Photo Trip Report from October Weekend in WDW

[annnewjerz]

Alright everyone, I was planning on not doing a photo TR since I am doing a regular TR (which you can read/see here), but since I ended up getting a few shots I'm not completely disappointed with, I thought I'd post some here.

Constructive criticism is very welcome. We go to The World for a whole week again in December and any mistakes I made this trip, I'd really like to correct for next time.

Thanks!
Ann

 

[annnewjerz]

A foreword about my trip and thoughts on photography in The World now that I'm home.

So as most of you know, this was a short weekend trip from October 17-19 to celebrate our wedding anniversary and my birthday. I had been looking forward to giving my camera a good work-out and it seems that I did just that, although the real test will be in December.

I went into this trip with low expectations for myself. I wasn't trying to stay out all night and get empty park shots, I wasn't trying to get anything ground breaking with the ultra-wide angle lens I brought---I was going down to have fun, get to know my camera a little better and hopefully get a few keepers while I was at it. By not setting my expectations too high, I think I was able to strike a happy balance between this being a weekend trip and a photography trip.

With me, I brought: Nikon D90, Sigma 30 f/1.4, Tokina 11-16 and Nikon 10.5. fisheye to return to fellow DISer Karyl (spinetnglr). I'm glad I didn't bring the 18-200 or any other miscellaneous junk, because I know now that for a weekend trip I probably wouldn't have touched it.

This trip also solidified the fact that no matter how much I studied and thought I had down pat before the trip, everyone makes mistakes---especially the rookies. My list of mistakes included:

• Forgot quick release plate for tripod in hotel room.
• Had the white balance set to "daylight" the whole time we were there.
• Switched my Tokina to manual focus for fireworks and didn't turn it back to auto on Pirates.
• Left the ISO at 1000 while shooting HalloWishes.
• Left the camera on spot metering after I got off of dark rides, even though I wanted matrix.

All in all, I think I did pretty well for my first trip to The World with a dSLR, but there is so much more I'd like to accomplish when we go back in December. As I go through my photos, I'm making a little list of things that I'd like to improve on. If you can spot anything, please let me know.

 

[annnewjerz]

Day 1

 

[annnewjerz]

Day 2

 

[annnewjerz]

Day 2 - Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party

 

[annnewjerz]

Day 2 (continued)

 

[WDWFigment]

Awesome shots. Can't wait to see what else is to come.

You know, it sounds more like you had memory issues than photography issues. Maybe THAT'S what you need to look into!

As for the quick release plate, I just always leave mine attached to the camera. Makes it more difficult to lose.

 

[annnewjerz]

HalloWishes & Boo to You Parade

 

[annnewjerz]

Awesome shots. Can't wait to see what else is to come.

You know, it sounds more like you had memory issues than photography issues. Maybe THAT'S what you need to look into!

As for the quick release plate, I just always leave mine attached to the camera. Makes it more difficult to lose.

Thanks, Tom.

You're right about the memory issue---I think it had something to do with the excitement of being back in The World after over two years.

As far as the QR plate, I always left it attached, but I recently bought the Black Rapid strap and it screws into the tripod socket. While it's an inconvenience to switch back to my OpTech strap at the end of the night when I use the tripod, it's worth it for how comfortable the RS-4 is during the day.

 

[Quicklabs]

Ann! You did a fantastic job! There are lots here that I really, really love. Super job on the parade. Wedding portrait in HM is sooooo crisp! Third fireworks shot is really nice.
You asked for balanced critique--Were you using a CP on the train station shots? The sky looks a little "Patchy" or something.
The fog over the water is definitely something you should look into printing and framing.
Great, great work.

 

[annnewjerz]

Ann! You did a fantastic job! There are lots here that I really, really love. Super job on the parade. Wedding portrait in HM is sooooo crisp! Third fireworks shot is really nice.
You asked for balanced critique--Were you using a CP on the train station shots? The sky looks a little "Patchy" or something.
The fog over the water is definitely something you should look into printing and framing.
Great, great work.

Hey Laura! Thanks for stopping by.

For the train station, no CP and oddly enough not much of a boost in the saturation (maybe +5ish in PSE), however I did add a vignette in post. Jeff (Groucho) mentioned something about that in my real TR and I do agree, one part of the sky in each seems to look much darker than the other. I may re-process those.

Thanks the input, I really do appreciate it. I have a tendency to add a vignette to everything and it's something I'm slowly trying to ease up on. Baby steps, right?

So how much are you LOVING your 80-200? I rented one for our trip in December to see whether or not I like it enough to buy in the new year. Turns out I didn't need a new car after all, so I may be able to have that pesky sucker by March if I'm reeeeeeally nice to DH.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Excellent photos! I really enjoy your composition and I think you did a great job in the tricky situations. That's one of my favorite headless horseman I've seen. Looks like you scoped out a good spot to get some lighting assist and it paid off.

It appears to me that the sky is just being affected by the angle and position of the sun in the train station shots.

Thanks for sharing!!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Great job, Ann! Beautiful photos. (Quickly posted, too! )

I love seeing anything MNSSHP related. Nice work there!

 

[NateNLogansDad]

Absolutely amazing

 

[Mckymousefn]

What kind of camera do you have and what settings did you have it on for these pics? I really like them!

 

[Pea-n-Me]

What kind of camera do you have and what settings did you have it on for these pics?

Ann uses a Nikon D90, I believe.

Would like to know your settings, too, and would you also what you did in pp?

 

[Chikabowa]

Looks like a great time! Beautiful shots Ann!

 

[GrillMouster]

Nice shots, Ann!

 

[My2Girls66]

Wow! You did a great job, Ann! Very nice bunch of photos

 

[KarenB]

Wow, those are really great! They inspired me to take more photos!