Disney In The Dark - Photo Tribute to Disney Magic at Night

[Dr. Ravenscroft]

Dr. Ravenscroft you have a great talent there!!

Thank you Sir. And thanks to everyone for the compliments.


Mousekedude: Sounds like you may have to go into your settings on the computer and change them to a higher resolution. also what size monitor do you have? The main monitor I work on at home is a 24" but I used to have a 19" (still being used but as a second monitor) as the main one and that ones resolution was/is 1280x1024 "HD" is 1920x1080. Your monitor may be set to a lower resolution. Other than that I can't help unless I see it first hand (shrug). As for the Lens this was a 50mm prime lens, meaning it is only 50mm your zoom is your feet. Primes are the best for taking shot inside the dark rides and in low light situations since their Aperture can be opened so wide. The camera is a Canon 40D which is not the latest or greatest but it is a good body. My brother has the new Canon 7D, which I covet but I need to save quite a bit of money to get that camera.

The biggest key to getting night shots is to have a tripod and to have no worries about using it. Yes it takes longer to get the shot, yes you have to carry it, and yes it makes you look weird, but it does help with making your images better. I haven't taken as many night shots as I used to in recent trips but I still like to do them. I have gone from Night photography to Macro, Landscape, to Wide angle, and now to Portraiture. I like to make portraits of the characters and I like to get candid shots of interactions, meaning I like to get people when they laugh, smile, frown, look in amazement, etc.

[Joe90]

The biggest key to getting night shots is to have a tripod and to have no worries about using it. Yes it takes longer to get the shot, yes you have to carry it, and yes it makes you look weird.

You've seen me then

The strangest thing, though, is that the pics look absolutely gorgeous on the big screen HD TV when we patch the camera directly to it: crisp, clear, beautiful color... but when we download the pics from the memory card to computer, they don't look nearly as good: a little fuzzy, colors not as bright.... Mouseoholic says it may be because the pics are in HD, and our computer does not display in HD. But when I see your pics, they look perfect. What could the problem be?

Another possibility is the way your graphics system averages out the image. The HD image has LOTS of pixels the graphics system averages them out as best it can for display on your monitor. A good photo editing package does a much better job at averaging out the pixels when the image is reduced in resolution so the resultant image is clearer. So a reduced pixel count image (1920 X 1080) may appear clearer than an unedited higher resolution image straight from the camera. You should notice that the image straight from the camera is much clearer when you zoom in.

[Mousekedude]

Mousekedude: Sounds like you may have to go into your settings on the computer and change them to a higher resolution. also what size monitor do you have? The main monitor I work on at home is a 24" but I used to have a 19" (still being used but as a second monitor) as the main one and that ones resolution was/is 1280x1024 "HD" is 1920x1080. Your monitor may be set to a lower resolution.

Hmmm... I'll have to look into that. My home screen is 17" (laptop), but my work screen is 24" and still does the same thing. So maybe it is the resolution settings. I'll have to tinker with that and see what happens.....

As for the Lens this was a 50mm prime lens, meaning it is only 50mm your zoom is your feet. Primes are the best for taking shot inside the dark rides and in low light situations since their Aperture can be opened so wide.

Agreed. And thanks for calling it a "prime" lens. That's how I referred to my 35mm prime lens, and a so-called "expert photographer" friend of my wife's said there is no such terminology. I thought, "not that much of an expert, is she...?"

The biggest key to getting night shots is to have a tripod and to have no worries about using it. Yes it takes longer to get the shot, yes you have to carry it, and yes it makes you look weird, but it does help with making your images better. I haven't taken as many night shots as I used to in recent trips but I still like to do them. I have gone from Night photography to Macro, Landscape, to Wide angle, and now to Portraiture. I like to make portraits of the characters and I like to get candid shots of interactions, meaning I like to get people when they laugh, smile, frown, look in amazement, etc.

My sentiments exactly, on the use of the tripod and on the candid shots. I was just having that same discussion with Mouseoholic the other day. Can't wait till December to try out the new camera. I'm still hooked on taking night shots, and fully intend to get some really good ones on this trip. Of course, being a prime lens, and 35mm at that, I'll have to zoom digitally if I want to zoom at all. But the camera is 14.2 megapixel, so I should be able to digitally zoom quite a bit before the shot starts to lose its clarity.

[Amy]

But the camera is 14.2 megapixel, so I should be able to digitally zoom quite a bit before the shot starts to lose its clarity.

Gasp!! Much camera envy here!
I do enjoy hearing what you two are talking about though. I am hoping to get a new camera before the trip but I am not sure if I can since I also have to get a laptop.

[Dr. Ravenscroft]

As for the Lens this was a 50mm prime lens, meaning it is only 50mm your zoom is your feet. Primes are the best for taking shot inside the dark rides and in low light situations since their Aperture can be opened so wide.

Agreed. And thanks for calling it a "prime" lens. That's how I referred to my 35mm prime lens, and a so-called "expert photographer" friend of my wife's said there is no such terminology. I thought, "not that much of an expert, is she...?"

Well it doesn't matter how they refer to anything, it is how they conduct themselves and how the images come out that makes them an expert or not. Although I do have to say that if they didn't know they are called Prime Lens' then they have never owned one or read a photography blog/book/article.

The biggest key to getting night shots is to have a tripod and to have no worries about using it. Yes it takes longer to get the shot, yes you have to carry it, and yes it makes you look weird, but it does help with making your images better. I haven't taken as many night shots as I used to in recent trips but I still like to do them. I have gone from Night photography to Macro, Landscape, to Wide angle, and now to Portraiture. I like to make portraits of the characters and I like to get candid shots of interactions, meaning I like to get people when they laugh, smile, frown, look in amazement, etc.

My sentiments exactly, on the use of the tripod and on the candid shots. I was just having that same discussion with Mouseoholic the other day. Can't wait till December to try out the new camera. I'm still hooked on taking night shots, and fully intend to get some really good ones on this trip. Of course, being a prime lens, and 35mm at that, I'll have to zoom digitally if I want to zoom at all. But the camera is 14.2 megapixel, so I should be able to digitally zoom quite a bit before the shot starts to lose its clarity.

That brings up a good lesson for anyone looking for a new camera. If you are looking for a camera make sure you get one that has OPTICAL zoom not Digital zoom. If you see a camera that says 3x optical and 10x digital beware!! But if it says 5x or 10x Optical Zoom then go for it. Digital zoom is the camera Cropping the image so that it looks larger. So if you have a image that is say 3000 x 2000 (Not a standard resolution just an example) and you wanted to zoom in on a person that takes up 800x600 of the image using the digital zoom the main image (3000x2000) would be cropped down to around 1200x800. This means you LOST resolution and the image quality is poorer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_zoom

[Mousekedude]

That brings up a good lesson for anyone looking for a new camera. If you are looking for a camera make sure you get one that has OPTICAL zoom not Digital zoom. If you see a camera that says 3x optical and 10x digital beware!! But if it says 5x or 10x Optical Zoom then go for it. Digital zoom is the camera Cropping the image so that it looks larger. So if you have a image that is say 3000 x 2000 (Not a standard resolution just an example) and you wanted to zoom in on a person that takes up 800x600 of the image using the digital zoom the main image (3000x2000) would be cropped down to around 1200x800. This means you LOST resolution and the image quality is poorer. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_zoom

Absolutely right. But if you don't have a lot of optical zoom on your hardware, then digital zoom will help. The higher the megapixels you have, the more you can digitally zoom before losing picture quality. However, like the Doc said, optical zoom is definitely better.

[horizons1]

Here are some from my most recent visit to Epcot last Wednesday:







Too bad this one is a bit blurry:

[Len90]

Great shots Horizons 1! It seems like we both have some similar tastes in our photography.

[Jacca5660]

WOW!!!! Great pictures!!! Those look great!!

[Mousekedude]

Very nice, horizons1! I especially like that last one. It reminded me of two pics I took from that exact same spot:

Before Illuminations.....



.....and during Illuminations.

[Jacca5660]

Very nice, horizons1! I especially like that last one. It reminded me of two pics I took from that exact same spot:

Before Illuminations.....



.....and during Illuminations.

Great pictures DUDE!! Just one question....what did you blow up???

[boilerbabe]

Great shots horizons and M-dude!!!

[horizons1]

Great shots Horizons 1! It seems like we both have some similar tastes in our photography.

I think we are also inspiring each other to take more creative pics. This is becoming my favorite discussion thread for the amazing pics everyone is submitting.

[MmeLeota]

Such amazing pictures from everyone!!! I really need to get my tail in gear and post my pics!!!

[Amy]

Nice photos guys.
horizons ~ is your first photo with a ND filter?