Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/80s shutter, f4.5, ISO 800
There is no such thing as a simple sign in Disney World. My Pic of the Week is the postal and shipping area in Disney’s Wonderful World of Memories store at Downtown Disney. I’m notoriously bad at writing but this just makes me want to send someone a postcard!
This week's entry was extra difficult for me because I have a large sum of photographs of signs at Disneyland. Oy, the stress. Do I use this one? Is it not as funny as I think it is? How about this one? Maybe the readers haven't been to Disneyland and don't recognize it. What to do!? What to do?! I settled on just one, something that you'll easily identify whether or not you have been to my home away from home.
There are accessories that help to complete a photographer's outfit and by outfit, I mean gear, and by gear I mean equipment. Get your wallets out because you'll want to go shopping after you finish reading this.
Filters - Predominantly used on SLRs both film and digital, filters can create an amazing range of effects. The most commonly used is the UV, which protects the lenses' glass from being scratched as well as keeping a blue/purple tint out of your photos. You may also want to get a Circular Polarizer which cuts out glare found on reflective surfaces such as glass, sand, snow, and my dad's bald head.
Tripod - If you're interested in shooting at night or doing long exposures you'll want to get yourself a tripod. This three-legged stand will keep your camera perfectly still. All cameras and tripods connect via a universal screw found on the tripod's mount. Tripods come a wide range of heights, weights, and certainly durability.
Monopod - Going on a safari? Shooting from the sidelines? Monopods take up less space than tripods do and are designed for the photog who is shooting with a super telephoto or high power zoom lens. Monopods attach to cameras the same way tripods do and also come in various heights, weights, and durability.
Microfiber Cloth - Keep one handy to wipe fingers prints and nose grease off the LCD screen and particles from the lens. You can also use it on your glasses and sunglasses.
Neoprene Neck Strap - SLRs normally come with a neck strap that feels rough on your neck and doesn't help to support the weight of the camera. Neoprene neck straps are soft, sometimes textured, and help to alleviate stress on your neck. I personally recommend the Boomerang by Tamrac
Memory Card Wallet - Keep your memory cards safe and in a convenient location. You'll find both soft and hard cases available as well as waterproof ones. I have this one by LowePro.
You may also want to read my previous entry, Photography Vocabulary 101.
Product photo copyrights remain with the manufacturers: Hoya, Slik, Slik, Quantaray, Tamrac, and LowePro. Images are used for Educational Purposes.
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If there is one thing a Disney themepark has plenty of it's SIGNS. Signs telling you where you parked, what bus to take, when a show starts, who to see, and how to use the emergency bag in Mission: Space. There are humorous signs, serious signs, small signs, huge signs and purple road signs. So, this week's Disney Pic of the Week theme is (you guessed it) signs.
People tend to forget when they enter Disney's Hollywood Studios, they are entering one very large movie set. In essence, the backlot starts at the Studio's entrance. If you look at the signs, you'll get the feeling you are on a working set in almost every corner. This sign was across from the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular entrance.
Lisa and Barrie will be along on Thursday and Saturday showing you some of their favorite Disney signs.
]]>This was Challenge #50:
And here's the answer:
Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/4s shutter, f3.5
The Walt Disney World Railroad boasts an old-fashioned steam train that makes three stops as it circles the Magic Kingdom. This photo was taken in the Frontierland train station, which is between the Main Street and Toontown stations.
I’m so surprised that no one guessed it this week. This is all in fun and I just hate it when everyone is stumped. From now on, if I don’t have a correct guess by Tuesday, I’ll post a hint. If you don’t know the answer, be sure to check back on Wednesday to see if I’ve offered up any last minute clues!
It’s monthly drawing time again! This month’s winner is Cheryl Costello! Congratulations Cheryl, you are the lucky recipient of a Passporter’s Walt Disney World guide and some really cool AllEars schwag!
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Challenge #51: Where in the world is this?
Do you know? Do you have a guess? Send in your answer, before the end of the day on Thursday, September 4, by clicking HERE!
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Everyone who sends in a correct answer to a Where in the World Challenge this month will be entered in a drawing at the end of the month for some special AllEars® goodies and a cool Disney book!
A quick story to share first. Way, waaaay, way back in October of 2004, I finally got my grandparents to go to Walt Disney World with me. One of the attractions we enjoyed was Living with the Land. Now, you and I know this is a slow moving boat ride that explains how produce, plants, and vegetables can be grown outside of common thinking. Well, you know the early part of the ride when you sail by the vegetation and farm scenes. You know how it's a teeny bit misty there? My baubie (bubbe if you spell it properly unlike us) grabbed onto my arm and said if she knew it was going to rain indoors she'd have brought her raincoat. Hee hee. I laugh every time I think of that. Whoooo.
When you have an opportunity to solely use natural light for indoor shots, take full advantage of it. Nothing is better than that giant fireball in the sky we call the sun. The greenhouse is filled with beautiful colors, shapes, and textures. Shoot as much as you can with a high shutterspeed to avoid blur because afterall you are riding through in a boat.
Canon EOS 30D, Canon 28-135mm USM IS, f7.1, 1/200, ISO 1250
If you are the photographer of your family, chances are you are not in very many photos for holidays, vacatons, birthdays or other occassions. I would guess I'm in less than 100 photos of the thousands of photos I have in boxes, albums and on my hard drives. You may be in more if other members of your family have picked up the photography bug. I know my daughters both own Point & Shoot (P&S) cameras now so I've shown up in their online galleries the last couple of trips.
I found with a little thinking there's some fun ways you can do self-portraits with dSLRs. I know it's popular to hold small Point & Shoot cameras at arms length but I can't do that with a heavy dSLR too easily.
The first way is to use mirrors. Recently, I found a Got Milk? promotional area when visiting the Dairy building at the New York State Fair with some rather unique mirrors.
This second self-portrait uses an IR Remote Control for my Nikon digital SLR camera. If you look real close, it's in my left hand. It's very small. I put my camera on a tripod and pressed the remote to take this photo of me in Letchworth State Park in New York last Fall.
Lastly, if you see a fellow photographer walking nearby, it never hurts to ask if they could take a picture of you. I am often asked to do this service and am honored to do so. In the photo of me relaxing in a hammock on the Polynesian Resort's beach, I had my daughter take this with her Nikon Coolpix P&S camera.
Next time you are on vacation, find ways to get yourself in the picture! For even more ideas and fun, check out Lisa's Get in the Picture blog from last year.
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For years I tried to take indoor photographs at Walt Disney World with very little success until I got the combination of the Nikon D70 digital SLR and the Nikon 18-200VR lens. Between the camera's ability to take acceptable images up to an ISO of 1600 and the lens' vibration reduction technology allowing shutter speeds as low as 1/15th of a second, handheld, I am now able to get some excellent low light photos in places I never would have tried with a film SLR or Point & Shoot digital cameras.
This was the setup I used to take a picture of the Tower of Terror lobby from an angle looking out from behind the hotel's front desk as my Disney Pic of the Week for the theme of Indoor.
Hiya kids! Is everyone ready to head back to school? Do you have your High School Musical backpack and Hanna Montana lunchbox? Oh, I see you don't but your children do. That makes sense.
The idea behind today's blog is to get you, the parent, ready for your child's first day of school photo extravaganza! I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter how old your offspring are, you'll still take those special moment photos.
Now the first thing you need to do is make sure you've got the battery(ies) charged and in the camera. Next, be sure the memory card is loaded. Those are the easiest steps.
Please welcome back to the modeling stage, Ciara! She will now demonstrate for you the kinds of photos you can aim for. Teenage facial expressions and body language are 100% natural.
You may also want try try a few of your cameras functions such as the Portrait mode. The way this feature works is the camera understands you're going to take a headshot (head and shoulders) of someone. It will set the f-stop so that the background is softer than the subject.
Your point and shoot may also be equipped with Face Priority or Face Recognition. This is especially handy if you're photographing more than one person. The software will guide the camera to look for the shape of a face or multiple faces and then focus on whichever is closest. This eliminates having the school bus in focus and the kids out of focus.
I used Face Priority for the 3/4 shot.
Another function found in the Nikon Coolpix 7600 is Portrait Figure. Meaning that it will look for the shape of a face even if you are shooting the entire person.
Good luck getting these future nostalgic pictures.
A few other reminders. Make sure your kids remember to take lunch with them.
Homework should be done at home, not at the bus stop.
Kim Possible, Ron Stoppable, and the Red Power Ranger images artistically reworked for comedic affect. Barrie gave me an idea and I ran with it.
This week’s theme for Pic of the Week is indoor photography. Although it might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of taking pictures in Walt Disney World, there are loads of great indoor photo opportunities. Lisa, Scott and I have chosen three very different examples to share with you this week.
Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/13s shutter, f5.6, ISO 1600
In the World Showcase at Epcot, Mexico is a wonderful place to practice your indoor photography. This dragon is one of the Oaxacan wood carvings that you’ll see when you first enter the pavilion.
Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/320s shutter, f9
Here’s a quick tip: If you change time zones when you travel to Walt Disney World, remember to reset your camera’s clock so that your photos are stamped with the correct time. It didn’t occur to me to do this when I travelled to Europe. I organize my photos by date and I had a heck of a time sorting them out when I got home. Now, I’m careful to make sure the camera has the right time set before I start taking photos in a new locale.
This was Challenge #49:
And here's the answer:
Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/60s shutter, f5, ISO 400
Hi everyone – I’m back! Thanks for putting up with my extended vacation. The last Where in the World photograph that I left you with was a can of Blort. I don't know what Blort is exactly, but I'm sure it's quite the tasty treat. You’ll find it in this vending machine in the queue of Monster’s, Inc. Laugh Floor Comedy Club. Mike Wazowski is the one-eyed monster host of this show, located in Tomorrowland at the Magic Kingdom.
Kevin Cowdell was the first to send in the correct answer this week! Congratulations to Kevin and all the readers who got the answer right: Cheryl Costello, Sherry White, Neil Taylor, Sharon Dale, John Dupre, Carrie Butcher, Debbie Hudson, Deb Ragno, Brian Yesutis, Laura Dawson, Jen Cox, Jennifer Bourg, Holley Blyler, Regina Reed, Jessica Reed, Patty Lue Roosa, Kevin Toomey, Theresa Rucando, Austin O'blenis, Chloe', Nick Straka, David And Melissa Lizewski, Kelly Jean Clarkson, Bob Kowalski, Maria Madsen, Maria Madsen, Jeff Christiansen, Vivian Abraham, Kristen Gainey, Angela Brown, Linda Mac, Melina Hillis, Craig Webb, Trish Babler, Dave Cole, Clarissa M, Kameo Crea, Sharon Lee, Kevin Scharf, Cam Lange, Irene Kleintop, Becky Terjung, Chris And Alison, Paul Ignudo, Jr., Rob Stewart, Melissa Mathias, Pat Moritz, Jean Scanlon, Emma Poprock, Bryan Henshaw, Shane Stack, Emily Pickle, Jamie Poynton, Pollyanna , Sara Lewis, Anna Keene, Willie Tople, Emily Nussbaum, Jeremy Hardy, Aruna Mohan, Bryan Timko, Glenn Meyer, Jerelyn Flores, Michael Pyle, Heather Fresa, Heather Coursen, Marita Sarad, Suzanne Queen, Victor Gonzalez, Rachel Law, Katie Whitehurst, Marcie Soderlund, Jennifer Smith, Noreen Rachuba, Christine Bishop, Krista Penno, Tim Rachuba, Melissa Rebelo, Scott Estabrook, Nicole S., Beth Dye, Michelle Castro, Nicole Lopresti, Stephanie Visco, Heather Timko, Jeff Dunn, Sharon Andersen, Chris Bertelmann, Catherine Chiarello, Angela Horan, Allison Caputa, Baines Family, Angie Young, Jeremy Coto, William Reed, Cindy Dore', Bic Bakkum, Julie Fahrner, Lee Anastasi, Deborah Shauan, Tom Koval and Alecia Brown. Each of you will be entered in the August winners’ drawing.
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Challenge #50: Where in the world is this?
Do you know? Do you have a guess? Send in your answer, before the end of the day on Thursday, August 28, by clicking HERE!
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Everyone who sends in a correct answer to a Where in the World Challenge this month will be entered in a drawing at the end of the month for some special AllEars® goodies and a copy of PassPorter's Walt Disney World by Jennifer Marx, Dave Marx, Allison Cerel Marx!
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Do you think Main Street USA ends at Casey's Corner and the Plaza Ice Cream Palor? It actually extends around both corners to include the Crystal Palace and Plaza Restaurants. The photo above of the Plaza Restaurant is my selection for this week's Disney Pic of the Week theme on Main Street USA. My two daughters rate this restaurant a 10 out of 10 and has the best grilled sandwiches at Walt Disney World. Honest, that's what they've told me.
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While I enjoy taking pictures of all the buildings, scenery, characters, parades and shows at Walt Disney World. I am there to enjoy it with my family, too. My daughters have grown up in the Disney parks over the last 23 years. I always have fun trying to find new ways to capture their time there. Last year, a new wrinkle was added, as my youngest brought her boyfriend with us. He had not been to Walt Disney World since he was very young. My daughter had fun sharing with him all the new rides and parks that have been added while he was away.
I was taking extra care to be aware of them and took lots of photos. Some they knew about and some they weren't aware of like the one above as they walked hand in hand through Disney's Hollywood Studio's Streets of America. So, as lovely as Walt Disney World is, it's those closest to us that make it truly magical. Don't forget about them.
]]>In an ever changing world of technology, even memory cards are affected. Some of them stop being birthed all together like the SmartMedia card, while others improve in capacity such as the SDHC. I will now rundown the list of current memory cards and which camera brands they work with.
Olympus and Fufifilm cameras record images to the xD card. While Olympus only accepts these cards, Fujifilm now works with SD cards, too. The cards shown here are Type M and Type M+, the difference is that M+ can download images 1 and 1/2 times faster than it's predecessor. Both memory cards come in 1GB and 2GB*.
Sony cameras use Memory Sticks. The difference between these two Memory Stick Pro Duo cards is that the one on the right, reads High Speed. That means it transfers images faster, in this case, up to 80MB**/second. Please be aware that Sony changes their media cards frequently so be sure to check and see if your camera is compatible with their current Memory Sticks.
These are Compact Flash cards and nowadays you only see them being used in digital SLRs . Several years ago they were used by Canon in their point and shoot cameras. The card on the left has 256MB which held a lot of photos on a 4 megapixel camera. Compact Flash cards are now sold in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB capacities.
SD (Secure Digital) cards are the most commonly used memory cards, right now. With the exceptions stated above, these little guys go into every digital point and shoot and a good number of DSLRs. SDHC cards are upgraded versions of SD cards. What's the HC stand for? High Capacity. What does it mean for you? Less time downloading your images to the computer. Be aware that SDHC cards will only work in SDHC compatible cameras.
If you are unsure of what memory card your camera accepts, check your manual or the box.
*GB=Gigabyte, **MB=Megabyte
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