"What's the Catch - Do I Not Get Bacon?" - 11/27 - TR started!

[STLMickeyMom]

thanks so much for the link to the phone apps! I am so going to try out some of those.

i'm sorry to hear about all that you have going on, but i'm glad things are looking up!

 

[silverhaze269]

Firstly, a belated to John!

It's great to hear that Sheeka is doing better! Sometimes things heal up just fine on their own

It's also great to hear that your FIL is on the mend He's lucky to be recovering as he is, without much/any lasting damage.

I hate the waiting game when it comes to testing, especially when it concerns something potentially serious. You'd think they'd bump up those waiting to go in for testing on stuff like that in hopes that they can catch things quicker and start treatment sooner. Sometimes stuff get done quickly, but I think that's the rare cases

Yay for the new camera though! I'm sure John is also excited to get a new camera

I was thinking about getting one of those gorilla pods, but I wasn't sure if it would fit on my camera, and/or if I would actually use it. I like how versatile and portable it is though, so maybe I will get one eventually.

I find it crazy to think what some people take to Disney in terms of camera equipment. It's one thing if you live close enough to drive and can drive, but when you're flying you've really got to be choosy for space/weight reasons. I don't know that I could do it with a DSLR (or maybe it's just SLR...it's still early forgive me). I like my point and shoot because it's compact so I can just take it out quickly and snap a few shots, and then put it back. I think it's crazy that people go away and use only their iPhone to take photos though. Or better yet, use their iPad's to take photos

 

[amazingact21]

Happy Birthday to Johnny!


I'm sorry to hear about all the medical issues going on in your family right now. Sounds like things are beginning to look up, though, so that is always a good thing.


I love the Gorillapod stand! It's such a genius idea, I always wish I'd gotten one sooner. The other night, we forgot it at our house, and Alex spent 5 minutes trying to assemble a setup my parent's tripod, and then I kept having to pick it up and carefully carry it around the house. For traveling that one is easier. Not having to lug this huge stand through bag check and the parks.

 

[teekathepony]

Hope your DH has a great birthday!

Love your gear! Congrats on the new camera! I like your idea of trying to make yourself pay more attention to composition by using a prime lens. I've taken the Canon 50mm f1.8 with me to Disney - it's been my go-to lens for taking pictures on the dark rides although focusing has been an on and off again challenge for the more darker rides like PotC and HM, but I haven't tried it as my walkaround lens. I'm hoping to upgrade by my October trip to the Canon 50mm f1.4 (fingers crossed).

Thanks, I will pass along your birthday wishes!
I looked very hard at the 6D when upgrading, I'd love a full frame, but since I don't do photography professionally any more (except at the studio at work, and then I use the store camera) I really couldn't justify the expense. I am not sad about it though, I really love that 60D! It's a nice little camera.
I'm going to give it a try for one day I think, just put the 50 on and leave it on for the whole day! Should be an interesting experiment!
Ack I would love to have the 50mm f1.4!! I thought about upgrading but got my 18-250 all in one instead, convenience won out over quality I'm afraid! I will keep my fingers crossed for a f1.4 for you... providing you give me details about how it is and post lots of pictures from it so I can live vicariously. Deal?

thanks so much for the link to the phone apps! I am so going to try out some of those.

i'm sorry to hear about all that you have going on, but i'm glad things are looking up!

You'll have to let me know how the apps work out for you! I'd be interested to try them myself
Thanks, things are definitely looking up and slowing down and generally getting back to normal.

 

[teekathepony]

Firstly, a belated to John!
Thanks, I'll pass that on!

It's great to hear that Sheeka is doing better! Sometimes things heal up just fine on their own
Indeed! My BFF who just graduated as a vet saw her last night and said she's looking really good and told me I made the right decision not to do the surgery again. That made me feel so much better about my decisions!

It's also great to hear that your FIL is on the mend He's lucky to be recovering as he is, without much/any lasting damage.
He's very lucky, and now he has two concerned daughters who are both as of now qualified nurses to take care of him! He'll never eat a french fry again!

I hate the waiting game when it comes to testing, especially when it concerns something potentially serious. You'd think they'd bump up those waiting to go in for testing on stuff like that in hopes that they can catch things quicker and start treatment sooner. Sometimes stuff get done quickly, but I think that's the rare cases
He finally got a call for this coming Friday, but it was a terribly long time to wait for something like this. They preach early detection saving lives, but how does that help if you can't get in to get the treatments?

Yay for the new camera though! I'm sure John is also excited to get a new camera
We are both really excited about our new gear. We went to the wildlife park together Sunday and he had a fantastic time really testing his new camera!

I was thinking about getting one of those gorilla pods, but I wasn't sure if it would fit on my camera, and/or if I would actually use it. I like how versatile and portable it is though, so maybe I will get one eventually.
They're pretty cool. You can get different sizes, made for p&s cams and SLRs too. They're not perfect, but they're pretty good in a pinch! They keep your camera steady and don't take up much room. I've used it a bit but I'll be interested to see how it works out in Disney.

I find it crazy to think what some people take to Disney in terms of camera equipment. It's one thing if you live close enough to drive and can drive, but when you're flying you've really got to be choosy for space/weight reasons. I don't know that I could do it with a DSLR (or maybe it's just SLR...it's still early forgive me). I like my point and shoot because it's compact so I can just take it out quickly and snap a few shots, and then put it back. I think it's crazy that people go away and use only their iPhone to take photos though. Or better yet, use their iPad's to take photos
I used to take every piece of camera equipment I owned, then I majorly downsized! I now take one camera body and one lens usually (although this year I'm thinking of two lenses!) and Johnny takes the same. It's just easier!
iPhones are the new cameras, we never sell point and shoot cameras anymore! Sometimes they do take good pictures, but give me my SLR any day in Disney.
(btw, dSLR or SLR are tecnhically correct, the d just means digital which in this day and age, is pretty much assumed anyway. )

Happy Birthday to Johnny!
Thanks, I'll pass that on!

I'm sorry to hear about all the medical issues going on in your family right now. Sounds like things are beginning to look up, though, so that is always a good thing.
Thanks, yes everything is starting to settle out and come around.


I love the Gorillapod stand! It's such a genius idea, I always wish I'd gotten one sooner. The other night, we forgot it at our house, and Alex spent 5 minutes trying to assemble a setup my parent's tripod, and then I kept having to pick it up and carefully carry it around the house. For traveling that one is easier. Not having to lug this huge stand through bag check and the parks.
It's a really great little rig for sure, I haven't used mine very much for different situations yet so I'm interested to see how it works out on vacation!

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Thanks, I will pass along your birthday wishes!
I looked very hard at the 6D when upgrading, I'd love a full frame, but since I don't do photography professionally any more (except at the studio at work, and then I use the store camera) I really couldn't justify the expense. I am not sad about it though, I really love that 60D! It's a nice little camera.
I'm going to give it a try for one day I think, just put the 50 on and leave it on for the whole day! Should be an interesting experiment!
Ack I would love to have the 50mm f1.4!! I thought about upgrading but got my 18-250 all in one instead, convenience won out over quality I'm afraid! I will keep my fingers crossed for a f1.4 for you... providing you give me details about how it is and post lots of pictures from it so I can live vicariously. Deal?

Deal! Don't you wish you could just own all of the lens out there? I know I feel that way. You should see my "Wish List" on Amazon.com which is filled with lens and other camera equipment. I'll try my best to utilize the f1.4 as much as I can if I can get it before October - I've been reading rumors online that Canon is about to release an upgraded version of the 50mm f1.4 soon so I'm hoping there will be a price drop right before that happens.

I went through a similar debate about the camera body back in March when I was getting an upgrade for my b-day. I was bouncing back and forth between 60D, 7D, and 6D and I landed on 7D. Would have loved to have had a full frame but like you said the price seemed a bit steep at least for my current level of photography and I had already invested in a lens that only works on crop - should have paid more attention.

 

[cheekypoppins]

AGGGGHHHHH it's a seacreature cam,thats like the barbosa of cameras!!!

 

[eandesmom]

oooh new toys! How exciting!!!

Glad to hear things are sort of sorted out with your FIL, that's a lot to process and a lot going on everywhere for you.

 

[teekathepony]

Deal! Don't you wish you could just own all of the lens out there? I know I feel that way. You should see my "Wish List" on Amazon.com which is filled with lens and other camera equipment. I'll try my best to utilize the f1.4 as much as I can if I can get it before October - I've been reading rumors online that Canon is about to release an upgraded version of the 50mm f1.4 soon so I'm hoping there will be a price drop right before that happens.
I've heard the same rumors! I hope it leads to a great deal for you.
And yes, I totally know what it's like to have a super long wish list of lenses. Working at a camera store doesn't help!

I went through a similar debate about the camera body back in March when I was getting an upgrade for my b-day. I was bouncing back and forth between 60D, 7D, and 6D and I landed on 7D. Would have loved to have had a full frame but like you said the price seemed a bit steep at least for my current level of photography and I had already invested in a lens that only works on crop - should have paid more attention.

I only have one FX lens so unless I want to upgrade almost my entire kit, it will be a while with an aps sensor for me! (I get to use the Nikon D600 at work, so I guess that satisfies my FX hunger. )
Ahhh the 7D! 8 frames per second! I'm a little jealous

AGGGGHHHHH it's a seacreature cam,thats like the barbosa of cameras!!!

LOL My camera is a bada$$ pirate! That's ok by me. I need to paint an eye patch on it...

oooh new toys! How exciting!!!

Glad to hear things are sort of sorted out with your FIL, that's a lot to process and a lot going on everywhere for you.

I like my new toys a lot, I must admit! I tend to take pictures of random things with my new camera just to hold it... yesterday we got a new Tassimo at work and I took pictures of us setting it up.

Thanks, FIL seems to be taking things seriously which is good, I didn't think he would. Yesterday we all went out for dinner and he ate really healthy.

 

[teekathepony]

"The Day-to-Days"

Monday, November 11

The plan for today starts a little early -- I want to be up at about 7:00am! We're going to have a quick breakfast in our room (granola bars or something easy) and head out to hit some EMH at AK!



AK is my favourite park for pictures, so we'll probably take our time walking in.



Of course we want to get on the safari early!




(Oh how I would love to see this guy up and roaring again! Do you think I could get that lucky?)

Yeah. Probably not.

I don't usually plan out the order we're going to do each ride/attraction. I used to but we never stuck to it anyway! So in no particular order, here are a few other things we'll need to see or do:







Lunch will be a quick service meal in the park. Quite possibly:



... for its seating and air conditioning. Although depending on the day and crowds, it could also be here:




But you know, at the counter service one.

Also, we love doing the Maharajah Jungle Trek and the Pangani Forest Exploration Trail and we usually take our time wandering and watching and picture taking.





We can't be too late in the park because we have places to be!

Back at our resort for 4:45 dinner at Boma!



Our second meal here, but it will be our first ever dinner! We're pretty excited to give it a try, looks delish!

We're not done with the fun just yet!

Tonight will be magical.

This is the night I'm already looking forward to!

The night we go to...

Cookies, hot cocoa, the most amazing parade and fireworks ever...

Like I said! Magic.

We hope to stay until the park closes and get lots done! All the party offerings as well as a few rides. Then it's back home to sleep!

*p.s. the Photography 101 lesson I was going to do today is on my work computer and I'm off today, so I might get to post it tomorrow!

 

[natebenma]

Wow, that was a lot going on with your family in a very short time!

Sorry I missed wishing Johnny

So he can either consider this a belated greeting or very early wishes for his 28th!

I hope the news is positive for your cousin and that your FIL continues to practice a healthy lifestyle.

Congrats on your new equipment! Can't wait to see the pictures from your trip! And other samples that you share before then.

Love your plans at AK, Boma and the Christmas party!

AK really is a gorgeous place and the details througout the park are just amazing.

Boma is my favorite Disney restaurant. Hope you love dinner there!

Never been to MVMCP, so I look forward to seeing it through your eyes, and lenses!

 

[natebenma]

I forgot to tell you. I showed Ben the pictures of Oscar.

He said "Wow! She must have a great camera!"

I said "Well, yes, but more importantly she is a great photographer"

"Better than you?"



He has no idea, but it was so nice to hear that from him.

 

[amazingact21]

Sounds like a pretty fun day. I've never done morning EMH in AK before; I bet it's a great time to go on the safari, while they animals are awake and out and about.

I'm doing MVMCP for the first time this year, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Just the fact that they have cocoa, cookies, and snow on Main Street is wonderful enough. I'm sure you two are going to have a wonderful evening there.

 

[silverhaze269]

I'm glad there's someone else out there that enjoys the walking trails! Since there's no high-fives here I'll It seems like an awful lot of people completely skip them, which makes me really sad You'll likely never see the same thing twice, and there are some awesome opportunities for photos. Same goes for the trails around the tree...I don't get why people just walk on by...they're part of the park, so why not enjoy them

Hopefully your cousin faired well on Friday, and they'll soon have a plan of action for him (or her)

 

[teekathepony]

Wow, that was a lot going on with your family in a very short time!

Sorry I missed wishing Johnny

So he can either consider this a belated greeting or very early wishes for his 28th!
Hehe thanks, I'll pass it along!

I hope the news is positive for your cousin and that your FIL continues to practice a healthy lifestyle.
Unfortunately he doesn't get any answers for another week and a half, they wouldn't tell him anything at all so it's yet another waiting game.

Congrats on your new equipment! Can't wait to see the pictures from your trip! And other samples that you share before then.
Thank you! I have a few new ones I'd like to share, I took the cats to the studio Saturday!

Love your plans at AK, Boma and the Christmas party!

AK really is a gorgeous place and the details througout the park are just amazing.

Boma is my favorite Disney restaurant. Hope you love dinner there!
Thanks, I must say I like the plans for this day too! We tend to take it easy at AK so maybe we'll be nice and rested for the party.

Never been to MVMCP, so I look forward to seeing it through your eyes, and lenses!

You've never been? Oh you must some day! It's magical!

I forgot to tell you. I showed Ben the pictures of Oscar.

He said "Wow! She must have a great camera!"

I said "Well, yes, but more importantly she is a great photographer"

"Better than you?"



He has no idea, but it was so nice to hear that from him.

So cute! I love how children just automatically assume mommy is the best at everything. I know I do!
I get a lot of people saying the whole 'you must have a nice camera' thing so thanks for sticking up for me. I often get the urge to say things back to people like "Delicious cupcakes, you must have a heck of an oven!" Or, "Thanks for fixing my car, you must have a great wrench!"

 

[teekathepony]

Sounds like a pretty fun day. I've never done morning EMH in AK before; I bet it's a great time to go on the safari, while they animals are awake and out and about.

I'm doing MVMCP for the first time this year, and it sounds like a lot of fun. Just the fact that they have cocoa, cookies, and snow on Main Street is wonderful enough. I'm sure you two are going to have a wonderful evening there.

I really hope to get right on the safari, I bet the animals would be really active!
I can't wait for the party, I hope you guys love it, especially with your new addition, extra magical!

I'm glad there's someone else out there that enjoys the walking trails! Since there's no high-fives here I'll It seems like an awful lot of people completely skip them, which makes me really sad You'll likely never see the same thing twice, and there are some awesome opportunities for photos. Same goes for the trails around the tree...I don't get why people just walk on by...they're part of the park, so why not enjoy them

Hopefully your cousin faired well on Friday, and they'll soon have a plan of action for him (or her)

Oh I never miss the walking trails, there's always something really awesome in there!
Thanks for the well wishes, unfortunately he won't be getting any answers or information for another week and a half, so at this point it's another waiting game.

 

[teekathepony]

Holy cow! Summer hit and things got busy. We've been going non-stop lately and I haven't had the time to Dis much! Luckily (?) I'm working today 10-2 and it's an absolutely gorgeous sunny Saturday and I've been here two hours already and literally no one has walked in the door.

And the phone only rang twice.

Ugh! If you see my name absolutely spamming the TR boards, that's why! But anyway I'm not complaining (and now I'm knocking on wood) because now I'm caught up and ready for a post of my own. (You watch, now I'll get busy!)

I'm going to take a time out from the Day to Days to talk about flights because that's something that I really need to get done soon!

We know we will be using our AirMiles for the flight. We have now saved up 3526 of the necessary 4012 miles we need for two flights. Unfortunately flying in September when we usually do is a little easier than flying in November! That's because of a little flight direct from Sydney to Toronto that only runs in the late spring/summer/early fall.

We want to leave from our home airport, the J.A. Douglas MacCurdy airport, better known as the Sydney airport.

It's really teeny tiny and since Johnny's company built the new extension, he knows all of the workers there. It's also where we found Oscar, our kitten, in a trash can.

(But you know, my boy's no grouch!)

Here's our flight route (though the arrows are reversed, this is an old graphic that I'm repurposing!):

We go from Sydney to Halifax, Halifax to Toronto, then Toronto to Orlando. The whole thing often takes about 10-12 hours sometimes. This year we can't find anything that can get us to Disney before midnight. Not cool! We're considering two alternate options -- Drive to Halifax and get a better flight from there (4.5 hour drive), or leave Friday night from Sydney, stay overnight in Halifax, and then continue our journey getting us to Disney at roughly lunch time.

Neither is a perfect scenario, so we're still debating. We might call AirMiles to see if they can find us a better flight option. We want to collect as many miles as we can before we book, that way the less we have to actually buy. But I am getting a little anxious and want to get booked really soon.

*********************************************************

Photography 101
Lesson 6: White Balance

White balance is basically a way to get accurate colours in your picture. Different lighting sources give different colour casts -- incandescent bulbs give a yellow cast, daylight can make things blue. Normally your eyes do a LOT of adjusting for you so you don't think about the colour of your light, but your camera sometimes needs a little help.

This from Wikipedia puts it really well (and saves me a lot of typing!):

Here are some of the basic White Balance settings youll find on cameras:

Auto  this is where the camera makes a best guess on a shot by shot basis. Youll find it works in many situations but its worth venturing out of it for trickier lighting.

Tungsten  this mode is usually symbolized with a little bulb and is for shooting indoors, especially under tungsten (incandescent) lighting (such as bulb lighting). It generally cools down [makes more blue] the colors in photos.

Fluorescent  this compensates for the cool light of fluorescent light and will warm up [make more yellow/red] your shots.

Daylight/Sunny  not all cameras have this setting because it sets things as fairly normal white balance settings. [interesting, Wikipedia but I must add that it tends to warm things up a bit to compensate for lots of blue sky giving off a slightly blue cast.]

Cloudy  this setting generally warms things up a touch more than daylight mode.

Flash  the flash of a camera can be quite a cool light so in Flash WB mode youll find it warms up your shots a touch.

Shade  the light in shade is generally cooler (bluer) than shooting in direct sunlight so this mode will warm things up a little.

You can also set manual white balance. This would help in some situations where the lighting is very specific and always the same. Let's say in my studio at work -- we have one tungsten bulb, a fluorescent light, two strobes and sometimes an additional flash or two. Lots of different lights at work! I can take a white card into the studio, shoot a picture of it and set it as a custom white balance -- essentially I am telling the camera; "In this light, THIS is white - compensate accordingly."

Here are a few examples of the same scene in different white balances:

I admit I tend to shoot in Auto white balance all the time. It does a fairly good job of getting the colours right, and when it's off I can usually fix it up in Photoshop. If however you are getting some pretty severe colour casting, you can certainly change it!

Examples:

Walking around Epcot during the day, the sun is out. -- Auto is pretty easy and will compensate for you if you want into an area of shade or say, greenery. That way you don't have to change your WB setting with each picture.

You're in a bright restaurant, but all your pictures are coming out yellow. -- Tungsten (the one that looks like a little light bulb) this will cool down your photos and should give you nice, neutral colour.

It's a very bright, overcast day. -- You can use the cloudy setting, but I generally prefer the Auto here. Again, it will change as you move around and does a great job on a bright but overcast day.

In all situations, I wouldn't bother changing your WB unless you're going to be in that same lighting situation for a little while, say more than 5 pictures worth.

White balance will NOT make a cloudy sky blue. I mean, it will, but it will turn the rest of your image blue too. Tungsten setting outdoors will turn everything blue. Trust me on this... one of the first weddings I shot, I took about a dozen pictures making that mistake. Photoshopping it took me a week! Just remember that it's not something you use to alter the colour tone of just one aspect of your image, because it will apply the effect to the whole thing.

As always please ask if you have any questions! I hope this has cleared up a little bit about white balance!

**P.s. in the course of writing this I've had two customers and no phone calls... so I guess you could say we picked up a bit.

 

[disfanforlife]

Well, you made me feel better about our flight. We are planning to drive 2 1/2 hours to the closest airport that will give us a direct flight to MCO. Then the flight is only about 3 hours. Seems short compared to your trip. We booked our flights for November as soon as they came out. We are flying from Albany, New York on SW for the first time.

 

[SAT887]

Hi!! Just stopping in and catching up! I was busy with vacation and have had a crazy week after! So first off, happy belated Johnny birthday!

Also, I love your AK pictures, the lion roaring the gorilla and the expression! Wonderful! So beautiful! Your plans for the day look great.... Especially the mention of MVMCP!! I love Disney parties, and I can't wait for our redo on MVMCP (I was so sick when we went last time) The fireworks alone are worth the admission!

Your flight - ugh - that's pretty tough. We are going to spend the night at a local hotel to our airport (park & fly) because its a 2.5-3hr drive, and our flight leaves at 6:35 am... If you drive to the other airport that could be an option to save a few bucks....

Also, those gorilla pods look pretty handy I like your gear list too! Sounds like you and Johnny will be set up pretty good!!

 

[SAT887]

Hey I have a photo question, so basically there is no "real" photo labs or photography stores within 90 minutes of my house - where do you suggest getting pictures printed? I just had a ton done at walmart one hour and they came out horrible, I know it wasn't me, because I had a couple of same pictures printed between Disney and the same walmart at different times that came out better. This time the pictures were all very very dark, looked nothing like what showed on both my laptop and ipad...

So I am thinking if I want pictures printed nicely I am going to have them mailed to me... Any suggestions?