The theme for this week’s Pic of the Week is Fireworks! The fireworks shows in Disney parks are truly spectacular events. This week, Lisa, Scott and I will be sharing some of our favorite photos from the breathtaking fireworks displays that Disney produces.

Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 2.4s shutter, f11

This photo was taken at Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party, during Hallowishes. I like standing right in front of the Partners statue, where the Photopass photographers set up shop, to photograph the fireworks at the Magic Kingdom. The backlighting of the castle and the fireworks gives me a nice silhouette of the statue from this spot.

Here’s a tip. It’s usually pretty crowded there at the hub, but if you set up your tripod right next to the Photopass photographer’s tripod, people will be less likely to stand right in front of you or trip on your tripod legs. Give it a try next time you are there.

How to Photograph Fireworks

This was Challenge #55:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/160s shutter, f6.3

Getting a hot dog at Casey’s Corner on Main Street USA is a “must do” whenever I am in the Magic Kingdom. You can always find this guy hanging out in front just waiting for someone to holler, “Batter up!”

Scott Price was the first to send in the correct answer this week! Congratulations to Scott and all the readers who got the answer right: Aj Perras, Alicia Henderson, Allie Reckendorf, Allison Dibiase, Allison Meredith Lowry, Amber Keen, Amy Lucas, Angela Jones, Anna Mansfield, April Ramey, Barbie Lawless, Belicia Dawson, Brenda, Brian Petras, Brian Sherwin, Brian Yesutis, Bruce Arnold, Bruce Lawson, Cameron Love, Cari-ann Smith, Carol Donoghue, Caryn Schill, Chris And Alison, Chuck Sands, Colin And Katy Christenson, Damon Carter, Dan Record, Dana Schirnhofer, Danielle Destefano, Dave Cole, Debbie Hudson, Derek Carty, Diane Furtado, Dina Grassi, Double Family, Ed Nawrocki, Elizabeth Akerley, Emma Poprock, Erin Hammer, Erin Kubicki, Glenn Meyer, Heather Coursen, Heather Mcfall, Holley Blyler, Jackie K, Jared Orth, Jeanne Cundiff, Jen & Ansley, Jen Cox, Jen Norris, Jennie Connelly, Jennifer H., Jennifer Tremley, Joanna Snow, Joy Johnston, Jude Toups , Julie Fahrner, Kameo Crea, Katarina Whitmarsh, Kate, Kathy Francis, Kathy Lutz, Katie Rich, Kellie Harpel, Ken Fischler, Ken Kleiner, Kevin Cowdell, Kevin Toomey, Kim Garabed, Kristopher Nixon, Kye Layton, Leslie Dameron, Marcie Soderlund, Marie Phillips, Mark Trigg, Matthew Waga, Merrie Tesh, Michael Gainey, Michael Nanney, Michelle Buchecker, Michelle Whalen, Neil Taylor, Noreen Rachuba, Paul Amico, Paul Ignudo Jr, Penny Urell, Richard Nussbaum, Robin Fitts, Ron Harper, Ronni, Rusty Podbelski, Ryan Stevens , Sarah Steill, Scott Cullen, Scott Junkin, Shane Stack, Sharon Dale, Sharon Leitgeb, Sharon Powers, Shelly Ranney, Stuart Hale, Tammie Sparks, Theresa Rucando, Tim Rachuba, Tim Sayler, Tom Koval, Tom Linder, Tommy Carty, Trish Babler, Vicki Vaught and Wendy Snelgrove. Each of you have been entered in the October winners’ drawing.

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Challenge #56: 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, October 9, 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!

Replica of the Stave Church in Epcot's Norway pavilion.
Nikon Coolpix 995, 1/250s, f/5.2, 100 ISO

My entry for the Disney Pic of the Week on Architecture can be found in Epcot's Norway pavilion. The Stave Church is a replica of the Gol Stave church found in the Norwegian Folk Museum in Oslo, Norway. Don't forget, as the AllEars.net webpage will tell you, there's an exhibit inside where you'll learn about some very famous Vikings.

After having figured out a photographic naming system, organized digital photographs on our computer systems, learned about metadata and some powerful software to manage our growing library of photos, it's now time to learn how to edit them. I'm not talking about editing like in Photoshop, I'm talking about selecting the best photos from a typical day of creating photos at a place like Walt Disney World or anytime you come back to your computer with a new batch of photographs.

This process is referred to as rating. Since rating your photos is a very personal thing, I am going to tell you how I approach it to give you some ideas on how you might. I have chosen to use the Star Rating system which many software products support. Simply put, photos are rated from Zero Stars to Five Stars. How you use those Stars is up to you.

When I get a batch of photos from the Magic Kingdom, as an example, onto my computer and start reviewing them, I only use One Star for photos I want to keep for further review. Any photos I don't give a Star to will be deleted. These Zero Star photos are easy to spot. They are technically bad (focus off, exposure too dark or too light, blurry from too slow a shutter speed, etc.), compositionally bad (no subject, subject too small or too big, unflattering people expressions, background too busy, etc.) or for some reason the photo just doesn't look good to me. Again, it's very subjective and personal. For family and vacation photos I am not as picky as I would be for a wedding or portrait work. The picture of my kids with Stitch might be a bit overexposed but it's the only one I got so I'll choose to keep it.

After discarding the Zero Star photos, I'll go back and see what's left. I'll be more keen on rating photos above One Star this time. A photo gets Two Stars if it's technically solid with focus on the subject and excellent exposure. Sometimes I will drop the Star if what I thought I saw the first time doesn't hold up. Three Stars is given to photos I feel are the best of the lot. These photos are technically solid (if not nearly perfect) and have a great subject. Most of the photos I publish here are Three Stars or better. Currently, I don't use Four Stars but maybe you do or will. Five Stars is for my computer wallpapers. They are all landscape in orientation and outstanding (in my opinion) photographs for my computer's desktop.

Below is an example of one of my Five Star photographs of the Liberty Belle Riverboat leaving dock with waving guests aboard and the Haunted Mansion in the background. The photo is nicely composed, very colorful, tack sharp focus and well exposed.

The Liberty Bell Riverboat sets off on it's trip down the Rivers of America.
Nikon D70/18-70G, 1/250s, f/11, 200 ISO, EV +0.3, 31mm Focal length

Star Ratings is just one way to rate your photographs. Others use colors and numbers. I first used a rating system using numbers from 1 to 10 but found that too much to keep track of in my head as to what was a 4 versus an 6 or 7. I found this useful link of a professional photographer and how he uses the Star Rating system.

What system do you use to rate your photographs? I would like to know and do a follow up article on what others have found works for them.

Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 26s shutter, f8

Choosing a Pic of the Week for architecture was really hard! Walt Disney World is an amazing place to take architectural photos and I love that kind of photography. So let’s just say I have more than a few photos that would have worked for this week. Narrowing it down to just one was definitely a challenge. I ended up picking this night time photo of the Japan pavilion in Epcot for no other reason than it makes me remember being there.

It's time once again to peek inside my photo album. Although I hadn't followed a soap in years (after Ricky Martin left "General Hospital"), I thought it'd be fun to check out Super Soap Weekend at Disney's CA Adventure. Let's journey back in time to 2002 when Soap Opera Bistro still existed. All of the actors pictured are or were on "General Hospital."

One important thing I need to express is that these photos cannot be posted elsewhere, saved, printed or distributed in any manner.

Colton Scott portrays Nikolas Cassadine

Marissa Ramirez plays Gia Campbell

Left to right: John Ingle (Edward Quartermaine), Wally Kurth (Ned Ashton),, Jaime Ray Newman (Kristina Cassadine), Alicia Leigh Willis (Courtney Matthews), and Billy Warlock (AJ Quartermaine).

Rebecca Herbst as Elizabeth Webber

Michael Saucedo co-starred as Juan Santiago

Meeting the guy who played Ricky Martin's character's son was interesting because Michael Saucedo is older than Ricky Martin. Interesting casting.

Previous Photo Album - Character Masquerade

Welcome to another installation of Disney Pic of the Week. Today, I'll erect this week's theme with a shot of Cirque du Soleil's tent situated at Downtown Disney Westside. Inside you'll find their show La Nouba. I haven't seen it myself but I have visited the gift shop.

Canon EOS 30D with Canon 17-40mm USM L IS shot at f14, 10 seconds, ISO 250

Stay tuned for Scott and Barrie's structurly sound entries on Thursday and Saturday.

This was Challenge #54:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/60s shutter, f3.8

As you can see, this birdhouse is on the Splash Mountain Fastpass distribution sign, located in front of the Frontierland railroad station.

Sharon Dale was the first to send in the correct answer this week! Congratulations to Sharon and all the readers who got the answer right: Caryn Schill, Ryan Stevens , Emma Poprock, Nancy, Chloe', Zach C, Josh Rohrbach, Alicia Henderson, Tim Rachuba, Jennifer Schwing, Marie H, Lorrie, Nancy, Katarina Whitmarsh, Kellie Carter, Nicole Cyr, Jamie Poynton, Lee Anastasi, Chip, Kameo Crea, Karen Schlumpf, Michael Joel Gainey, Sharon Leitgeb, Dana Hall, Veronica, Chip Vermette, Mickey Eckert, Heidi Summers, Emily, Heather Coursen, Christine Claeys, Diane Jones, Holley Blyler, Karen Dresser-smith, Emily Rennie, Diane Ramos and Kim Garabed. Each of you were entered in the September winners’ drawing.

Holley Blyler gets a special mention for entertaining me this week. Holley went out on a limb, WAY out on a limb, when she provided her answer. Thanks for the laugh Holley!

It’s monthly drawing time again! This month’s winner is Heather Young! Congratulations Heather, you are the lucky recipient of a fabulous Disney book and some really cool AllEars schwag!

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Challenge #55: 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, October 2, by clicking HERE!
_______________________________________________________________________

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!

Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/160s shutter, f5.6

For my Pic of the Week I chose this photo of a Snowy Egret I took in Frontierland last January. He didn’t seem to have a care in the world. Perhaps that is because he has feathers instead of fur!

Before I go on talking about organizing our digital library of photographs, I want to introduce you to the new breed of software that were released a couple of years ago I refer to as digital darkroom programs. These programs assist you in organizing, editing and outputting (either files or prints) your digital photos in one place. You no longer need more than one program to do each of these tasks.

The two programs I want to talk about are Adobe Lightroom 2 (PC and Mac) and Apple Aperture 2 (Mac only). Now, I know there's a lot of discussion on which one to use in photography forums. I think both do a great job. If you have not looked at either of these programs, you can download free trials from Adobe and Apple.

What these programs do is import your photos from your camera or memory cards and place them into one image database. If you've been following this series, you know I put my photos into specific folders on my computer system depending on the year and month they were taken. Both of these programs will allow you to keep such a system and give you the freedom to create projects or collections within their image database or library as I like to call it. I use Aperture 2 and as an example I want to show you how I use Aperture's organizational power.

I set up a Project called Walt Disney World. Inside this project I have each of my trips in a folder labeled WDW_YYYYMM (so far I haven't stayed over a two month span yet but I would still separate the photos on my hard drive into separate folders). My last trip from May, 2008 is in folder WDW_200805 and has a few thousand photos. I have some albums in the WDW project I have set up for various reasons. One is called POTW (for the Picture This! Picture of the Week theme) where I have past and upcoming photos for the themes Lisa, Barrie and I have come up with. An album consists of photos I have moved into it. The photos are not actually in the album or folders but point back to the photo's location in the library. ONe photo can be in multiple projects, folders or albums. Luckily, I don't have to worry about where the photos files are as Aperture takes care of all that for me. I just drag and drop.

I can also search for a group of photos and this is where metadata comes in very handy. Let's say I want to create an album with just my photos of Epcot's Spaceship Earth. Since I have added the keywords, spacehip earth, to all my photos I have taken of this attraction, I can pull up a view of all of those photos easily by typing it into the search box. Once I have that view, I can create an album with a simple click of my mouse. If I had not added keywords, it would have taken me a long time to look through each of my WDW folders and pick out all the Spaceship Earth ones.

If you are looking to easily organize, process and print your digital photographs and have not looked at either Aperture or Lightroom, I think you will be very surprised at how versatile these programs are. Both have come out with second versions in the last few months with vast improvements over their first editions.

As Scott previously stated, this week's theme is birds. I love birds but I'm especially fascinated by parrots. I think it started when I was a child and we'd visit my aunt and uncle in Miami. They had tons of animals, including a few parrots. One of them would call to my cousin whenever the phone rang, "Ellis, telephone." Another would whistle at my aunt. Those birds gave me very happy memories.

Disney's Animal Kingdom is home to a great variety of birds including several types of macaws. Here we have a Hyacinth Macaw doing what comes naturally.

If you'd like to explore and learn more about birds, visit Jungle Island (formerly Parrot Jungle) in Miami.

I couldn't resist adding one of my favorite bird photos to the PhotoBlog Pic of the Week.

This photo is of an Animal Kingdom Greater Flamingo that I took February 2008. You can also find the Flamingos at the Animal Kingdom Lodge Uzima Savannah.

The Greater Flamingo is the largest in the flamingo family.

This photo was taken with my Canon S5 IS. I set the camera on a near by post to steady it.

Exposure time: 1/1600
Shutter speed: 1/1613.80
F-stop: 4.5
ISO speed: 80
Focal length: 72.0000
Exposure mode: Auto
White balance: Auto
Aperture: 4.3438

P.S. I didn't tell the PhotoBloggers I'd be adding a photo...hope it's ok!!!

Point and shoot cameras have been boasting about having stabilization for a couple of years now. In the beginning they didn't specify whether the stabilzers were optical or digital and there is a big difference.

Digital stabilization means that the camera boosts the ISO setting let's say from 400 to 1600. This means the camera requires less light to take the photo. When it does this, it increases what's known as noise. These are specs on the photo that make an image look like it's broken apart, so to speak.

Optical stabilization means that either the lens or the sensor inside the camera are moving along with you. This is the type you are looking for in a camera.

You'll find that different camera companies refer to things a bit differently even though they mean the same thing. Here's a quick rundown.

Canon - IS = Image Stabilization (lens adjusts to your movements)

Nikon - VR = Vibration Reduction (lens shifts accordingly)

Panasonic - Mega OIS = Mega Optical Image Stabilizer (lens adjusts to your movements)

Fujifilm - Dual IS = Dual Image Stabilization (their cameras have both moving sensors and a boosted ISO)

Olympus - Dual Image Stabilization (sensor shift and a high ISO)

Sony - Super SteadyShot (lens adjusts accordingly)

Pentax - Shake Reduction (sensor shifts)

This week's theme for our Disney Pic of the Week is Birds. Naturally, I went through my Animal Kingdom shots looking for birds. As you know, most birds fly. The subject of my photo, an Ostrich, does not. He is, however, the second fastest animal on Earth, and the fastest 2 legged animal, and can run 45 miles per hour (70 km. per hour). Ostriches can maintain that speed for at least 30 minutes.

The Ostrich is the largest bird in the world.
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/200s, f/7.1, 800 ISO, 0 EV, 65mm Focal Length

Barrie and Lisa will share their Disney bird photography this coming Thursday and Saturday.

This was Challenge #53:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/800s shutter, f4.5

This supply boat is docked on Discovery River in Disney’s Animal Kingdom. As you go over the bridge from Discovery Island to Asia, you will see this boat over the right side of the bridge. It is docked behind Drinkwalla, a snack stand that sells cokes and chips.

Sharon Pierce was the first to send in the correct answer this week! Congratulations to Sharon and all the readers who got the answer right: Sharon Dale, Shannon Milair, Alex Karr, Kelly Jean Clarkson, Lindamac, Psychic Powers Lisa, Olivia Lobaugh, Alicia Henderson, Dave Cole and Elizabeth. Each of you were entered in the September winners’ drawing.

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Challenge #54: 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 25, 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!