Subsonic Radio

We just bought a Canon Digital Rebel XT and I'm getting pretty excited about using it this coming December. I only have the Kit 18-55mm lens w/tripod. I'm looking into a monopod for ease of use and quick setup/tear down.

What kind of tips and tricks do you have to help me get the most out of my camera?

My first question would be: How do you take great pics of the fireworks and parades? Feel free to get a technical as you want. Google makes me smarter.

Well taking fireworks pictures is hard... you have the right set of equipment (although with fireworks having the little plug in "remote is nice",) It's a lot like shooting pictures of lightning, you basically have to shoot a lot of pictures and hope you get some nice ones. (so a nice big CF card is also useful)

You need to learn how to use your camera in Manual mode because the automatic modes can't deal with fireworks (dark when the DIGICS looks, and then there is light.) Lock it down on a tripod, and set it to use long exposures at a low ISO setting 100 or 200. Personally I like using AV mode.

For parades durning the day I like to use the "Landscape mode" (the little mountains) and one of my IS lenses, also in the summer time you'll want the Lens Hood. Night time Parades you need to get an external flash (the built in isn't powerful enough) And I've never been able to get photos of Spectral Magic I like.

I like the battery grip on my XT, it holds 2 batteries so I don't have to swap out. Also I have rather large paws so it's easier for me to hold.

johno

I would say stay with the tripod if you plan on taking a lot of night time shots. You probably won't be happy with the results with the Monopod.



More later, I started typing this just as work is coming in the door.

jcodirewolf, thanks for the info. I've been thinking about making a remote, but they are so cheap, it might be better to just buy one


Dr. Ravenscroft, I really want the monopod for normal use. It seems like it would be much quicker to set up and a lot easier to haul around. Would you say a monopod is a waste overall? Or just for night shots? For fireworks, I definitely want to use a tripod.

The monopod I really only use for my video camera So I can get the video up above the crowd, I try to put it up by a speaker on a light post. So it's really just a "stick"

As for the remotes, I'd say just buy one the wired remote is in a cute nice case, and while you can build one in about about an hour, as I recall they are like $20. So unless I was excited about building it it's not worth it to me.

johno

Netslave, I have the exact same camera and lens.

Oh you are about to have some fun!

Here are my tips

• first of all have fun, and get creative.
  Use the tripod all of your night shots
  When using the tripod for night shots use the timer to avoid camera shake
  Also play with the exposure and shutter speeds to get some cool effects

Here are some shots from my Rebel XT one of my trips to wdw

Mission Space at night
Epcot Fountain at night
Christmas Castle

Have fun!

Rich

rdeacon wrote:
Here are some shots from my Rebel XT one of my trips to wdw

Mission Space at night
Epcot Fountain at night
Christmas Castle

Have fun!

Rich

Great pictures! I wish I could have seen the castle for real, not just in pictures. Maybe next Christmas.

rdeacon, Thanks for the suggestions! I guess I need to go play around outside at night with my camera so I understand how it's going to work prior to my next trip. What kind of mount to you use for your tripod?

Also, anyone have any tips on getting good pics inside rides?

I bought two monopods...one in disney cause i left the first one home like an idiot. ugh. $20 at Wal-Mart. love it for everyday shots helps steady. but as suggested above...Tripod for night shots is definately the way to go! i bought some foam from Sportsman's Warehouse (for camping) and cut it to fit my sling backpack. thus i have an easy way to carry my camera instead of those boxy carriers. i can leave the zoom lens on too that way. Practice Practice Practice. I went out and took pictures of my front porch using every mode possible at night so i could see which gave the best picture (my front porch is wood deck, with mood lighting so its subtle) also don't be afraid to use flash in daylight. friend of mine showed me some cool effects when taking pictures of people with the flash on even when it didn't need it.

If you look in the book you can see how to set the camera to do "exposure bracketing" then using photoshop or bracketeer. You blend them, and get some great night shots.

blended shot

Croaker is right Digital photography is awesome because you take a photograph and you don't like it you are only out a few seconds, not a $1 or 2. I took something like 7k photos in 2 weeks in Europe last summer. I couldn't have afforded the cost of the film, much less the developing.

Also save every photo you take. DVDs are cheap, and you never know when you get a shot that you didn't like at first but decide it's cool for something else.

johno

My brother and I use a 30D. For the night time shooting like Spectromagic my brother used no flash an ISO 400 and the highest aperture value. The pictures from the parade came out amazing.

For the daytime, landscape would work perfect for the scenery and the portrait mode for pictures with Mickey and company. The fireworks are the toughest, so I would go with what has been said.

If you plan on going to Animal Kingdom, I would reccomend a telephoto lens for the Safari ride. I would say a 70-200 would do the trick.

All in all, it can get a bit costly, but the pictures you get will make it all worth while. For instance, I got some amazing shots of my brother's graduation using the 30D and the 70-200L lens. Go trigger happy and have fun!

I think with most of disney park photography it's where you stand that makes all the difference. For magic kingdom fireworks I find the best place is in main street usa on the wdw railroad station (get here early for a front row view) this is one of the best places as no one is in front of you and you have an unobstructed view all the way up main street to the castle. Also above the shop in Epcot's world showcase Japan pavillion ( ive tried from most of the countries and future world but I find this the best place). Also if you don't want to carry your tripod/s around with you both of these locations have rails in front so you can always lean against these for a steady hand if need be.

jcodirewolf, I love the idea of the blended shots. I went home and started playin with that function. It has promise!

Len90, Do you have any examples from Spectromagic? I'd love to see them. I don't know how I'll end up trying to practice those types of night shots prior to our next trip, but I'm sure I'll think of something.

keneka, Thanks for the info. I'll definitely have to try the Japan Pavilion location next time!

Any ideas on pics in rides??

Trouble with the train station is that you have to take the photos from the left side of the train station (Looking at the castle.) That get the flag pole in the square to the far right of frame. If you take center or right it silhouettes too bad.

The safari using an IS lens makes it better (since it's a hand held shot), also I prefer to use something more like 20-85mm. With 70-200mm you'll get some great long shots, but you'll be able to see the plaque on the croc teeth (they will just be too close to the truck.) I've got something like 300 photos from the sunrise safari.

Pictures FROM/ON rides to be honest I use my SD450 (Subcompact Cannon Camera.) For two reasons. First off Rebel XT/XTi/STi, are still REAL SLR cameras, they have a mirror that flips up and down when the CCD is exposed (same as the film cameras use to.) I'm not sure about how many Gs it can take while it's doing it's thing. The SD450 has no moving parts, outside of the lens focus. Also the Rebel is kinda heavy, it's a lot harder to control 2-3 pounds of camera and lens, under ride conditions.

For night shots, to be honest taking pictures at night of traffic is a wonderful substitute for spectral magic. You can also play around and learn some neat "in camera" effects.

Use to be photo when you learned to shoot you'd learn to do a lot "in camera" because darkroom was such an art in it's self. Now you want nice clear framed shots, and you do all the rest of the work in Photoshop/Pixalator/Corel.

Another program that is good is DxO, but it does photo correction based on the camera/lens combo in the exif information. It's very cool.

johno

Len90 wrote: All in all, it can get a bit costly, but the pictures you get will make it all worth while. For instance, I got some amazing shots of my brother's graduation using the 30D and the 70-200L lens. Go trigger happy and have fun!

Thing is the camera tends to be the cheapest part of a DSLR kit. It's the glass that costs so much. I like having something just above a macro lens all the way up to 200-300mm.

I don't have one, yet, but a fish eye is really cool. If you look at DxO it can Un-distort a fisheye...very cool.

johno