MarkBarbieri
Semi-retired
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2006
- Messages
- 6,172
Fantasmic! is one of my favorite shows. My understanding is that they are shutting in down in Orlando for a while to do a major refurb. We missed it when we went a few summers ago. We tried to go twice, but it was rained out both times. We finally made it back on our October trip.
In the past, I've shot the show with a 70-200 f/2.8 on an APC-H (1DM2) camera. This time my wife shot with the 70-200 f/2.8 on an APS-C (7D) and I used a 300 f/2.8 on a FF (5DM2). The 300 f/2.8 is a bit on the large size, so I mounted it on a tripod for the shoot.
When shooting an attraction, try to get some sign shots. These can be useful in scrapbooks or slideshows to let your audience know what they are looking at.
I set up both cameras pretty much the same. I shot in aperture priority mode at f/2.8. I set the ISO to 3,200. I also set them to do three shot brackets. We fired bursts of three shots. My plan wasn't to use the brackets for HDR...I just wanted a variety of exposure levels to choose from. I set the brackets to go from about 2 under to 0.
This opening shot of Mickey is at 1/500s, which is a 2 stop underexposure.
When Mickey started shooting sparks, I dropped to ISO 1600. In hindsight, I'd probably drop the ISO to 800 or even 400 to get a little more motion blur from the sparks and a little less blowout. Another problem with sparking Mickey shots is that the water jets get in the way.
I started the glowing animals part at ISO 1600 and quickly realized that my shutter speed was way too low at 1/30.
I popped the ISO up to 6400 to get the dancing monkeys. That gave me a bit more noise than I wanted, but I traded off some detail to get the noise level down.
One problem with taking close-up shots of things not meant to be viewed that carefully is that you see stuff that you aren't supposed to see. It kind of ruins the "magic" when you see the performers behind the scene.
Back at 3200 ISO and a 1/200 shutter speed.
The canoeists were difficult. I ended up at ISO 3200, 1/100 and almost 2 stops under.
I like this wide shot of the fire dancers my wife took. She took it at 70mm (112mm equiv) at ISO 3200 and 1/320.
I was in much tighter and wanted more flame detail. I dropped the ISO to 1600, which gave me a shutter speed of 1/1000.
I got luck on one of the guys shooting his gun and caught the muzzle blast. It would have been a much better shot if he'd been looking where he was shooting.
I went back up to ISO 3200 so that I could freeze our hero as he started his rope trick. That got me a shutter speed of 1/400s on a 2 stop underexposure. That's one problem with shooting in bursts. The next shot was a better exposure, but the composition was lame.
My wife did the wide shots of the floats.
I did the close shots.
They added new flames at the bottom of the cauldron since my last visit. They looked much better in real life than they do in pictures.
Here is another case where the closeup shot shows too much. You can see the actor inside the mouth of the mask.
Scary snake.
Here's a nice fire shot my wife got. My shots of this scene were mostly on Mickey and the heat waves from the fire distorted him so badly that the pictures weren't any good.
Here are a couple of shots of the dragon...one without and one with fire.
I really don't like the lighting on the steamboat at the end. I wasn't really very happy with any of the character shots.
I do like flame pictures.
Overall, it was a great show. I'm happy that we did it and I was reasonably happy with my gear choices. You can see the rest of my Fantasmic! shots here.
In the past, I've shot the show with a 70-200 f/2.8 on an APC-H (1DM2) camera. This time my wife shot with the 70-200 f/2.8 on an APS-C (7D) and I used a 300 f/2.8 on a FF (5DM2). The 300 f/2.8 is a bit on the large size, so I mounted it on a tripod for the shoot.
When shooting an attraction, try to get some sign shots. These can be useful in scrapbooks or slideshows to let your audience know what they are looking at.
I set up both cameras pretty much the same. I shot in aperture priority mode at f/2.8. I set the ISO to 3,200. I also set them to do three shot brackets. We fired bursts of three shots. My plan wasn't to use the brackets for HDR...I just wanted a variety of exposure levels to choose from. I set the brackets to go from about 2 under to 0.
This opening shot of Mickey is at 1/500s, which is a 2 stop underexposure.
When Mickey started shooting sparks, I dropped to ISO 1600. In hindsight, I'd probably drop the ISO to 800 or even 400 to get a little more motion blur from the sparks and a little less blowout. Another problem with sparking Mickey shots is that the water jets get in the way.
I started the glowing animals part at ISO 1600 and quickly realized that my shutter speed was way too low at 1/30.
I popped the ISO up to 6400 to get the dancing monkeys. That gave me a bit more noise than I wanted, but I traded off some detail to get the noise level down.
One problem with taking close-up shots of things not meant to be viewed that carefully is that you see stuff that you aren't supposed to see. It kind of ruins the "magic" when you see the performers behind the scene.
Back at 3200 ISO and a 1/200 shutter speed.
The canoeists were difficult. I ended up at ISO 3200, 1/100 and almost 2 stops under.
I like this wide shot of the fire dancers my wife took. She took it at 70mm (112mm equiv) at ISO 3200 and 1/320.
I was in much tighter and wanted more flame detail. I dropped the ISO to 1600, which gave me a shutter speed of 1/1000.
I got luck on one of the guys shooting his gun and caught the muzzle blast. It would have been a much better shot if he'd been looking where he was shooting.
I went back up to ISO 3200 so that I could freeze our hero as he started his rope trick. That got me a shutter speed of 1/400s on a 2 stop underexposure. That's one problem with shooting in bursts. The next shot was a better exposure, but the composition was lame.
My wife did the wide shots of the floats.
I did the close shots.
They added new flames at the bottom of the cauldron since my last visit. They looked much better in real life than they do in pictures.
Here is another case where the closeup shot shows too much. You can see the actor inside the mouth of the mask.
Scary snake.
Here's a nice fire shot my wife got. My shots of this scene were mostly on Mickey and the heat waves from the fire distorted him so badly that the pictures weren't any good.
Here are a couple of shots of the dragon...one without and one with fire.
I really don't like the lighting on the steamboat at the end. I wasn't really very happy with any of the character shots.
I do like flame pictures.
Overall, it was a great show. I'm happy that we did it and I was reasonably happy with my gear choices. You can see the rest of my Fantasmic! shots here.
Great overview and awesome shots! Nice to see what a 300 2.8 can do! (Ahh...another lens to add to my growing list...)
Could see quite a few white things plugged in their ears.
