Photo Opps spin off...

[luv2go2disney]

Are there any specific places that offer fabulous picture taking opportunities. I am a picture nut and have already packed 16 rolls of film(and a digital camera) in anticipation for all of the great photo ops. But if anyone has a specific place that they love to take pictures or any cool ideas that would be great. There are four of us me, DH, DD4 and DS3. Thanks!!!

 

[missminniemouse]

Take the kids to Tom Sawyer Island. They'll have a ball there, plus there is a great spot near the Fort that has a fabulous view of Big Thunder Mountain. AND, you'll have a chance to get some great pics of your kids on the island. Usually it's not too crowded over there, so you can set up some unique shots. I like getting the kids on the barrel bridge.

I end up taking a LOT of pictures of my kids. One that I always enjoy...and this can be done almost anywhere...is to get them while they're eating their ice cream bars. I've also got pics of DS when he was 3 eating an apple at the market area in the studios. These pictures always bring a smile to my face since there is a cute story that goes with them. I wanted DS to go on Tower of Terror (which he didn't really want to do), and he was hungry. After 2 consecutive trips on ToT, I finally agreed he could have the apple. Plus, DS is such a ham! He loves to pose for pictures. DD on the other hand, would rather NOT have her picture taken much these days.

The rose garden in MK is another favorite area of mine for taking photos. You have a wonderful view of the castle from there plus it's gorgeous and smells super when all the roses are in bloom. I've taken my share of pictures just of the roses themselves. My camera will allow multiple exposures, so I've done some fun things with roses and the kids as a double exposure. I've got a hilarious one of DS inside a rose looking like he's going to sneeze!

One of the most difficult spots for taking pics is on the Kilimanjaro Safari ride at AK. Hold onto your camera tight and try to stay as steady as you can.

One other fun thing I've tried is taking a picture while on a ride. Example - take a picture while you're riding on the carousel. If you use a slower shutter speed, the image will blur a bit, but this can provide some fascinating images. Just be sure you hold the camera as steady as possible so the only blur is from the movement of the ride.

I'll post more later as I think of them.

 

[DISNEY'03]

DON'T FORGET AN UNDERWATER CAMERA!! AND EXTRA BATTERIES FOR YOUR DIGITAL!! AND FOR YOUR REGULAR CAMERA!!

those are 2 must that i have already made sure that i have. I am not trying to yell at you, i am just trying to make a point so you do not end up like we did when we had our 1st trip in Sept. 2003. My digital camera started acting up, which i had around 75 pics on it, and i lost every single picture from that camera! i had some great shots on there from Chef Mickey's with Minnie playing peek-a-boo with my 19 month old dd at the time. when the pictures ended up lost, we were AK, and a cast member asked me what was wrong and why i looked so sad, and when i started to tell him, i broke down crying cause i could not get those photos back, so also make sure you save your pictures right after taking them. my dh didn't understand at the time of packing on why i was taking both cameras, and as soon as this happened, i said this is why, for my backup.

i also made sure i had an underwater camera, and i have great shots of us at the resort pool. in fact, one of them is with my dh under water blowing bubbles, and one other great one i have is of him doing a hand stand. i have great pics of our kids there also, but without the camera, i wouldn't have ever gotten those shots of dh any other time. you could also use it on the water rides like Kali river rapids, and splash mountain.

for great pics of animals, like from kilimajro safari in AK, get there first thing when the park opens, cause it is early enough for the animals to be out and about before it starts getting to hot for them.

just make sure that you have enough film and batteries before going cause it is very expensive in the parks, and if you end up not using it, just return it when you get home, but it is always better to have more than not enough.

sorry for rambling, just trying to add some important advice, cause i don't want what happened to us to happen to anyone else.

i don't know where you are staying, but if it is at a value resort, take pics of the kids in front of the large icons, those turn out to be awesome pics.

pics during the parades, when standing on the side lines, don't stand behind anyone, be on the front of the lines, i have once again, great pics of the characters interacting with my daughter cause she kept waving at everybody in the parades, where me son, didn't want to interact to much at the time, but i have some very close up pictures of characters that way, and with my dd touching them.

ok, enough from my rambling mouth for now,

have a great trip, cause i will be in 29 more days!!

dina

 

[luv2go2disney]

Oh Disney03. I can't believe that I would have been so upset!!!! That is such a nightmare!!! I definitely planned on extra batteries for my real camera, but I never thought of extra for my digital(has rechargeable). As for the underwater camera that is a great idea!!! I will be going to Target tomorrow to get one.

 

[Laura22]

I can't ever get enough photos. Photography is my favorite hobby. I get annoyed at Disney because my husband and kids don't want to stand around for 10 minutes waiting for me to take a thousand pictures of every detail (LOL). I'd like to take a solo trip next year JUST to take photos.

I got some really great shots from the beach outside of the Polynesian (shots of the beach, Poly, GF, Contemporary, and MK).

 

[PixieDust32]

Oh gosh! I am a photo freak too! I take pics every where i can, and i got the same issue with family walking 20MPH and don't want to stop for a pic.

I come home with about 1200 + pics DIGITAL and 6 disposable from the kids, and about 16 rolls of film.

I had so much fun, and still missed some spots.

 

[TheDisneyBunch]

Oh add me to the photo nut list! I am very very into photography! Even had a couple paying gigs not too long ago. Wish I could get more. lol I am going to go crazy at Disney...although I do not have enough media for my camera so I am upset about that! I have 3 512 cf cards which with my camera I will get about 750 pics with! We will be there for 6 days and it is our first trip and I will have ds2. I will never be able to make it off of just 750 so I am going to have to be careful! Yikes!

Definately a good thread. I could use any ideas on great places for shots, esp good ones of ds.

 

[DISNEY'03]

here is a thought that will give you more space for your disk. somewhere on one of your menus on your camera should be an option for the size of photos you want. mine has four different size options.

it has: 640 x 480 (which is what i keep it set on so i have more space on my disk to use. the smaller the size, the more room you will have)

it also has: 960 x 1280, 1600, 1200 x 1600.

check that to see what setting you are on, and for that size disk, just depending also on how many pixels you have, should give you more photos.

hope that helps some.

TO: LUV2GO2DISNEY.....

thank you for your thoughts. don't forget your battery charger also, so you can charge while you sleep, and keep an extra set in while you are gone during the day.
i had caught on the boards, the things to say or do with the characters to get more interaction with them, and i am going to explain to Minnie when we have breakfast at chef mickey's again what happened with our last trip, to see if i can get her to play peek-a-boo again so i can get some more pictures. we even lost pics of us with characters, and on our last day we thought there was hope for the digital, so we tried again, and lost those pictures also. needless to say, i have a much better digital this time, and i know how to use this one, i have my lucky 35 mm, disposable for my dd, 31/2,
my son's camera (which he had one last trip, and i am thankful for that, cause he did have a few pics from Ak that i had lost on mine), so let the kids have one, you'll get to see disney through their eyes, and underwater camera, and dh is bringing his video camera. do you think we might take some pictures on this trip? i am figuring around 1500 if not more. we have free dining, so we are eatting at 7 resorts total, parks, dtd, minature golf, and anything else we might be able to squeeze in there. i scrapbook, so i will be vvvvveeeeerrrrryyyyyy busy, cause i am still working on the 1st trip.

have a great trip,

dina 29 days to go!!!

 

[PixieDust32]

Oh add me to the photo nut list! I am very very into photography! Even had a couple paying gigs not too long ago. Wish I could get more. lol I am going to go crazy at Disney...although I do not have enough media for my camera so I am upset about that! I have 3 512 cf cards which with my camera I will get about 750 pics with! We will be there for 6 days and it is our first trip and I will have ds2. I will never be able to make it off of just 750 so I am going to have to be careful! Yikes!

Definately a good thread. I could use any ideas on great places for shots, esp good ones of ds.

You can have a CD made at the MK EXP HALL, for $11.40 they can put all the pics from your memorie card if you have 2 full cards they can put them all in a cd.

 

[HodagCatLady]

I'm so crazy about photos that on my last trip I lugged around a 10lb professional camera plus a camcorder in all of the parks! We took a laptop with us and I copied all my pics each night and burned them to DVD. I took an average of 1,000 pics each day!

If you don't want to be this ridiculous, I think there are places in the different parks that will burn your digital pictures to CD for you so you can reuse your cards. Maybe someone else knows exactly where? I would hate to see anybody skimp on their pictures!

 

[PixieDust32]

I'm so crazy about photos that on my last trip I lugged around a 10lb professional camera plus a camcorder in all of the parks! We took a laptop with us and I copied all my pics each night and burned them to DVD. I took an average of 1,000 pics each day!

If you don't want to be this ridiculous, I think there are places in the different parks that will burn your digital pictures to CD for you so you can reuse your cards. Maybe someone else knows exactly where? I would hate to see anybody skimp on their pictures!

Yes i did! At the EXP HALL in the Magic Kingdom! for 11.40 per CD and the CD has Mickey Ears.

 

[fanofmickey]

Is there anywhere at the other parks to burn a CD, or only at MK?

 

[PixieDust32]

Is there anywhere at the other parks to burn a CD, or only at MK?

Also in Epcot cannot remember the name of the store, but is the one where you p/u photos at the entrance of the park right in front of the spaceship earth.

 

[safetymom]

I don't suggest lowering the resolution of your images unless you only plan to view them onscreen. At 640x480 you may get a decent 4x6. I take all my photos at high resolution. You never know what you may get when you start shooting. I took a priceless photo at DL and I didn't realize it till I previewed them later.

Buy an extra memory card or two so you don't have to lower the resolution.

 

[safetymom]

All the parks have a place to burn your images to CD.

 

[missminniemouse]

Both of my children have cameras. it is a lot of fun to see what kind of pictures they take...things I would never think of myself. DS6 has a simple 35mm point and shoot camera. DD10 has a 35mm point and shoot with zoom capabilities. DH and I each have 35mm SLR cameras - DH almost always shoots slide film and I shoot color print film. I also have a second camera body which usually has b&w film in it. Between us I don't even know how many lenses we have. In addition to all of these, we have an older digital camera and a video camera. And, we're thinking of getting a digital SLR in the near future. Do we qualify as certifiably photo crazy? You can sure see us coming with all our photo gear.

This summer I entered some of my photos in our county fair. Had 4 1/2 albums full of prints plus tons of digital pictures to choose from. Ended up with 7 blue ribbons, 2 red ribbons and 1 white ribbon, which I thought was pretty wonderful. Of course, my vacation pics were from WDW and they got a blue ribbon!

Glad to see a waterproof camera was mentioned. Especially if you plan to go to a water park! We took our digital camera along that day and left it most of the time in a locker. DH, who is not a swimmer, took it out later in the day and spent quite a bit of time taking pics, but a waterproof camera would have been great fun!


The bridge between dinoland and where Expedition:Everest is being built is a super spot to get pics of the new attraction. We've been there several times since construction began and have a number of photos from that spot showing various stages of construction.

Mickey's Toontown Fair is a great area to catch pics of the kids. There are so many places for them to interact, not only with characters, but with the props around them. At EPCOT, our kids also have a great time in the Imageworks: "what if" labs, at the end of "Journey into imagination with Figment", plus it is another fun place to get some unusual pics. The maze in the back of the Canada pavillion is another favorite spot. Tigger has been there a number of times when we were back there. I've got great pics of Tigger chasing my kids in the maze. The fountain in the France pavillion can be another fun spot with small children. If it's a nice day and you don't mind them getting a little wet, let them put their hands into it and play around.

DH has taken a series of pictures over the years of light fixtures around WDW. The detail that is put into even the lighting is truly amazing.

At the studios, "The magic of Disney Animation" has an area where you can draw your own character. It would be fun to get step by step pics as your children draw their own character. Even at a young age, they will get something. I've been drawing characters with my DD's class at school since she was in Kindergarten and have seen drawings by much younger kids that are pretty good. This would make a good comparison to take pics every year or so and see how the kids abilities have grown.

Sorry I'm stuck on the pics of kids thing, but that's what I take a lot of.

 

[purplern]

Add me to the Photography Nut list. We went to Disney for 2 week in Dec of 2003 we bought and use 8 memory card, filled everyone. We also used 4 disposable camera (DD) and 2 rolls from the underwater camera! CAnt wait to go back and take more!!!!!!!!!
I liked the picture I took of DD in AK in Asia sitting on the bench in front of the Big Statue? (not sure was it is called). Also in AK take the back road to Asia from Africa really neat photo op of the Tree of life. Infact there is a smoking section that is down by the water that gives a really close look at the tree.

 

[tink too]

I too, lost about 100 pics on our digital camera at Christmas last year at WDW. I was devastated as it had pics of our DD3 with all the princesses at the Castle breakfast, the very first character photos that she wasn't crying in (she was 13 months old on our previous trip and she was terrified of the characters close up!)

I called the offices of our camera's manufacturer and a very nice man told me that it's possible to recover what seems "lost" on memory cards! I was scared to get too excited, but I sent him my card and he helped me get all my pictures recovered and put them on a CD for me! I was ecstatic!

I am planning on buying a recovery program very soon before we go on vacation again just incase this happens again.

 

[kangaroodle]

DON'T pack any filmin your checked luggage! The new Xray machines they have at airports will make it all cloudy/foggy. If you have it checked on both flights it's even worse! My sister (not a savvy traveler! especially since there are signs posted at the airport about this!!! ) did this in June and all her family pictures of their beach vacation were ruined! She thought it happened during the processing until I told her what probably happened. She had the film in her suitcase going to and from her trip. She was heartbroken! Just trying to help someone else from losing precious Disney pictures. Put the film in a carry-on and have them hand-check it. Kathy

 

[dizneegirl]

It's usually just DH and I... and there are only so many times we're willing to have our picture taken... LOL.

I take a LOT of atmospheric shots... details on buildings or signs, close-ups of those big bunches of balloons, interesting crowd shots, long shots down the "street", evening/night shots of Tomorrowland, etc. I LOVE trying to get shots inside of rides, too... it's quite a challenge without a flash!

I used to come home with 10 or more rolls of film from a trip - with all of maybe 5 pictures of us. Needless to say, DH loves my digital camera.