The Disneyland Photo of the Day...

[Hot Sauce 1]

Whilst I work on the next tutorial, here's a little bit o' pretty for today.
This one isn't a HDR image. I shot it as a 3 exposure bracket but found it easier to use the -2 image for the sky and the 0 image for the mountain and just layer them together.


A Splash of Light... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

[flynnibus]

I just wish I could mask things that effectively quickly!

[alphabassetgrrl]

​Wow!

[DisneyLoon]

Yeah, Hot Sauce 1 masking and layering skills are the best I have ever seen. Must be hours of practice

[Hot Sauce 1]

Today's very brief "Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day" is simply; Don't Give Up if you have a vision in mind and know you can do it. Sometimes it just takes a change of seasons or a bit more patience or another 30 hours in Photoshop as is the case with me.
Last year I did a post called The Illiad that chronicled my adventure trying to get a specific photo and what it took to make it look the way I wanted. For any new readers (if there are any) here is a link to that post: The Disneyland Photo of the Day...

I was still not very happy with the image. I had it printed on gator board at 30" x 60" and have had a year to stare at it and find all the mistakes that I missed the first time. The more I looked at it, the more it bothered me. The main thing that bugged me was the fact that the light on the tree on the left was coming from the wrong direction because I had to reverse the tree on the right and stitch it into the one on the left, since it was not in bloom. In case you don't feel like reading the previous article, here is the previous finished image.

Morning Glory.... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

Fortunately for me, this spring both of the trees were in full bloom with gorgeous pink flowers. I went back and stood in the exact spot where I took the previous photo and used the same camera settings and photographed just the trees.

Then I took the new tree photos and stitched them on top of the previous one so I had two unique trees with correct light and beautiful flowers. Since my photoshop skills have improved over the last year I also went in and fixed all the other little things that kept glaring at me. Needless to say, I spent another 30+ hours in Photoshop to get it the way I really wanted.

Here is the result.

Morning Glory the Next Morning... by Ring of Fire Hot Sauce 1, on Flickr

So just keep at it if you think it's worth it.

Happy Snapping!

Michael Greening 2012

[smartlabelprint]

Wow! That's a lot of work for 1 photo. I'd never have the patience.

[alphabassetgrrl]

I'm glad you were able to get the photo how you wanted it! And I agree that persistence is a valuable skill.

[Hot Sauce 1]

10-2-12
Today's "Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day" goes for a spin on the Golden Zephyr for some serious motion blur.

I have no idea why but I had never ridden the Golden Zephyr until last Friday. I love to photograph it at night and getting all the streaks of light as it spins but I never thought about actually riding it.


While I was waiting for the oh so very short Goofy fountain show I noticed that there wasn't any line for the Zephyr so I thought it might be nice to give it a spin and go for some nice motion blur shots. Unlike panning for the usual motion blur, you are the moving object and photographing other moving objects. The beauty of this ride is the fact that the other rockets you are photographing remain the same distance and speed from you, which makes it pretty easy to take some slow shutter photos.

As soon as I buckled myself into my seat, I pointed the camera at the rocket across from me and pressed the shutter half way to take a reading of what the shutter speed would be. For most panning shots, the optimum shutter speed is between 1/30 and 1/50th of a second. Since I knew the distance from my subject was not going to change and that I was moving the exact same speed as they were, I decided to stay at the lower end of that and keep it as slow as I could.

I set the camera on Aperture Priority and used the Aperture to control everything else. I set the ISO at 100 and Aperture at F/18. If I wanted to speed it up, I could just raise the aperture to F/16 or to slow it down further, drop it to F/20 or 22. It was a very bright, hazy sky so I set the exposure compensation down -1/3rd. Setting the Aperture at F/18 and ISO 100 gave me a reading of 1/25th of a second. As the ride went around and the brightness of the scene changed, it changed the shutter speed a little bit but not enough to alter the results much.

I couldn't tell at the time but the spinning of the ride makes you lean so the photos will be a bit slanted like this one.
F/18, ISO 100, Shutter Speed 1/25th.


You also need to pay attention to when you are taking the picture so you don't end up with the lighthouse sticking up from the center of the rocket.


A little arbitrary rotation and straightening the photo is a piece of cake.
F/18, ISO 100, 1/25th.


I got lucky on this one with the sunlight reflecting off the metallic surface.


So the next time you are in this area, grab your camera and go for a spin.

Happy Snapping!

Michael Greening 2012

[mpabis525]

Hot Sauce,

THanks for all the tips the last couple of years. With all the studying I have done on your articles, I was able to get a few shots during our trip last week I never would have been able to before with our rinky, dinky P&S. Here are a couple of them.

[Hot Sauce 1]

10-3-12
Today's "Disneyland Photo Tip of the Day" goes to the Animation Academy to visit the Frankenweenie Exhibition.


Even though I'm not much of a fan of most Tim Burton movies, the Frankenweenie Exhibition in the Animation Academy is pretty cool and fun to photograph.

The sets are in glass cases and are dimly lit, so there are a lot of reflections from outside light sources on the glass that need to be avoided. Just like photographing the window displays on Main St, the trick is to get your lens up against the glass but at a very slight angle. You don't want the glass of the lens touching the glass case but the frame around the lens should be touching it. Before you take a photo, look at the glass and see if there is light reflecting on the glass near your lens. If there is, put your body between the light and the camera so your shadow blocks the reflection.

As I said, the cases are dimly lit, so you need to use the largest aperture you can and a pretty high ISO. I was using the 28-135 kit lens so I set the aperture at F/3.5 and the ISO at 640. I kept the White Balance on Auto and used Partial Spot Metering. I also dropped the Exposure Compensation down -1/3rd to help keep the little lights inside the displays from being blown out. I started out with this case which was lit ok and got these results.

NOTE: All of these photos have been edited a bit with some brightening, contrast and sharpening.

F/3.5, ISO 640, Shutter Speed 1/8th.


Then I wandered over to the attic set which is by far the darkest one of them all but also the coolest.
I loved the little robot so I zoomed in on it a bit. The shot came out ok because I was leaning against the glass but the shutter speed was so slow that I bumped the ISO up to 800 after this shot.
F/5.6, ISO 640, Speed .4.


F/3.5, ISO 800, Speed 1/10th.


The next display is the classroom set. It is all white and lit pretty well, so speed wasn't a problem on this one.
F/4, ISO 800, 1/50th.


F/3.5, ISO 800, 1/60th.


F/4, ISO 800, 1/40th.


F/4.5, ISO 800, 1/80th


After I shot the classroom set, I went back over to the kitchen set to give it another go. As I was taking this photo there was a girl next to me taking a picture with her cell phone and standing about 2 feet away from the glass. As I looked at my shot on the LCD screen she looked down and said, "I want my photos to look like that." It made me chuckle a bit.
F/5.6, ISO 800, 1/8th.


My wife Diane also photographed them with our point & shoot camera She put it on Manual, ISO at 400 and dropped the Exposure Compensation down -1 1/3rd.
The camera set the aperture at F/3.2 and the shutter speed at 1/10th.
This is straight out of the camera.


I brightened it up a bit and increased the contrast.


F/3.2, ISO 400, 1/160th.


And after brightening.


I really like this one.


Since the move is done in black & white, it only makes sense that the photos would look good in black & white too.


If you do want to go and take pictures of this exhibit, I have one other important tip. Go first thing in the morning before all the greasy handed kids leave handprints all over the glass.

Happy Snapping!

Michael Greening 2012

[alphabassetgrrl]

​Wow- that's gorgeous! Now I need to go check it out.

[Hot Sauce 1]

[QUOTE=mpabis525;1056846896]Hot Sauce,

THanks for all the tips the last couple of years. With all the studying I have done on your articles, I was able to get a few shots during our trip last week I never would have been able to before with our rinky, dinky P&S. Here are a couple of them.
QUOTE]

Nicely done! The Tiki room shots came out great, especially for a P&S.

[FourOrchards]

Forgive me for not reading through this entire thread for the answer to my question but I am wondering if you are permitted to take a tripod into disneyland? I will be going at Christmas time and would love to take mine in but don't want to take it only to have to return it to my room.

[Hot Sauce 1]

Forgive me for not reading through this entire thread for the answer to my question but I am wondering if you are permitted to take a tripod into disneyland? I will be going at Christmas time and would love to take mine in but don't want to take it only to have to return it to my room.

That is the subject of much debate and frustration for us photographers.
According to the Disneyland website, Tripods are allowed if they fit into a standard size backpack.

I take a tripod in the park with me quite often and rarely have a problem. Once in a while you will run into a security guard who feels like being a bully and they will make you put it away or in some cases throw you out for using one. (this is rare but it does happen)

We have asked people high up in Disneyland corporate offices what the policy is and they have said that Tripods are Banned.

As long as you aren't using it in the middle of a crowded walkway or where you clearly stand out as a problem, you shouldn't have any trouble. Most of the time they are pretty cool about it, unless you become a hazard.

I say bring it and if they say you can't use it, just say ok and put it in a locker or just break it down and move on. You shouldn't have any problems if you are polite and do what they ask.

Have fun!

[FourOrchards]

Thank you for your quick response. I'd only want to take it in for nighttime shots. I think I'll try it if I get brave.