Just back from WDW & USF/IOA! - More pix added 6/23

[Amy]

Hi gang! We just returned tonight from an 8-day trip. Had an absolutely wonderful time, did some things we've never done before (MK flag retreat, finally got to hear Off Kilter, etc.). I just downloaded my pictures - 1,408 of them (and that's after I deleted the obvious "bad" shots while reviewing them in the camera), so it'll be a while before I go thru them, delete more bad shots and figure out which ones are worthy to be posted on the DIS photography board. But, as a teaser, here's a great shot that my DS17 took with my old camera, a Canon A70, 3mp, 3x zoom. He shot this through one of those telescopes on the bridges near Expedition Everest:

Give me a day or so and I'll have a photo trip report for you guys. The neatest thing of the whole trip was that WE FINALLY GOT TO BE THE WL FLAG FAMILY!! Unfortunately, conditions weren't that great for photos, really hazy. But that didn't stop me from taking a ton of photos from the roof of the WL anyway.

 

[tinksdad]

I LOVE that!! What a great perspective!! Can't wait to see the rest.

 

[madge]

Hi gang! We just returned tonight from an 8-day trip. Had an absolutely wonderful time, did some things we've never done before (MK flag retreat, finally got to hear Off Kilter, etc.). I just downloaded my pictures - 1,408 of them (and that's after I deleted the obvious "bad" shots while reviewing them in the camera), so it'll be a while before I go thru them, delete more bad shots and figure out which ones are worthy to be posted on the DIS photography board. But, as a teaser, here's a great shot that my DS17 took with my old camera, a Canon A70, 3mp, 3x zoom. He shot this through one of those telescopes on the bridges near Expedition Everest:

Give me a day or so and I'll have a photo trip report for you guys. The neatest thing of the whole trip was that WE FINALLY GOT TO BE THE WL FLAG FAMILY!! Unfortunately, conditions weren't that great for photos, really hazy. But that didn't stop me from taking a ton of photos from the roof of the WL anyway.

can't wait to see your pictures!! I hope you enjoyed Off Kilter (and took lots of pics) as much as my family does!

Love that pic your DS took - I have an A60 that I need to send back to Canon to fix, but after that I'm going to start teaching my middle son how to use it. I love that camera!

 

[S. C.]

WOW thats a lot of pics! Can't wait to see them.

Love the pic that your DS took.

 

[DVC Jen]

The neatest thing of the whole trip was that WE FINALLY GOT TO BE THE WL FLAG FAMILY!! Unfortunately, conditions weren't that great for photos, really hazy. But that didn't stop me from taking a ton of photos from the roof of the WL anyway.

Good for you! What day were you flag family? We did it on the 14th. It was our 3rd time and I am hoping I got some great shots - haven't really reviewed them yet. Did you get to do it with Stan? He is such a special man - lots of people are going to be so sad when decides to retire. He is such a big part of the lodge.

 

[Amy]

Good for you! What day were you flag family? We did it on the 14th. It was our 3rd time and I am hoping I got some great shots - haven't really reviewed them yet. Did you get to do it with Stan? He is such a special man - lots of people are going to be so sad when decides to retire. He is such a big part of the lodge.

Hi Jen! Gee, maybe you and I were at WL at the same time and didn't know it! We were there from June 8-13 and then went to the Hard Rock, did flag family on the 11th. Unfortunately, Ranger Stan was doing something else that day, so we had Ranger Mike. He was telling us that he got addicted to WL, too; he used to work elsewhere at WDW, but he and his wife spent their honeymoon at the WL and he was hooked and got transferred so he could work there.

Here are some pix from the roof of the WL; you can see how hazy it was. We could just barely make out the Epcot ball; didn't even show up well in pictures. It was still an awesome experience!

 

[Dan Murphy]

Welcome home, Amy! What neat pictures. Sounds like an excellent trip.

 

[DVC Jen]

We were there at the same time! We were there (in the villas) from the 4th - 15th.

It was pretty hazy when we were on the roof too. I kinda like the look though.

Did you see any animals while at the lodge? One day while sitting out on our balcony in the early evening I looked up from my book and saw a family of about 5 deer walking through the woods on the side of the villas pool. I wish I would have had my camera with me - but it was inside and I didn't want to scare the deer away by getting up to get it.

That was just one of the many special things that happen that make the lodge so magical.

Your castle shot from the roof is really nice. I was feeling a bit rushed when I was taking my photos and I am not sure how mine turned out. DH just loaded them onto the new external hard drive so now I can start to convert them from raw to tiff and see what I have.

Looking forward to seeing more of yours.

 

[Amy]

Ok, I've been spending most of the day playing with my pictures instead of other things I should be doing, but who cares? I figure I'm still on vacation until I head back to work tomorrow!

Anyway, I posted some of these over on the S3 thread, so you might have already seen them. They're in no particular order, all shot with a Canon S3 IS. The only editing I've done is run the fireworks shots through Noiseware. I know they're not perfect, but they're the best night-time shots I've ever taken, esp. since they're all hand-held. Enjoy!

 

[Amy]

Some more:

 

[Amy]

Ok, 2 more and then I really HAVE to pay some bills. We spent the last 3 days at Univeral/Islands of Adventure, stayed at the Hard Rock Hotel. Here's a panorama shot of the front of the Hard Rock; I know it's over-exposed, I haven't used Photoshop on any of my shots yet.

And this little guy decided to pose for this one; I couldn't believe how tame all the squirrels were around USF/IOA! They were milling around on the sidewalk among all the people - I guess they're just used to people.

 

[Amy]

Bumping for the Monday morning crowd......

 

[MicMin]

Great pictures! Thanks for sharing.

 

[Amy]

Here's a good shot of the castle, although I need to get this into Photoshop so I can crop out the street lights on the left and right. I took this with my Canon S3 IS on Program mode, ISO200, aperture 3.2 and shutter 0.6, set the camera on top of a garbage can:

 

[diznylnd]

Nice pix.

 

[S. C.]

Very nice pics! Do you know what setting you used for the squirrel pic?

 

[Amy]

Very nice pics! Do you know what setting you used for the squirrel pic?

Hi Shirley! I checked the exif, and I used Program mode, ISO200, shutter 1/160, aperture 3.5. I really like how the depth of field turned out on this one. With the S3, it's hard to get depth of field like that unless you use macro or zoom in. I DID use the zoom on this, but I didn't have to use the full zoom - he wasn't that far away.

 

[Amy]

Here are some more from our trip:

The castle reflected in the lake:

The Barbershop Quartet on Main Street during the Flag Retreat:

Sleepy Tiger - don't you just want to rub his belly?

A hippo at the underwater viewing area in Animal Kingdom:

 

[steery1]

You've done an absolutely brilliant job on those photos Amy.
Love the squirrel one and the castle shots are just beautiful. Thanks for sharing them.

 

[madge]

LOVE, love. love the castle shot!

How did you get the 4 different colors on the quartet? I've only mastered one so far, LOL.