The Festival of the Lion King in Disney’s Animal Kingdom has a unique rule which both surprised and pleased me when I first heard it: Flash photography is allowed during the entire performance. The problem though is most Point & Shoot camera’s flash are not very strong. Even when I use my Nikon SB-600 Speedlight Flash, I need to up its power to +2 and sit in the first 10 rows or the flash is not effective.
That is the flash setting I used for the photo of the Tumble Monkey performer you see below. I had to be aware of a couple of issues when increasing the flash setting. It takes longer for the flash to recycle after firing and its batteries drain faster.
A Tumble Monkey performer during Festival of the Lion King live show.
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/60s, f/5.6, ISO 1400, EV +0.3, 200mm focal length, Flash set to +2 Power
Scott thanks for this post. I have this same flash and the tip is good to note as I am a picky photographer. We are heading to WDW in October for my daughters 1st trip and I really want to capture all the magic for her to look back on. Thanks again!
Scott replies: You’re welcome and have a great trip!!
Good tip…thanks Scott…the ironic thing is, that I just ordered the 600 yesterday from Ritz Canera, and should be here any day now, so your blog on this….is just in time for me!
Becky*
Scott replies: Becky, I have a few blog posts on using this flash. Do a search as I did a series on how to get the best photos using it’s features. Also, read up on Nikon’s Creative Lighting System (CLS).