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

[elizabethswann]

Great fireworks shots! I need to get that one book on how to take fireworks photos that Michechat mentioned.

Patience and lots of tries. A tripod and a slow shutter speed help too

I'll need to find my little tripod that I can carry with me. It's small but it fits easily in a small bag.

[Mousekedude]

Great fireworks shots! I need to get that one book on how to take fireworks photos that Michechat mentioned.

Patience and lots of tries. A tripod and a slow shutter speed help too

I'll need to find my little tripod that I can carry with me. It's small but it fits easily in a small bag.

Yes, a tripod definitely helps. I didn't happen to have mine with me that night though, so I just got lucky.

[Len90]

Great fireworks shots! I need to get that one book on how to take fireworks photos that Michechat mentioned.

Fireworks shots are really a lot about timing and luck. I honestly think that knowing the show and having an idea of what shells are going to be launched at what moment helps a lot. I wouldn't use too slow a shutter as it will cause issues with capturing the burst. It will result in lines and not explosion. From what M-dudes photos result in I would think he used somewhere around 1/50th??? You definitely need to open up the aperture to capture as much light as possible. Set your ISO a little higher than usual. Finally, focusing... that will just kill you. Manual focusing will work best if you are using as DSLR since you won't have to wait for the camera to find something to focus on. I find that no matter how advanced a point and shoot you have, the lag in focusing is the biggest issue.

M-dude: Great job on photographing Illuminations. Love the purple glow on the lagoon and that you managed to capture the lighting on the fountains so perfectly.

[Mousekedude]

Great fireworks shots! I need to get that one book on how to take fireworks photos that Michechat mentioned.

Fireworks shots are really a lot about timing and luck. I honestly think that knowing the show and having an idea of what shells are going to be launched at what moment helps a lot. I wouldn't use too slow a shutter as it will cause issues with capturing the burst. It will result in lines and not explosion. From what M-dudes photos result in I would think he used somewhere around 1/50th??? You definitely need to open up the aperture to capture as much light as possible. Set your ISO a little higher than usual. Finally, focusing... that will just kill you. Manual focusing will work best if you are using as DSLR since you won't have to wait for the camera to find something to focus on. I find that no matter how advanced a point and shoot you have, the lag in focusing is the biggest issue.

M-dude: Great job on photographing Illuminations. Love the purple glow on the lagoon and that you managed to capture the lighting on the fountains so perfectly.

Thanks, Len!
And you're dead on with your assessment of settings and technique! I think my shutter speed was a little quicker than 1/50th, though (might have even been as fast as 1/100th, I think), but I was using my 35mm prime lens because it has the lowest aperture setting of all my lenses, so by letting in more light I was able to use a quicker shutter speed for the "stop-action" benefits. And yes, with the Nikon DSLR, I definitely had to use manual focus because the auto-focus is hyper-sensitive. All my lenses are VR too, which helps.

[Len90]

Haha you and I both know the same trick. IF I was to use the 30D I would attach my fixed 50mm portrait lens. It's the fastest and also has the lowest aperture. VR is nice (same as IS on a Canon), but it can affect sharpness when you are at full telephoto zoom. My lenses are not IS so I do have to deal with issues like that but it's not really a problem for night time. The worst issue I have had without IS is the safari. I counter that by just opening up more and making a quicker shutter. I also flip the camera into burst so I can just hold down the button to take more shots without jolting the camera more. Ahh I could go on for hours talking about this but studying must get done!

[Mousekedude]

...I also flip the camera into burst so I can just hold down the button to take more shots without jolting the camera more. Ahh I could go on for hours talking about this but studying must get done!

Ah, yes... another subject entirely! And I must admit that I do the same under similar circumstances!
Yes, I too could go on for hours... but alas, life demands attention...

[elizabethswann]

I need all the luck I can get. I use my camera on manual because I tend to get more color out of them in my personal opinion. I'll have to search on Amazon for a decent little tripod that I can carry in my bag with no problem.

[Mousekedude]

I need all the luck I can get. I use my camera on manual because I tend to get more color out of them in my personal opinion. I'll have to search on Amazon for a decent little tripod that I can carry in my bag with no problem.

There are some pretty righteous tripods out there. We have several... one of which is a "mini" that we keep in the camera bag. It sure comes in handy. Best wishes on your search.

[Len90]

I need all the luck I can get. I use my camera on manual because I tend to get more color out of them in my personal opinion. I'll have to search on Amazon for a decent little tripod that I can carry in my bag with no problem.

I've made some crazy make-shift tripods as I am just too lazy to carry anything around while I'm at Disney. I have found that garbage cans, benches, railings, and other random objects can serve that purpose extremely well!

[Amy]

I need all the luck I can get. I use my camera on manual because I tend to get more color out of them in my personal opinion. I'll have to search on Amazon for a decent little tripod that I can carry in my bag with no problem.

I've made some crazy make-shift tripods as I am just too lazy to carry anything around while I'm at Disney. I have found that garbage cans, benches, railings, and other random objects can serve that purpose extremely well!

Very true, there is almost always a nice flat surface you can press into service. Railings are tricky though since there always seems to be someone sitting on them, bouncing up against them. I wonder if we could talk Disney into having designated photo-zones?

[elizabethswann]

I have done garbage cans, benches, and the like. It has helped a lot too.

[Len90]

One of the best things about being held over for the hurricane was we got to see MK decorated for Halloween on our last night. Probably my favorite shot of that night was this:


This was taken with my S95 in full manual mode. 1/13th shutter, aperture was open to a 2.2, and an ISO 800. The only need for an SLR with this thing is for telephoto purposes.

[Amy]

Wow ~ that is nice. If the whole doctor thing doesn't work out, maybe you can become a Disney photographer

[boilerbabe]

Gorgeous shot Len! I have no idea what all of that meant, but I'm impressed! I think Amy is right, if dr. doesn't work, you def. have a talent with photography!!!

[Goofyfan]

Maybe you should shoot postcards for Disney.