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

[elizabethswann]

Ooh, that's a great shot there. You should definitely consider doing some postcards for Disney just for fun.

[Mousekedude]

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.

Very nice! How many tries did it take you before you realized that the 2.2 aperture with ISO 800 was gonna get the right balance of color and sharpness?
And with a 1/13th shutter speed..?! Wow! I'm impressed... I've done shots at that speed "free-hand", but unless you used a tripod, it's really tough to get it that crisp. So since you said you don't like to carry a tripod, then I have to wonder: did you brace the camera on something and use the timer, or do you just have an exceptionally steady hand?

Oh, and one more thing... which lens were you using? Judging by the depth, I'd say that you were using a 35mm prime... or something like that... maybe up to 55mm or so, but I seriously doubt you were using any kind of zoom, like a 200mm or some such....

[Len90]

It was my S95 (point and shoot) that has a 3.8x optical or about a 28-105 when you think in terms of digital bodies. It took me a couple of days to figure it out but I did play around at night with different settings to get the ultimate thing. The ISO and aperture were pretty easy to figure out. It was just getting the right shutter speed for each night shot as lighting is different all over. I also used a 2 second delay timer for this picture and most of my other night shots. It really helped with eliminating any camera shake.

Anything below 1/10th I would have needed a tripod or other object to take a still picture.

[Mousekedude]

It was my S95 (point and shoot) that has a 3.8x optical or about a 28-105 when you think in terms of digital bodies. It took me a couple of days to figure it out but I did play around at night with different settings to get the ultimate thing. The ISO and aperture were pretty easy to figure out. It was just getting the right shutter speed for each night shot as lighting is different all over. I also used a 2 second delay timer for this picture and most of my other night shots. It really helped with eliminating any camera shake.

Anything below 1/10th I would have needed a tripod or other object to take a still picture.

Ah... that makes sense. You're dead-on with using the timer, too. I do that sometimes, especially in those cases where I need to use a much slower shutter speed, but don't have my tripod and have to brace the camera against something else. It makes a huge difference.

[Alacrity]

Fun during hallerween!

[Amy]

That is a creepily eerie awesome shot!!!

[elizabethswann]

I'm with you on that, Amy. It's the perfect Halloween photo.

[Mousekedude]

Alacrity, you do take some awesome shots... worthy of my respect.
May I ask, what camera do you use...? What lenses/settings/etc....? I'm sure Len is interested in knowing as well...

[Alacrity]

Alacrity, you do take some awesome shots... worthy of my respect.
May I ask, what camera do you use...? What lenses/settings/etc....? I'm sure Len is interested in knowing as well...

No prob and thank-you vary much! It's nice to know that I get some good shots sometimes!

Most of the shots are from a Canon Digital Rebel XT (8MP). I typically use a Sigma DC 18-200mm lens. I recently bought and have started to use a Canon EF 50mm lens. I would guess that the pumpkin shot above was with the Sigma but I don't take notes I'm afraid. The Sigma tends to be a little less sharp that the fixed 50mm lens but it offers a whole lot of flexibility in one lens. It was also not terribly expensive but does a reasonable job. The Canon lens I try to use in low light as it is a faster lens. I just miss the wide-angle to zoom of the Sigma.

As for settings...I'm usually lazy and let the camera figure it out! I use the P (programed auto) setting usually on the camera. Sometimes I'll do the aperture priority as that is what I kinda learned on with an old Pentax ME super 35mm film camera.

i also don't tend to record the f-stop and the like but the camera does of course. I use jAlbum to create albums and resize the pictures for online use but it looks like I don't have it set to preserve the information from the camera. I think that is and option though. I'll have to take a look for it.

[Mousekedude]

Cool, thanks for the info.
I understand what you're saying about the aperture priority too. Sometimes I go that route as well because it's easier to focus on one aspect of what makes a shot work and then let the camera figure the rest out. I actually have mixed feelings about my Nikon in the sense that it is almost too user friendly: if I put the emphasis on the aperture as the priority, it will compensate with f-stop and ISO adjustments to where it thinks the best settings should be, and vice versa. It's not full auto. That comes in handy in a pinch, but sometimes I would like to be able to experiment a little more with total manual control. But overall, I can't complain. And I like your lens choices. Definitely a very flexible selection... good for almost any situation.
Len, you wanna weigh in on this too?

[Alacrity]

Another form the Halloween party...

(Canon 50mm lens and manual focus for these)

[Amy]

Cool ~ I would love to see the hitchhiking ghosts like that!

[elizabethswann]

Ooh, nice photo there! I wonder if my friend will take any photos while he's at the DLR Halloween Party if he goes.

[Len90]

Cool, thanks for the info.
I understand what you're saying about the aperture priority too. Sometimes I go that route as well because it's easier to focus on one aspect of what makes a shot work and then let the camera figure the rest out. I actually have mixed feelings about my Nikon in the sense that it is almost too user friendly: if I put the emphasis on the aperture as the priority, it will compensate with f-stop and ISO adjustments to where it thinks the best settings should be, and vice versa. It's not full auto. That comes in handy in a pinch, but sometimes I would like to be able to experiment a little more with total manual control. But overall, I can't complain. And I like your lens choices. Definitely a very flexible selection... good for almost any situation.
Len, you wanna weigh in on this too?

I'm pretty much in full agreement with you. My equipment is a sigma 17-70 DC which would be used for everyday shooting in the parks. However I will take my point and shoot over lugging that around. For telephoto I take the 70-200 f4L which is a beautiful lens. A lot sharper than the sigma but not wide enough to use for photographing in the parks. I also have the fixed portrait for low light shooting. I will usually shoot in either shutter priority or aperture priority. Or example on the safari I will use the 70-200 and shoot in shutter priority. The rule of thumb is to go 1/(2 x largest zoom) being a 200mm it really converts to 300 on digital so I know my slowest shutter I could use is a 1/600. This time I shot the safari in 1/640 shutter priority and the camera was automatically doing aperture settings based on the changing light for each moment. Canon let's you set the iso in every mode so I went with I believe a 400. For night shooting it is complete manual to get the right shot. A high iso (640 or greater) and f2.2 with around 1/25 shutter were working great for me, especially with my point and shoot!

[Alacrity]

More of the Ghosts!