The Winners Circle - DIS Photo Contest Winners Explain Their Shots

[DisneySuiteFreak]

I'm absolutely certain that you could walk around the park with a stroller with no kid whatsoever and noone would look at you strangely.

Well, at least you would look more normal than Mark in that picture of him in his "Halloween Costume".

 

[Gdad]

I'm absolutely certain that you could walk around the park with a stroller with no kid whatsoever and noone would look at you strangely.

Well, at least you would look more normal than Mark in that picture of him in his "Halloween Costume".

Thats a good idea- I have been a little concerned I would be lugging a camera bag soon as my youngest is about out of a stroller. Maybe I should convert the stroller into a big camera bag on wheels.

 

[AndrewWG]

Thats a good idea- I have been a little concerned I would be lugging a camera bag soon as my youngest is about out of a stroller. Maybe I should convert the stroller into a big camera bag on wheels.

Well, I have seen people with strollers and no kids in them at WDW on several occasions. I am assuming that they actually had kids that belonged in them, but who's to know? It could be that they just wanted to carry their purchases in them. Of course, you are asking for a pain in the neck if the crowds are large and you are pushing a stroller through them just for your camera equipment!

 

[tiggr33]

Bump...come on winners join the circle.

 

[Quicklabs]

I am loving this thread! No winners for me, not even close, but I enjoy the beautiful photos that make it to the top each week.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their "secrets."

 

[mabas9395]

This photo was 3rd place in last year's Princess contest (IIRC). I didn't want to take the dSLR to the pool so this was taken with our old P&S. It cost me three dollars to bribe my son to pose like that. Worth every penny.

 

[kmadams]

Here's my photo from the Walter E. Disney contest 2006 (first place). Remembering back, I believe I did apply some sort of photo shop filter, which turns out was against the rules, but I didn't read closely at the time!! Anyway, I'm amazed at some of the winners, and I love to hear how the photos came to be.

This was taken in March of 2006 after the fire works showin the Magic Kingdom. My son was freaking out cause he was sure we were going to get tossed out as the park was closed! Ha! I had my Nikon D70 and 18-70 lens. I don't have any of the data with me, but I do remember setting the camera on a garbage can and taking several shots. I loved the color in the photo but poor technique led to camera blur, a tripod and shutter release would have been much better.

 

[kmadams]

This photo was 3rd place in last year's Princess contest (IIRC). I didn't want to take the dSLR to the pool so this was taken with our old P&S. It cost me three dollars to bribe my son to pose like that. Worth every penny.

Ha, I've had to bribe my son a few times too! I say it was $3.00 well spent (and will be a cute picture to show at his high school graduation some day )

 

[cpbjgc]

This tied with 3(!) other pictures for third place in the February 18th thru February 24th Animal Kingdom contest for 2007 (there was also a two way tie for second place).

Taken with my P&S Canon Powershot S1 IS in automatic mode. The technical details:
Aperture: f/4.5
Focal Length: 12.7mm
Exposure Time: 0.0010 s (1/1000)
Auto White Balance

This was taken before I knew how to get out of auto mode. We were eating lunch at the Flame Tree BBQ and went to sit waterside way in the back which gives you this beautiful view with lots of great theming. I was kind of shocked at how few people took any pictures of this view, but I guess they were too busy with lunch. I had snapped a few pictures when I saw the birds coming in so I clicked a few more and came up with this shot. I think this angle really shows the theming in the construction of Expedition Everest, and with the birds coming through it adds even more realism to the mountain (or that's my take anyway).

I want to throw in two more shots taken from the same spot at the same time. They didn't win any contests, but they do show the great attention to detail taken by the Imagineers .

 

[Amy]

Boy, I'm getting old! I knew I had a photo that tied for 1st in 2007, but I had to go back and find the winners list to see which photo it was!

This was in a 3-way tie for 1st place in the Chip & Dale contest:

Nothing special about it, we hadn't even planned to watch Spectromagic but were on our way from Tomorrowland to ?? and got a spot right where the parade went around the hub in front of the castle, so I was able to shoot over the heads of a zillion people.

Taken with a Canon S3 IS, on Sports mode (the only way I can get decent night-time shots), and I ran it through Noiseware (which I hope wasn't against the rules).

 

[iggbees]

i won back in may of 2007 for architecture.

it was jan 2007 and there were no lines. my boyfriend and i were walking casually to the haunted mansion and i happened to look up and saw the little metal men on the roof. i thought how cool they looked, so i snapped a picture. i tried to frame it so you could see the building as well as the men. i also like how the tree is aligned with the roof. gives it a foreboding look.

i used normal program mode on my little samsung i6 p&s. 1/90 s, f/3.5, 6.6mm, iso 50.

 

[TwoOldPoohs]

Very nice, clear picture! was this handheld or w/ tripod?

Sorry for not replying sooner - I just saw your question. I put my camera on the short wall at the very front of the marketplace, before you go down the ramp. Of course, I kept the strap around my neck - it would have been too easy for one false move to send it crashing to the floor.

 

[DebºoºS]

This photo won 1st Jan 2008 "Relax... you're on vacation"

The sunsets are an amazing show every night. We were relaxing with cocktails on the Wonder.
Nikon 3100
Exposure Time = 1/30"
F Number = F2.8
ISO Speed Ratings = 100

 

[Sorsha]

Here's my first-ever winning shot! This one took first place in the "Pooh and Friends" contest; Feb. 11-17, 2008.

EXIF info
Camera: Nikon E2500
Shutter Speed: 1/201sec
Aperture Stop: F4.8
Flash: Did not fire
Focal Length: 6.6mm
DateTimeOriginal: 2005:06:01 06:21:06
Exposure comp.: 0.00EV

I took this shot with my old Point-n-Shoot Nikon CoolPix, and it was on an auto-setting, so all I did was literally Point and Shoot. That was a great little camera (till it ate itself) and took really good pictures, IMHO. The date and time stamp were always messed up though, every time I took the battery out to charge it, it would reset itself incorrectly. I would then go and fix the date, but would usually not worry about the time. So anyhow, the date on that is correct (6/1/2005), we were in Disneyland for the 50th anniversary celebrations, but it was obviously NOT taken at 6:21 in the morning.

The story behind this picture is quite humorous. This was youngest DD's first experience with the characters. She was 23 months old at the time, and she was a HUGE Pooh fan. We got in line to see Pooh and she was SO excited. She hopped out of her buggy and went tearing up to Pooh hollering POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH! at the top of her lungs. Then Pooh moved. Apparently she was picturing "very large version of the stuffed Pooh toy at home" and he WAS NOT supposed to move, let alone bend down and grab her!! I got that one good picture in, where it looks like a sweet baby enjoying hugs from Pooh, but by that time she was pretty near struggling to get away. Pooh, of course, let go, and she went tearing off in the opposite direction yelling DAAADDDDDDYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! Poor Pooh....
To this day, DD does not like characters, and spent every character breakfast during our last trip hiding under the tables. She likes Mickey Mouse just fine, she says, she just doesn't want him to touch her or talk to her or look at her.

 

[ukcatfan]

Well, I finally am able to join the circle. I have had a few make it to the final round lately, and now finally got a tie for second with Mark and Jeff winning (good company to be with IMO).

The contest was A Different Perspective

This was my entry:

This was shot on the Maharajah Jungle Trek right after the tigers. It was shot with a Pentax K100D with 18-55mm kit lens at 28mm. The shot was 1/30 second at f/10. I am pretty sure I had to manual focus. In retrospect, I probably should have bumped up the ISO a stop to get a smaller aperture and try to get a little more of the opening/wall in focus. I was inspired to take the shot by ObliO's work. When I saw that the deer was lined up so nice with the opening, I knew that I was going to love the shot.

Kevin

 

[Master Mason]

I got 2nd place in June with this photo

Information
1/40 sec
f 4.5
24mm
no flash
Canon XT with 18-55 kit lens
Taken June 06 in program mode

I had had the camera for a very short time, and this was the first trip I had taken with it, this was under the 500th picture taken with the camera. Basically I had forgotten everything I ever knew about using a SLR camera, there was no adjustments made to the photo including cropping, this was how it came out of the camera. It is the Disney Electric Parade in DCA. This was also the first time I had been at Disney since 1984, so I was feeling very much like a little kid.