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

[silverhaze269]

I think the DIS should have a "like" button I didn't do too badly at trying to "fix" the problem scenarios, but I still need more practice, I think, before I can really start to play around with my camera on manual.

 

[MissDisney121]

Hi Teeka,
My name is Sara and I'm not sure if this is the first time I have posted on here or not but I just love your ptr ( and I love reading your last tr too). I'm so glad for you that you go BOG that will definitely be a priority for my on my next trip. I am especially loving your photography tips. I don't know much about cameras and I just have a canon powershot but it does allow me to change all of the things you have been teaching about so I am definitely going to have to try out your tips and try to get some better pictures. I just wish I had read your tips before my little brother's graduation this past weekend. Can't wait to here more about your upcoming trip!

 

[SAT887]

Secret text = ultimate secret text on my iPad..... Hehe it doesn't allow me to highlight! I think I did alright though guess I will just have to go to Disney and put myself in those exact scenarios to find out!

 

[chattadisser]

Just wanted to stop in and thank you again for all the photography lessons! I'm with MEK, more, more! I'm actually compling them into my own little book so I can have them for handy reference when I am playing with my settings.

I know you said that you will be discussing settings (modes) coming up shortly, but I was thinking...do you find it frustrating or time consuming to try and change the settings all the time on your camera when on a trip? I feel like I would be sitting in the Lion King show constantly changes settings, never getting any good pictures and then mad that I missed the show because I was constantly changing my settings. Do you eventually get to the point with the settings that you just know which ones to set based on your situation?

Your trip sounds awesome, jealous that I am going to miss those Chirstmas decorations. Maybe next year! And I agree, bacon makes everything much better.

Christine

 

[MEK]

Thank you!!!!!

I am going to have to copy all this info somewhere and bring it with me so I can reference it during my UPCOMING TRIP!

Love the lion. Please say a prayer I photograph the lion this time!

 

[Nermel9]

OMG I'm so sorry I got so behind on your PTR, I never subscribed and I thought I did! I have to go back and get caught up, I'm so sorry!!!

 

[teekathepony]

I think the DIS should have a "like" button I didn't do too badly at trying to "fix" the problem scenarios, but I still need more practice, I think, before I can really start to play around with my camera on manual.

It will come! The best thing about digital is that you can practice and screw up and learn over and over again for free.

Hi Teeka,
My name is Sara and I'm not sure if this is the first time I have posted on here or not but I just love your ptr ( and I love reading your last tr too). I'm so glad for you that you go BOG that will definitely be a priority for my on my next trip. I am especially loving your photography tips. I don't know much about cameras and I just have a canon powershot but it does allow me to change all of the things you have been teaching about so I am definitely going to have to try out your tips and try to get some better pictures. I just wish I had read your tips before my little brother's graduation this past weekend. Can't wait to here more about your upcoming trip!

Hi Sara! Thanks for posting!
I love Canon cameras, their powershots are nice point and shoots for sure! Sometimes it's just nice to be able to troubleshoot when auto gives you an issue.

Secret text = ultimate secret text on my iPad..... Hehe it doesn't allow me to highlight! I think I did alright though guess I will just have to go to Disney and put myself in those exact scenarios to find out!

I will PM you the answers! I got on my iPad last night and realized the same thing.

Just wanted to stop in and thank you again for all the photography lessons! I'm with MEK, more, more! I'm actually compling them into my own little book so I can have them for handy reference when I am playing with my settings.

I know you said that you will be discussing settings (modes) coming up shortly, but I was thinking...do you find it frustrating or time consuming to try and change the settings all the time on your camera when on a trip? I feel like I would be sitting in the Lion King show constantly changes settings, never getting any good pictures and then mad that I missed the show because I was constantly changing my settings. Do you eventually get to the point with the settings that you just know which ones to set based on your situation?

Your trip sounds awesome, jealous that I am going to miss those Chirstmas decorations. Maybe next year! And I agree, bacon makes everything much better.

Christine

Hi Christine! I'm so glad you're enjoying the photography lessons!
In the next lesson about modes, I'll really simplify things for everyone. I know it does sound frustrating and time consuming, but when you really get to know the full function of each thing, it will come so much easier. Trust me, I really do understand how all this can sound like hard work but it will come together!

Thank you!!!!!

I am going to have to copy all this info somewhere and bring it with me so I can reference it during my UPCOMING TRIP!

Love the lion. Please say a prayer I photograph the lion this time!

1 week for you!!! I will indeed say a prayer that you will get my good lion mojo.
I'll try to get one more lesson in before you go! Mode dial, that's the one that should make everything a lot easier!

OMG I'm so sorry I got so behind on your PTR, I never subscribed and I thought I did! I have to go back and get caught up, I'm so sorry!!!

Hey Jen! on board!! No worries, you're not too far behind! And if you aren't interested in the photography lessons, you can skip even more!

 

[SAT887]

I checked it out my answers were pretty close! Looked on my laptop. I'm pretty excited that a lot of review, playing around, and reading and things are coming back to me

But the super secret answers made me laugh this morning!!

 

[teekathepony]

I checked it out my answers were pretty close! Looked on my laptop. I'm pretty excited that a lot of review, playing around, and reading and things are coming back to me

But the super secret answers made me laugh this morning!!

Maybe it's like riding a bike and will all come rushing back

 

[silverhaze269]

I have a camera-related question on behalf of my wife...

She just got a 70-300mm IS lens (non L) Anyway, she LOVES it and only got it last night, to replace the lens that came in the bundle with her camera (75-300mm USM). Anyway, she was wondering what camera bags might be good. She's got a swiss army one now, which does hold everything, but there isn't much room for anything else in it. Just thought I'd see if you have any recommendations

 

[eandesmom]

I'm here! Heaven knows I need photography lessons LOVE the intro, now off to get caught up!

 

[emmysmommy]

Wendy I am looking forward to the next photography lesson... whatever do those darn settings on my camera mean??? Some have a single letter like P or M... I know what they mean but I don't know what they are for. If you are covering DSLRs like my Nikon D3100 (I know not really a super performing camera but it is still too much for my point and shoot abilities.)

I love these hints and tips although I have to re-read everything like three times!

 

[teekathepony]

I have a camera-related question on behalf of my wife...

She just got a 70-300mm IS lens (non L) Anyway, she LOVES it and only got it last night, to replace the lens that came in the bundle with her camera (75-300mm USM). Anyway, she was wondering what camera bags might be good. She's got a swiss army one now, which does hold everything, but there isn't much room for anything else in it. Just thought I'd see if you have any recommendations

I love Lowepro's line of bags. Depending on if she likes a backpack style or shoulder style too. They have some great backpacks that hold a lot of camera gear with still a lot of room for other things (water, clothes, laptops, accessories, whatever you need.) The Lowepro Flipside packs are great, really easy access to your gear. I personally like the Flipside 300, it's not too big but definitely big enough. It's rated to hold "Capacity - 1 Pro DSLR with 300mm f/2.8 lens attached plus 1-3 additional lenses or flash units, 1 tripod, multiple cables, memory cards, manuals and other digital accessories" so that's pretty good! There are some other brands out there, but Lowepro is generally the best quality and most popular... We had some Tamrac bags in stock once and we really hated them, poor quality all over. My recommendation is to try out every single zipper multiple times before you buy!

I'm here! Heaven knows I need photography lessons LOVE the intro, now off to get caught up!

Hi Cynthia!! Welcome aboard! So glad to have you!

Wendy I am looking forward to the next photography lesson... whatever do those darn settings on my camera mean??? Some have a single letter like P or M... I know what they mean but I don't know what they are for. If you are covering DSLRs like my Nikon D3100 (I know not really a super performing camera but it is still too much for my point and shoot abilities.)

I love these hints and tips although I have to re-read everything like three times!

I'm writing it up now! I was getting it ready yesterday but didn't get a chance to post it.
I know the feeling. When I did my photography collage course I couldn't absorb anything at all from the texts until I had my camera in my hand and could actually do the lessons. And Nikon's D3100 is a great little camera!

 

[teekathepony]

"The Day-to-Days"

I don't yet have flights booked. We're still reaching for enough Air Miles! We need 4012 to get the two of us to Florida and back, we currently have 3032. Not bad considering just 4.5 months ago we had none! We have 980 to go. We might not get all of those in time to book flights so we may buy some miles. We're stretching it out as long as we can but I don't want to leave it too late.

Since we don't know about our arrival day yet, I'll skip to day 2.

Sunday, November 10

7:30am - Boma breakfast.



We're starting the day with a huge buffet of delicious breakfast items! We've never been to Boma this early before since it's hard to get to if you don't have a car, so since we'll be staying here we're taking advantage!

Johnny will get his fill of bacon.

And we'll enjoy lots of other breakfast items too.



After breakfast I'm hoping to be ready to leave. We're going to head straight to...


We're hoping to get a lot done in Future World this morning. Including:



And of course the new and improved Test Track!

Depending on wait times, we will be riding one and getting a fastpass for the other.

Also in the hopeful pile for that morning:





As soon as 11:00 rolls around and the World Showcase is open, we will be heading over to celebrate the second last day of the...

We're picky eaters and probably won't try too much, but we would like to try a few things and we're hoping to go early to beat the crazy crowds. We're not planning a lunch, the F&W offerings will fill us up. I wouldn't mind trying the apple strudel again!

Yum!

So we would like to be out of there by about 5:00pm. We are going to do a quick service dinner, but we haven't decided where. And by where, not only do I mean which restaurant, but also which park!

You see our evening plans include hopping on the monorail to:





MK has evening magic hours until 11pm so we're going to try to take full advantage of it! While everyone is lining up for parades and fireworks, we will be ignoring those shows (for this evening!) in favour of:















... in other words, as many "old" rides as possible! I make a point of saying the old rides, because the plan is to do all of New Fantasyland later in the week. Will I hold out that long?

Well it is, as I say, the plan.

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

Photography 101
Lesson 5: The Mode Dial

If you have a mode dial on the top of your camera, consider yourself lucky! It's the easiest way to change the way your camera takes pictures. If not, do not despair! Your menu should allow for lots of similar changes.

Mode dial:

Most dials have mostly the same modes, some have a few different ones. I'll go through the usual ones for now.

There are manual and automatic modes. They are as simple as they sound -- the automatic modes will choose all settings for you, the manual modes have some manual control over certain features. Wikipedia actually explains this really well so I copied that and just edited it a bit. Let's have a closer look:


Manual modes include:

• P: Program mode offers the photographer partial control. It's like an auto setting -- it sets the aperture and shutter, but (for most cameras) you choose the ISO, white balance and flash settings. I highly recommend this mode if it's nice and bright out and you're shooting in good conditions. Put it in P and forget it! It's got the convenience of Auto but with slightly more control.

• Av or A: Aperture value a.k.a. Aperture priority. This mode allows the photographer to control the aperture. You pick the aperture, you also choose the flash settings, ISO and white balance, but the camera will adjust the shutter speed according to the situation. I don't use this too much, unless I'm going for a certain depth of field in which case I set my aperture accordingly.

• Tv or S: Time value a.k.a. Shutter priority. This mode allows the photographer to control the shutter speed. You pick the speed, the ISO and the flash settings, the camera will adjust the aperture. I shoot in this mode a lot, especially if shooting conditions are getting dark or tricky. I can set my Shutter speed so it won't go too slow for me to hold, and if the scene gets brighter or darker, the camera does the thinking. Great for dark rides, also great for ** Festival of the Lion King!** where the lights are changing often. If you don't want to be thinking about changing your camera settings, flick to Tv, make sure your shutter speed is fast enough (and matches your focal length!) and leave it there.

• Sv Sensitivity value -- not something to many cameras have. It allows the photographer to control the ISO sensitivity, while aperture and shutter speed are calculated by the camera (this is a Pentax DSLR feature)

• M: Manual mode - full manual control. You choose every thing from the shutter speed, aperture, ISO, white balance, etc. Not to be confused with Manual focus -- you can still auto focus in Manual mode.

I'll take a quick look at the auto scene modes, but let's just say right off the bat -- don't use them. They generally take too much control away from the photographer (even focusing on different points than you intend -- I'll get to that in a later post.)

Automatic scene modes

In automatic modes the camera determines all aspects of exposure, including exposure, aperture, focus point, light metering, white balance, and ISO.


• Action or sport mode increases ISO and uses a fast shutter speed to capture action.
• Landscape mode uses a small aperture to gain depth of field.
• Portrait mode widens the aperture to throw the background out of focus.
• Night portrait mode uses an exposure long enough to capture background detail, with fill-in flash to illuminate a nearby subject.

Other scene modes found on many cameras include Fireworks, Snow, Natural light/Night snapshot, Macro/Close-up, and Movie mode.

You can see, there's nothing magic about the auto modes -- just a certain specific setting. If you know a little about what each apparatus on your camera does, you can get better pictures than the auto modes can get you.

The of course there's AUTO or green mode. Fully automatic, camera will adjust everything. I would prefer to use the Program mode, that way my camera isn't jacking up my ISO, focusing on the wrong point, or popping up my flash without my telling it to.

So of course many of you were worried about thinking about your camera too much and missing out on your vacation. I understand that, really I do! That's why I recommend settings like Program and Shutter priority. They allow you to set a few things for certain situations and then forget about them. They function automatically without really much thinking.

I will recommend one thing with that -- after every picture, your camera by default offers you a preview for a reason. Use it! Check really quick to make sure it's not over exposed or blurry. If it is, you're still in the same spot, fix your settings and try again!

I hope that cleared some things up. As always, feel free to ask if you have questions!

 

[teekathepony]

I got some super cute pics of Oscar tonight so to please his fans, here are my favourites:

He's 9 months old now! He hasn't had a growth spurt in a while, he's still so long and thin.

 

[STLMickeyMom]

first off, i love the name of your PTR! i've been reading your past TRs and this PTR, and love the camera hints. we don't have a fancy camera and i can't even tell you what type of camera we do have (its a Nikon point and shoot something or other--it does have options to change to night, portrait, etc), but what i mostly use is my iphone. i saw something on pinterest about an app to make your camera work better, but do you have any quick tips for getting better pics with your phone? i love the pics that are focused on the subject and the background is blurry and the soft water pics you showed. i may have to make some notes and practice with our actual camera before our next trip!

 

[IheartDDuck]

Yummy! Huge buffets of delicious breakfast items are a perfect way to start any day!

I can't wait to ride the new Test Track myself. I've been ready for an update.

I told my Mom that I wanted them to wait to see New Fantasyland until I got there in July. They're going to be there a few days early, but I don't think they're going to be able to resist either.

Oscar is so cute. A good photography subject.

 

[DaveinFallsChurch]

Love your day 2 plans, especially the MK part! PotC and HM are my two favorite attractions to ride at night. I've never gone on Jungle Cruise at night but imagine that it must be pretty cool.

 

[SAT887]

Ok I got completely distracted by the bacon.....Mmmmmm bacon..........



Ok back to the rest of your TR! Looks great I felt the same way in December about FLE.... Made it all the way to the hub and ended up there.... Hehe so good luck!! However, great idea to ride everything through parades and fireworks! I enjoyed the pictures of your kitty I love the green in the 1st photo, so vivid!

 

[Pluto0809]

I love your first day plans, nothing like Epcot and MK in the same day!

Remember though if you FP the new Test Track you won't get the full design experience. I had no desire to do a design so I went through the single rider line when I was there in March. They have the design kiosks in the single rider and FP lines but you just choose the feature you want the most in a car and then you are given about 10 cars to pick from. Someday I would like to try the full design feature just to say I did it but only if there is a short line. It was never less than an 80 minute wait the week I was there.

I'm excited to try some of the F & W food in October. I'm picky too so I am struggling to find a lot I will eat. But at least they are small portions so if I don't like something, I won't feel as guilty about not eating the whole thing.

I think I've come to the conclusion that a fancy camera is not for me. I just prefer my little camera. I currently have a Canon Power Shot SD1300IS that's about 3 years old. I love that little camera but the zoom is starting to stick a little (very frustrating on the safari this past March) so it's time to replace. I would like to get a higher end point and shoot this time that takes good night time pictures. Is there such a thing and if so, which one do you recommend?