Just looking for general WDW pic tips & help w/ my A55.

[BigGreen73]

Many thanks BigGreen!

I control the flash exposure compensation on my Canon through the camera itself. So take a look at the menus on your Sony.

If you want to learn more about flash, Bryan Peterson, author of "Understanding Exposure" recently came out with "Understanding Flash Photography". I still need to read it a few more dozen times, but it explains it better than anything I've read to date.

I guess hte half eaten plates aren't as much problem to me as the photos I took one trip, from my seat, with drinks and straws in the kids faces! At least I learned from my mistake!

Best of luck and be sure to post some shots here when you get back!

I got the understanding exposure. Need to read it again, been awhile. I may need to pick up the flash book as well. Thanks for mentioning that.

I may be going in Sept for free dining. All depends on if airfare becomes a little more acceptable. If we do, I want to get in MNSSHP again, and check out the Electric Parade for the 1st time.

Would love to get a decent pic of the horseman in the MNSSHP parade.

 

[BigGreen73]

Just got to thinking about things and have a few more questions. Not so much surrounding character pics, but more so FW's and night parades?

1. What is the best way to focus in these situations? Manual or Auto? If Auto, is it best to go with a center weighted or wide focus?

2. And for light metering as well? Wide or more of a center? Or does that not really come into play here?

Any tips/tricks surrounding this would be great!

 

[mom2rtk]

Just got to thinking about things and have a few more questions. Not so much surrounding character pics, but more so FW's and night parades?

1. What is the best way to focus in these situations? Manual or Auto? If Auto, is it best to go with a center weighted or wide focus?

2. And for light metering as well? Wide or more of a center? Or does that not really come into play here?

Any tips/tricks surrounding this would be great!

For FW, I focus on the castle, then switch to manual so it stays that way and doesn't have to "hunt" with each shot. You can also just focus to infinity and back off just slightly.

Since I use bulb mode for FW, the metering doesn't really come into play. The camera is not trying to balance the light, I am.

For the night parades, I've used just evaluative (at least that's what Canon calls it). I really only use spot or center-weighted for stage shows (unless it's outdoors in daylight). I think I also changed to center weighted for the Magic, Memories and You show since the castle is pretty bright against a dark sky.

 

[BigGreen73]

Thanks!

I used my Canon 17-55 f/2.8 lens. You can opt to use aperture priority set to the wides available aperture, or maybe stopped down just a bit. Or you can go shutter priority and choose a speed at which you think you can freeze the action. I went shutter priority with these, but I've done both.

Most (not all) lenses are not at their sharpest wide open, so I try to stop down a little if possible.

I would think that shutter priority would be the best in these situations. I would be afraid to set it on Aperature priorty and the camera would try and set a shutter speed too slow to hand hold.

I got a little practice w/ this at my niece's 8th grade graduation. Used my 70-300mm on shutter priorty. ISO was about 3200 if I remember right and had to take pics @300mm. Pic's care out better than I thought they would. Glad I have a steady hand.

 

[BigGreen73]

Many thanks BigGreen!

I control the flash exposure compensation on my Canon through the camera itself. So take a look at the menus on your Sony.

If you want to learn more about flash, Bryan Peterson, author of "Understanding Exposure" recently came out with "Understanding Flash Photography". I still need to read it a few more dozen times, but it explains it better than anything I've read to date.

I guess hte half eaten plates aren't as much problem to me as the photos I took one trip, from my seat, with drinks and straws in the kids faces! At least I learned from my mistake!

Best of luck and be sure to post some shots here when you get back!

well, got in some flash practice. The external flash that I have has a difuser which I think will work nicely on this indoor character pics.

 

[BigGreen73]

Well, I broke down and bought a new lens ( and flash ) for my A55. The lens is the SAL 16-50mm f2.8 zoom. Good build quality, better glass, better motor, wider aperature etc. w/ lots of good reviews. This should work out as my go to for my upcoming trip as it should handle everything I will be shooting, low light, characters etc.