Tips on Photographing at Disney World About This Page:

[minemoz1]

Lovely photos! Thanks so much for the tips.

[mdobereiner]

Originally Posted by Cam22

BTW -- I have a Sony Alpha 100 DSLR.

Cam, what lens are you using?

I don't know if this helps at all but sometimes if I can't seem to figure out how to capture a certain shot, I will share my attempt with my settings to some of my colleagues and they almost always can give me some pointers as far as settings go. It's an idea...

Mel

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by mdobereiner

Cam, what lens are you using?

I don't know if this helps at all but sometimes if I can't seem to figure out how to capture a certain shot, I will share my attempt with my settings to some of my colleagues and they almost always can give me some pointers as far as settings go. It's an idea...

Mel

My lens is a 18 - 70 that came on the camera. If you don't mind me bugging you, I'd like to practice and then ask you about what went wrong with my settings.

[mdobereiner]

Originally Posted by Cam22

My lens is a 18 - 70 that came on the camera. If you don't mind me bugging you, I'd like to practice and then ask you about what went wrong with my settings.

I don't mind at all, I could seriously talk about this stuff all day long!!!

I'm guessing that it's a variable aperture- what does it say on your lens for f/?.

The reason I ask is that hands down the better the glass, the more options you have with your settings. The camera body is important (for instance my 5D can handle much higher ISO than my 50D.) But any photographer will tell you that the lens is far more important. Often times the lens that comes with the camera is going to be limiting, especially when you want to avoid using your flash. I almost exclusively shoot with prime lenses because of the low fixed aperture that I have the option to use.

Can't wait to talk 'shop' with you (and maybe if I quit talking about photography so much, I could actually get some scrapbooking done! )

Mel

[rhinohunter]

Don't mean to hi-jack this thread but I would like to have your advise. I was glad to see the settings you use to get these great shots. Your pix really make me envious of your abilities. DW and I will be back at WDW in mid March. Hopefully I will be able to put some of this to good use, My equipment is a Nikon D5100 with two kit lenses (18-55 and 55-200). Neither has a really good bottom f setting (reads 3.5) which means after dark they both want to fire the flash. I hope to add a third lens before we leave. I am looking at a Nikon 35mm f1.8G DX lens which should allow me to shoot after dark without a flash and hopefully get some impressive pix. The D5100 is capable of going to very high ISO settings (6400 but has an extended range of 25,600.) Sharon posted a shot of the ghost bride in the Haunted Mansion in her thread. I have tried many times to get that shot (before I upgraded to the current equipment) with absolutely no success. Same result with the new camera and the kit lens.


Can an f1.8 lens work or should I be looking for an f1.4 lens? Budget will be a factor as well.

[Dave Marx]

For many photographers, there's very little practical difference between f1.8 and f1.4. That's just a 1/2 stop, but there can be a substantial difference in price between an f1.4 and f1.8 lens of the same focal length. Unless you know you're going to do a lot of low-light, hand-held photography, there may be better ways to spend your money (like a good tripod or a lot of Mickey Bars). The dramatic improvement is going from an f3.5 lens to f1.8 - that's a full 2 stops, or a change of two full shutter speeds (1/60 to 1/250th, for example.)

For low light photography going from f1.8 to f1.4 means you can go from a shutter speed of 1/60 up to 1/90 (or 1/30 to 1/45, etc.) to help reduce shake. Or, you could reduce the ISO by a 1/2 stop to improve noise performance (if your camera allows you to change ISO by a 1/2 stop - frequently you can only change it by a full stop).

In the old days, when there were no intermediate shutter speeds (nothing between 1/60 and 1/125, for example), increasing maximum aperture by 1/2 stop meant that you could only increase the shutter speed if you were willing to accept a 1/2-stop's worth of under-exposure. If you wanted a spot-on exposure you'd have to leave the shutter speed where it was, and stop-down the lens from f1.4 to f1.8 anyway. (Then, as now, a 1/2 stop's worth of under- or over-exposure is fixable in the darkroom/image editing software, though there are some trade-offs in image quality.)

[shazza]

Agree with Dave about 1.4 vs 1.8 lenses - not sure the cost difference is worth it unless the lens will get a lot of use.

The settings I used for this shot were f/1.4 ISO 12,800 at 1/250 sec with the 50mm f1.4 lens on the Canon 5D MIII (note - the 5D is a full frame cam, so the 35mm lens on a crop-sensor camera will give a similar field of view). Going to f/1.8 would still give a fast enough shutter speed to avoid blur. Probably could have dropped the ISO as well.

The hardest part is focusing in these lowlight conditions. While I was able to get autofocus to work sometimes, next time I'll try manual focus as well.

I would suggest giving a 1.8 lens a try - it's also possible to rent a lens while at Disney World for a few days.


Note - this was the first time I had ever tried to photograph in the dark rides, so take my suggestions with caution since I am speaking from very limited experience.

[Dave Marx]

Originally Posted by Cam22

Thank you, Bill, Melissa, and Sharon! I love all three of your photos and just wish I would be more patient with myself when practice. Bill, I have your information on a post it that I care with me everywhere, and I've been using trash cans and anything else I can for support, but they are still either too dark or too blurry. I'm not remembering adjusting the f/s so that may be my problem. Melissa and Sharon, I'm making post its of your info and I'm determined to practice until I can get the colors as clear as you three and the pictures as crisp.

Cam, have you tried using the Aperture Priority (A) and Shutter Priority (S) exposure settings? Those allow you (for low-light shots) to open the aperture to maximum and leave it there, so that you get the fastest possible shutter speed for every shot, or set the shutter speed high enough (and leave it there) so that you'll be less likely to have camera shake.

Of course, there are trade-offs. For Aperture Priority, shooting only at maximum aperture means you're always getting the minimum possible depth-of-focus. For Shutter Priority, selecting a shutter speed high enough to freeze action but is still practical for low light means you may lose some shots due to too-low light, and that for other shots, you might get more blur than you could have by using Aperture Priority.

Of course, sometimes there's so little light that you can't get a high enough shutter speed or wide enough aperture (or both). It pays to be conscious of how much light Disney is pouring onto the parade route - The "main" part of Main St. is almost always brightest, Frontierland the darkest, with the Hub and Town Square somewhere in the middle.

Another technique to think about is fill flash - setting the flash to always fire. Even when there's enough ambient light for an adequate exposure, more can be better. That's one way to get better color saturation and contrast, as well as less blur.

[Cam22]

Originally Posted by Dave Marx

Cam, have you tried using the Aperture Priority (A) and Shutter Priority (S) exposure settings? Those allow you (for low-light shots) to open the aperture to maximum and leave it there, so that you get the fastest possible shutter speed for every shot, or set the shutter speed high enough (and leave it there) so that you'll be less likely to have camera shake.

Of course, there are trade-offs. For Aperture Priority, shooting only at maximum aperture means you're always getting the minimum possible depth-of-focus. For Shutter Priority, selecting a shutter speed high enough to freeze action but is still practical for low light means you may lose some shots due to too-low light, and that for other shots, you might get more blur than you could have by using Aperture Priority.

Of course, sometimes there's so little light that you can't get a high enough shutter speed or wide enough aperture (or both). It pays to be conscious of how much light Disney is pouring onto the parade route - The "main" part of Main St. is almost always brightest, Frontierland the darkest, with the Hub and Town Square somewhere in the middle.

Another technique to think about is fill flash - setting the flash to always fire. Even when there's enough ambient light for an adequate exposure, more can be better. That's one way to get better color saturation and contrast, as well as less blur.

Dave, I've spend a good part of a dark, windy afternoon here trying out the A and S settings on my camera. I think I tried out both of these when I first got the camera several years ago, but had forgotten about them. I was trying manual mode this past June and October and it was NOT working for me. Both of these have done pretty good this afternoon. But I need a situation more similar to a nighttime parade before I'm sure which I'll like better. I also feel rather silly as I got the camera manual back out to be sure I knew what to do with what you were telling me, and re-discovered that the flashing numbers on my screen are warning me that the settings are not great for the proper exposure. Thanks so much for the advice and reminders.

[rhinohunter]

Thanks for all of the advise. It looks like the 35mm f1.8 should do the trick. A copy of this thread will be added to my camera bag so I can do some practicing before our next trip. Sorry to have side tracked this thread to the equipment and settings. Please resume your previous thought process and Trip REport.

[Dave Marx]

Originally Posted by shazza

The hardest part is focusing in these lowlight conditions. While I was able to get autofocus to work sometimes, next time I'll try manual focus as well. :::snip:::

Note - this was the first time I had ever tried to photograph in the dark rides, so take my suggestions with caution since I am speaking from very limited experience.

That's a great shot! - I find photographing the dark rides to be the most challenging/lowest probability of success stuff that I shoot.

Yeah, manual focus is a very good approach on the dark rides - anything that cuts down on shutter lag, as the scenes change so quickly and auto-focus has a hard time locking in when you're in a moving vehicle. Don't even plan to adjust focus - pre-focus on something about 6-10 feet away, and leave it there.