I need to be sure and not use it wide open. That's where I notice my problem on that one.

Can't WAIT to see the rest of your show pictures!

It's a Tamron 75-300. I got it dirt cheap on ebay too a few years ago. I love that lens.

 

[tsme]

So which night did you go to the party?

And yes, wasn't that ONE day of nice weather heavenly? We were in Epcot that day. And it's coming up next.......... after the fireworks and parade.

I think it was the 14th. It was so cold that night that they cancelled the show in Tomorrowland. We're from the South & the cold just hurt my skin. I might be a little whimpy. It was still fun though. And the good day, Friday, was our last full day. We didn't go to the parks that day, just relaxed & went to the Spirit of Aloha Show; which we loved. Then we had to go home the next day.

 

[foodrocksluver]

When I was three years old my parents took me on my first trip to Disney World. My favorite picture is of my mother and I riding the carousel together on this very horse. 21 years later I refuse to ride any other horse than this one

 

[kmrein]

Hello-just found your report and love the title. I am absolutely NOT a princess hater, so just wanted to sub. Can't wait to go back and do some reading!

 

[Daisy Duke]

Hello! I found your report a couple days ago and I'm now caught up! I am amazed by all your costumes and so glad that you and your DD enjoy dressing up and visiting characters together, I think that is so special! I must say that Belle's red dress is my all-time favorite princess outfit and you definitely did it justice!

DH and I arrived at Disney on Friday, Dec 17th and stayed until the 24th. The weather was comfortable during the day and cool/cold at night. I was watching the weather every day leading up to the trip, and I'm glad it warmed up when we arrived!

 

[joy13]

Love, love, love the Belle and Jasmine pictures - those dresses you made just blow me away!!!! I just love Belle's christmas gown - Maddie has never been that into Belle - but I so love that dress.

So if we go to Disney - there are 2 dates we could go to the party - but the adult price is up to $60 now. I've been to MNSSHP 3 times and think the parade and fireworks are worth the ticket price (even if it were more) but I'm not sure about the Christmas parade/fireworks. Having been to both - what is your opinion. If we go - we will only have 4 park days most likely and I may not do park hoppers to save a bit of money - so that could be my party money and would give us one way to get back to Magic Kingdom a second time.

 

[vamassey1]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANET!


I'm way behind on all the reports I read but I didn't want to miss your birthday.

 

[mom2rtk]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JANET!


I'm way behind on all the reports I read but I didn't want to miss your birthday.

Thanks Vanessa!

I've had a busy couple of weeks with work, but hope to update the TR again soon, and answer all the posts.

I gave myself today to do some scrapbooking, and if I start updating now, I won't get to it!

Jenn (kwitcherkicken99), thank you SO much for all the time and effort you put into your replies! I need a bit of time to digest and reply. THANK YOU!

 

[jenseib]

I didn't realize that today was your birthday...number 21 right?

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

 

[Caretames1]

Your Birthday? Well now,

29?

Carey

 

[mom2rtk]

I didn't realize that today was your birthday...number 21 right?

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Birthday!!!!!

Thanks Jen!

I finally got started scrapbooking and it's been wonderful. The kids cleaned up some and did some dishes. So I'm a very happy camper!

Well, my dad congratulated me on 29. And my husband congratulated me on number 38.

Let's just say you were ALL being very kind!

I asked for party tickets for my birthday, like I have every year from some time. It makes it nice since they always put them on sale on my birthday.

Of course the only downside is that not only do I not know yet which day I need tickets for, I don't even know which party (Halloween or Christmas) I need them for!

 

[Daisy Duke]

Is today your birthday?? It's my wedding anniversary (#2)! Happy Birthday May 1st is a great day!

Oh, btw, I think your daughter is just adorable and looks like she has a great personality! Have you watched Modern Family? Your daughter reminds me so much of the younger daughter/middle child. Seriously, they could be sisters!

 

[vamassey1]

I'm all caught up again!

I'm so loving all the dresses and outfits, but of course Belle is my favorite!

Your photos are once again fabulous. I had to skip the talk about taking pictures since is all so over my head. Kudos to everyone who does understand it.

Can't wait to see you pages.

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Jenn (kwitcherkicken99), thank you SO much for all the time and effort you put into your replies! I need a bit of time to digest and reply. THANK YOU!

Again, no problem at all. I know it's a lot, but I wanted to be thorough!

Happy belated 29th birthday by the way!!!

 

[kwitcherkicken99]

Oh, and Janet... I will be pouring over your info like crazy from MVMCP... guess who just added it to the agenda for this December!

<-- this gal!

It's so helpful to be able to follow up and learn from you!

 

[mom2rtk]

Hey Jenn Kwitcherkicken99) ..... Thanks again for the personalized photo question answering service! This was immensely helpful. I'll put my comments in red.

The higher ISOs won’t have a major affect on your background. Light “falls off” or is absorbed by surrounding elements very quickly.

In low light situations, the camera is exposed for the light on the subject. Anything other than the star of the photo won’t catch as much light, it “falls off”. Therefore, by increasing you ISO, you are solely affecting the amount of light on your subject. The background will get bumped up a bit, but not enough to get it to where you want to be. Decreasing the shutter speed will allow the remaining ambient light to illuminate your backdrop.


OK......... THIS was a moment for me. What you're saying makes complete sense unlike anything I've read yet. I can't wait to have a few moments to play around with the settings and try it out!


Changing your aperture will ONLY affect the amount of light on your subject as well as the distance between you and said subject. Your shutter speed will ONLY affect the background. Personally, I wouldn’t go below 1/30 unless you have a tripod set up. You could affect your background by having too much camera shake.


For indoors, I typically have my shutter speed at about 1/60. I bump it down to 1/30 if it’s REALLY dark. I consume mass quantities of caffeine, so I can get a little shaky at times, so much below 1/30 and it affects my images.




I try not to go too low either. I have had very unsteady hands from the time I was a child. I actually do a little better with a DSLR than a point & shoot. The weight of the camera actually helps steady my hands, if that makes any sense. I have loved the advances in image stabilization in recent years. I think it really has made a big difference for me. I'll try some shots with flash with 1/30, 1/60 and higher and compare. I think I might be able to get down to 1/30 with IS.

My flash has a little diffuser that sits inside the flash head. I can pull it out and it rests on the front of the flash.


What an COOL attachment! Mine doesn't have that, but I might look into some sort of add on contraption.

[That is the flash I have.]

I also have a modified bounce card contraption that I made (similar to the link I showed Jen) so I could use flash at a basketball game and still be within the rules of using flash and not affecting the contest. I put it on the flash to force the light against the wall behind me. The light bounces off the wall and then onto the players. IHSAA rules forbid the use of direct flash in athletic competitions.


Might I just say.......... I LOVE your resourcefulness! Of course, I have to remember that you are the person who hunted down the type of lights in use in a venue so you could set the correct white balance!

You want to know what I do? I preset my camera once I can start to see the characters.

For example, the character trails at Camp Minnie-Mickey: Once we start to get close, say 5-6 families back, I’ll adjust my camera to where I think it needs to be. When we get about 2-3 families back, I’ll fire off some test shots of those people to check my lighting. (I delete them right away, of course… I don’t need to keep pictures of strangers.) When we are the next family, I’ll fire another test shot to make any last minute adjustments because we are relatively close to where I would be taking our family photos (remember DISTANCE IS A FACTOR IN YOUR EXPOSURE!) By the time it is our turn, my camera is already set and we can enjoy our interaction with whomever we are seeing.

I used the same tactic last month at a local Children’s Museum. They offered a special meet and greet with Spiderman, and they told us that we were allowed 1 photo. No autographs, no chatting. Walk up, smile, snap, move on. The lighting situation was a nightmare because we were indoors, but had directional sunlight in some places and regular museum lights in others and then massive indoor shade from part of the building (and this was all in the area that Spiderman was going to stand…). We were in the middle of the pack, but directly in front of the winding M&G queue.

I used that time to get my camera set up for our interaction. I think I have my museum photos with me at school today… If I do, I’ll show you some. Anyway, I did one last test on the family ahead of us (it was my friend and her kids, they were my guinea pigs). I made a quick adjustment and then got the shot of DS4 because DD2 was star struck and wouldn’t go up to him. She did the same thing with Eeyore and Cinderella. :

What you're saying makes complete sense. So I assume you're shooting full manual in these settings? Finding the right settings while advancing in line taking test shots, then manual? Now, here I am FINALLY shooting in aperture or shutter priority after all these years, and everyone keeps trying to push me one step further! It's starting to make sense to me why you'd do it though.

I would love to see your Spiderman photos. Oops...... photo. Singular. Man, that would drive me NUTS! And the lighting sounds like a nightmare. Be sure to tell me how you handled it too.

 

[mom2rtk]

I answered in red again.

Yes. As much as I fought using a flash (especially outdoor – I always thought it looked silly…), I use it more often than not to make sure I get the best possible lighting on my subject’s face.

Yes, it's the lighting on the faces that I want to have right. I can't imagine many situations where I wouldn't want to use a flash for character photos.


Here is where I share a story that E ribbed me about for a bit… When we were at Chef Mickey’s for dinner, she ribbed me for taking pictures of the kids eating. They weren’t the best poses and I was photographing them stuffing their faces. I told her that I was setting up my light for when the characters got there (and I was). I was able to find a happy medium between exposing for DS’s face while allowing enough background light to carry over to the darkening windows behind us. (We sat in the outer room, just behind the dessert bar). I probably fired off 6-8 shots before I was 100% happy.

OK...... I get it. More test shots.



I believe the ceilings are a cream-ish color, but I can’t remember exactly! However, I’m guessing about an ISO of ~ 800, maybe around F/4-5.6. Use the TTL on your flash – you have that right? I’m working from a very tired brain today… Use 800 if you have to, but I would fire off a couple of test shots (right after you get seated) at 400 to see if you can pull it off.

I have 2 flashes, both are TTL. I did just go back and look through some of my character shots. I ended up using 800 ISO for most of the indoor shots, except for the entry shots with Cindy at CRT. Those I went to 1600. That one's really tough. It's REALLY dark in there. Based on what you're saying though, maybe I should have left it at 800 but slowed down my shutter speed, maybe to 1/45 or 1/30?



I would use a diffuser over the front of the flash for either seat. In the middle, you will have to use a lower shutter speed ~ 1/45 to get your background where you like it. On the outer seats, especially if you are near a window, the shutter speed would be ~ 1/60, if you are close to windows. The ceiling in there is just too high and dark to bounce.

I actually leave the diffuser on the front of my flash all the time. Are there times when I'd want to take it off?



If you felt daring and were sitting close to a window, you could use it as your backdrop. You wouldn’t have to finagle the shutter speed very much because you’d have the bright window behind you. You might even have to speed it up a bit!



When we sit by the windows at CRT, I usually try to get some windows in the background, because they are so pretty. But I try to get the shot perpendicular to the windows. The ones on the end sort of wrap around, making this possible.

Since the ceiling is so irregular out in the middle and you can't use it to bounce, is this where I'd want a little contraption on the flash to bounce off of (like a note card taped to the back??? )

At the EP M&G at Innoventions, they really set up a lot of the light for you. They have a ton of light dumped onto the backgrounds so you should be able to get away with a shutter speed around 1/60 with an ISO of 400 at about F/5.6-8.

Now, I’ve not seen the inside of the rooms at the new Town Square Hall… I’m assuming it is darker and may not have as much light for the backdrops (similar set up at the Judge’s Tent – they didn’t have much light on the backdrop there either). In that case, a shutter speed of about 1/45-1/60 would be appropriate. You may have to open up the aperture a bit too, maybe shoot at 800 with F/5.6 at 1/45?


In the shots I've seen so far at the new Town Square Theater meet & greet, it looks really dark, so not vastly different from the previous Toontown setup. It looks pretty though. I can't wait to give it a try!


Ah… going back to Camp Minnie-Mickey, similar set up because they have the little tent thingies to stand under! Anytime you are under an overhang or tree or tent, watch your white balance as well. Things lean to the blue side in the shade (even with flash)


So do you use the white balance presets, or do you custom adjust the numbers? As long as I'm shooting RAW, I've just been leaving WB on auto since I can adjust it at home where I can see it better on a full-size screen.

I really do want to get decent enough at all of this that I can shoot more JPEGs again though and not have to fuss with each shot in post processing.

I used to thing RAW was for camera pros. Now it seems to me the pros cna be confident enough of their settings to shoot JPEG. It's the wanna be's like me who need RAW!

I’d keep the ISO ~ 400 (boy I wish your camera did 1/3 stops… otherwise I’d say 320). You won’t have to fight your light here as much so you will be able to keep the shutter speed around 1/60-1/125. If the area is heavily shaded, stay around 1/60 at ~ F5.6-8.

I guess the only missing element in this now for me is the shutter speed when the characters start messing around. Like at the Animation Building when Mickey gave Katie a couple of twirls. Do I just give it up and assume those sort of shots are going to have a little motion blur? At camp Minnie-Mickey, Donald and Goofy started messing with Katie, stealing her hat and stuff. But once again, some motion blur. I doubt I could react fast enough to change that on the fly, then back again.


You are more than welcome. I want people to get the best images they can and I’m more than willing to help those that don’t have a holier-than-thou attitude about photography.

 

[Caretames1]

Kwitcherkicken99, & Janet;
I've following along(or trying too) with the photo instructional you got going here, and while I'll admit to being lost, I am catching bits of knowledge here and there.
I wish you two taught a class, I'd be the first one there!

I need someone who'll explain things in a way I'd understand. I tried a couple different books, but .


Okay, carry on!

Carey

 

[mom2rtk]

I answered in red again.

By the way, I hesitate to tell you to use an aperture BELOW F/4. If you go too open and have a character with a long nose/exaggerated face (Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Baloo, Rafiki, etc) you can institute too much depth of field and parts of their faces will be soft. F/4 is really pushing the minimum, especially if you are close to them (< 8 feet).

Can you imagine Pinocchio???? Ooooohhh..... maybe a creative shot would be fun...... with the end of the nose in focus and everything else out of focus????

Now for some examples…

On your Belle pictures, notice the heavy shadow from your flash? That is from the direct light hitting the girls. If you had a diffuser over the front of the flash, you’d still have a bit of a shadow, but it wouldn’t be so strong.

Well, I actually did have my diffuser on. Is there anything else I could try? Maybe a different exposure and the flash dialed down a bit?

Belle’s dress is particularly difficult in this situation because it is so dark. Your exposure here is REALLY good. There’s not a whole lot you could do to bring up the background, and I’m not even sure you would need to. The backdrop is light enough to give proper separation between the girls and the back cloth.


Thank you! I really did love the colors here. Sometimes it just pays to be lucky!


Here at tea, notice the shadow on the chair in the back and the one under Katie’s chin?

The one under her chin is very strong because while the photog DID use a diffuser, they were really close to her, so it's stronger. The shadow on the chair is softer because the light fell off. The photog used a low shutter speed to the rest of the room was illuminated. Adding the diffuser makes the light much softer and prettier, especially in this type of a situation.

OK, so maybe that answers my question from above. Maybe I just need to move back some more.

Remember what I was saying about watching your depth of field? Notice the flowers in the front corner are out of focus, but the table (starting with the teapot) and Katie are sharp, and then the background is a little soft? That was probably shot around F/4-5.6.



On this one... the diffuser is off - see the difference in the lighting? Katie is much brighter and there is the huge shadow in the back. If you don't 100% see the brightness on her face, look at her shoulder... she sustained a direct hit on her arm which makes the fabric way lighter than it should be.

I actually thought this entire sequence of photos from Photopass were a little overexposed. But there was something I liked about the crisp clear colors too. I especially liked the way the background was evenly lit along with the kids and characters. Do you suppose this is just from the lighter exposure? Or perhaps they have a more powerful flash than I do?

I bought the 270 EX because it's smaller and lighter than my 430 EX. I think I'm starting to see some of my tradeoffs. But I'm not sure I want to add that weight back to my bag. Not to mention the higher profile of carrying it around.