The Disneyland Photo of the Day...

[Hot Sauce 1]

Amazing shot of Murphy Hot Sauce, I hope I become as good as a Disney photographer as you

Very kind of you to say. Thank you. Hopefully I've writting some things in this column that will help.

I say the same thing when I look at WDW Figment's photos.

[KEBSD]

This is such a great thread. I really appreciate the help and advice that you all have offered regarding the lens. I always learn something new from your posts, too, Hot Sauce 1. Thank you!

[Hot Sauce 1]

I almost forgot to post a pretty for today.

Colors of Paradise... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[Hot Sauce 1]

5-11-12
Today's "Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day" sets sail on an adventurous cruise through the jungles of Asia and Africa on the World Famous Jungle Cruise.

I have to admit that because of the May Gray / June Gloom this tutorial is not what I intended it to be. The Jungle Cruise is a unique attraction to photograph because the dense and high jungle on both sides of the river will completely change the light and shadow depending upon the time of day and the position of the sun.

My original plan was to ride the Jungle Cruise first thing in the morning, again in mid day sun and again in the late afternoon to show where the light and shadows are at each time of day and how that will affect the things you photograph. Sadly, the skies did not cooperate and I never once saw blue sky or sun for the 3 days I was at Disneyland last week.

However, at this time of year those gloomy skies are something we all have to deal with. Since we can't control the weather, having a better idea of what to do when the skies won't cooperate turned out to be far more educational than I could have imagined it would be.

I used my Canon T1i with the 28-135mm mid range zoom lens. The best way to shoot the Jungle Cruise is with some type of zoom lens and simply to put the camera on Sports Mode. The Sports Mode is designed for fast moving subjects. The camera will choose the best aperture, ISO and shutter speed to give you a sharp subject even if it is moving. With regards to the Jungle Cruise, this is by far the easiest and best way to go, and the same goes for Point & Shoot cameras. For most of my shots, the camera set the aperture as large as it could which was at F/3.5 - F/5.6 depending upon where I was in the zoom range. The ISO ranged from 400 to 1600 depending upon the available light. Shutter speeds where between 1/340th and 1/1000th. I used the same settings for each ride and photographed the same subjects each time. I chose the scenes that are the most popular ones to photograph and sat on the right side of the boat for each ride. (The right side is by far the best side to be on to take pictures.)

All of these photos are straight out of the camera with no post processing other than a minor crop here or there to match the scenes up with each other. This way you get an accurate representation of each scene at each time of day.

The photos on the left were taken at 9:30 am, the middle ones were at 1:15 pm and the ones on the right were at 5:45 pm.

As you will see, the overcast sky became a giant diffuser panel, which made the light virtually the same for each time. As diffuser panels do, they balance out the light and shadow making it very even but very flat. You also lose a lot of the contrast between light and shadow and without nice daylight, you lose a considerable amount of color. (The Sports Mode also sets the color saturation and contrast lower than you might normally keep it, which can be corrected in post processing.)

I won't do much rambling about these photos other than to point out how the gray sky affects some of them.








In this one notice how the sky looks so boring. You can't see it in this size photo but it also caused really bad fringing in the upper parts of the trees where they meet the sky.




The ugly sky ruins the photo here too.




The last scene of the ride (Trader Sam) is the only scene that was dramatically affected by the time of day. Notice how the late afternoon shot is completely in shadow. This is even more noticeable on a sunny day.


I had the opportunity to view each of these photos very large and up close on my computer so I could see the subtle differences between the light, contrast and color from each different ride and I can definitely say that the best light of the day would be sometime between 10:30 am and noon.

Now, here comes the part where the gray skies made me see things differently and turn an otherwise boring photo safari into something that I really enjoyed. If you do end up in Disneyland on a day where the sky isn't cooperating with your photographic plans, change the plan to take advantage of the giant diffuser panel and get up close and personal with your subject. Zoom in on the small details and eliminate the sky altogether.

Here are some shots I took on those same 3 trips where I just went after small details and captured the true character of the Jungle Cruise. I did do some post processing on these to increase the contrast, color saturation and lighting to counteract the effect of the gray sky.



















So that's it for the Jungle Cruise on an ugly overcast day. One of these days, when they sun is out and the sky is blue I will do this again.

Next up is another tutorial on dealing with overcast skies and when they are a benefit to the photographer.

Happy Snapping!
Michael Greening 2012

[Hot Sauce 1]

Time for a little bit o' pretty for today.

Celebrating a Magical Partnership... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[KEBSD]

Wow! Awesome shot!

[alphabassetgrrl]

​Definitely pretty!

[Hot Sauce 1]

Here's a little Monochrome pretty for today, which is also a hint towards an upcoming tutorial.
Hopefully I'll have a new one up later tonight.

She Peers Into Darkness... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[Hot Sauce 1]

5-14-12
Today’s “Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day” continues the previous discussion about the dreaded May Gray / June Gloom and its effect on photography at Disneyland.

Most of the time an ugly overcast sky makes your photos bland, colorless and boring but the giant diffuser panel created by it also evens out the light, eliminating the harsh shadows under the eyes, nose and chin making it a perfect time for taking portraits of your family, friends or loved ones.

For most portrait photography you would use a lens in the 85- 100mm range with a large aperture around F/2.8 for sharp eyes and a depth of field that blurs out the background. Special lighting and reflectors are also normally used but if you tried to use equipment like that in Disneyland you would have security escorting you out of the park in a hurry, believe me, I know! Taking portraits at Disneyland is somewhat different because the whole point of taking a persons picture at Disneyland is to show that it was at Disneyland. For that you need to include some of the background and use a smaller aperture that lets a portion of the background show through. Otherwise it’s just a picture without any place or meaning. I know most of you won’t be carrying this type of gear so I shot all of these with a Canon T1i and the 18 – 55mm F/3.5 to F/5.6 kit lens. I only used the cameras built in pop up flash and selected an aperture between F/5.6 and F6.3. I used Spot metering and lowered the Flash Exposure Compensation down a little bit so the lighting on her didn’t overpower the light of day.

My friend Nataly joined me at Disneyland and volunteered to pose for these photos. I first met Nataly on the Mice Chat Photo Meet when all of us photo geeks were swarming on Pixie Hollow to take pictures of Tinkerbell. While we were waiting, I noticed the girl working as the attractions host was really pretty so I asked to take her picture. As things like this usually happen, that photo came out better than any I took of Tinkerbell. I was so thrilled with the photo that I returned the next day toget her e-mail address to send it to her. Since we share a passion for all things Disney, we quickly became Facebook and Twitter pals

Around the castle is the most common place to shoot portraits, so that’s where we’ll start.
I’ve done shots like this before where I got lower and zoomed in on the subject to pull the castle in closer and eliminate the crowd.


The tips I mentioned in the Jungle Cruise tutorial also come into play here. The ugly sky is still blown out so it helps to get real close and zoom in to the point where you eliminate the sky altogether.




I also shot one with the roses, water and just a small portion of the castle for a more contemplative feel.


Snow White’s Grotto and the Wishing Well are also wonderful locations to shoot on gloomy days because the background doesn’t have any sky in it.




Nataly had the idea to try some of her walking away on the little bridge that leads to the wishing well. I loved the idea so we gave it a try. In the first original image, the sky makes it seem so blah and bland.


I converted it to a black and white and added a little spot color on the hearts. I also cropped it to create a more interesting composition.


The sky killed this one too so I cropped it a bit to eliminate it.




The same here too.




Or just get in much closer.


I hope this gives you ideas of what to do when the sky turns gray and you still want to take some great pictures.

Happy Snapping!
Michael Greening 2012

[Hot Sauce 1]

Here's the little bit o' pretty for today. An interesting note on this photo. While I was processing it, the music from this area (which I love) started playing on my computer.

Night on the Hollow.... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[Hot Sauce 1]

I just downloaded a new photo editing program from the company that makes Portrait Professional. It is called Smart Photo Editor and has over 1,000 different photo effects with all kinds of other controls for each effect. So far I'm just getting started in seeing what it can do and I'm not usually a fan of all these types of effects but, once in a while it is nice to see something different.
Here are 3 different effects, one being a softer black & white, one is a Van Gogh and one is a Watercolor. If you are interested, I can do a review of it with screen caps of how it works.

Elefante.... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr


Impressions of Conscience... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr


Watercolor Jellies... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[alphabassetgrrl]

​Interesting!

[Crickets]

That watercolor one is spectacular!

[Hot Sauce 1]

Time for the "Pretty" for today.

The Blue Fairy... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[Hot Sauce 1]

Here's the pretty for today. I'll be working on the next tutorial tonight. Believe it or not, it's with an iPhone.... An iPhone! Can you believe it? I never thought I would touch one.


Reflection... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr