Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50/18-200VR, 0.002s shutter, f5.6

It doesn’t take many hamburgers, funnel cakes and chicken fingers for me to start craving the fresh “California Cuisine” offered at Wolfgang Puck Café at Downtown Disney’s Westside. I’ve never been disappointed with a meal that I’ve had there. On my last trip I had a very tasty broiled halibut that was cooked to perfection. I also like their pizzas and Sushi.

In addition to their regular dining room and outdoor seating, Wolfgang’s has an open kitchen with counter seating and a sushi bar. I often go to Disney World on solo trips to take photos and I find Wolfgang Puck’s a very comfortable place to dine alone. It’s also one of the restaurants on the Dining Plan.

For a more upscale experience, check out The Dining Room at Wolfgang Puck’s (upstairs).

Quick Tip: This photo was taken just as the sun began to rise. The best light for taking photos is at sunrise and sunset. During the middle of the day the sun is often too harsh and can wash out the colors in your photograph. When the sun is low in the sky it gives a soft glow to your photos that is very pleasing. Even if you’re not really a morning person you can still get great morning shots at Disney World. This was taken from the balcony of my room at Saratoga Springs while I was still in my jammies!

Last month I did an entry on Props at Walt Disney World and asked people to send in their favorites. By far the most popular ones where all the different and fun hats you find in shops throughout the resort. As an example, my daughter is trying on a very patriotic hat in The Chapeau, a hat shop on Magic Kingdom's Main Street. This shop can monogram almost any hat and, of course, Mickey Ears for you while you wait. Hats found in World Showcase are a big hit with our Photo Blog readers from French Berets, Sombreros in Mexico, Coolie hats in China to Homburg style hats in Germany. The little outdoor shop at Rafiki's Planet Watch in Disney's Animal Kingdom has all kinds of safari hats. My daughter just had to model one for me.

Safari hat. © Scott Thomas Photography 2007
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/60s, f/4.5, 200 ISO, -0.3 EV, 40mm focal length

Other popular suggestions for props was RC Car from Toy Story at the All Star Movies resort, the larger than life Troll in Norway's Puffin's Roost shop, a Cinderella statue at the Marketplace in Downtown Disney similar to Buzz Lightyear I mentioned in the first Disney Prop entry and the Mickey sculpture at the Contemporary resort with Mickey ears perfect to sit kids in.

Would like to continue this topic so if you have a favorite Walt Disney World prop, I'd like to hear about it! Just leave a Comment using the link below.

A Very...

Nikon D70/18-70DX, 1/125s, f/5.6, 200 ISO, +0.3 EV, 18mm Focal Length

The Downtown Disney Christmas Tree from 2006. Selective coloring and graphics done in Picnik.com.

Here's wishing you and yours a Happy Holiday. I will not have an entry for next week but will be back in the New Year! If you get any cool photography stuff under your tree you'd think others would like to hear about, drop me a line!

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 was Challenge #57:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2008 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/400s shutter, f8

Right on! There are a lot of people really paying attention to Disney’s details! This photo was taken outside of the LEGO Imagination Center in Downtown Disney. Here, LEGO Dad is videotaping the LEGO Dragon.

Everyone who guessed the LEGO store and Downtown Disney will be entered in the October winners’ drawing this week - and those of you who told me the photo came from the camera will be entered in the drawing twice!

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, Neil Taylor, Bryan Timko, Ed Aleszczyk, Angie Young, Debbie Hudson, Lesley Strawderman, Cameron Love, Scott Cullen, Belicia Dawson, Mike M., Brianne, Laura Tarbet, Danielle Murgia, Willie Tople, Holley Blyler, Caitlin Barringer, Debra Kuklinski, Chloe Williams, Jeff Schoeling , Michael Thrash, Alex Karr, Zachary Dameron, Amanda Campbell, Jessica Reed, Amy Sooy, Eric Hoffman, Lisa Hoffman, Kelley H, April Haddock, Chris Bertelmann, Michael Gainey, Brandy White, Alicia Henderson, Joanna Snow, Kameo Crea, Tim Rachuba, Cam Lange, Teresa, Gretchen Freudenheim, Baines Family, David Uchtman, Lee Anastasi, Amy Wenzel, Zach C, Jared Orth, Jennifer Schwing, Christine Mckay, Jamie Poynton, Glenn Meyer, Nancy, Lynn Barber, Heather Stevens, Kim Garabed, Angie Winter, Mary Jo Collins, Bethany Mattiuz-king, Carinne Kight, Heather Coursen, Norma Hatfield , Ruth Cookson, Jodi Cook, Cheri Palmisano, Cheryl Costello, Noreen Rachuba, Theresa Rucando, Jen Cox, Carla Leger, Allison Lowry and Nathan Firth.

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Challenge #58: 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 23, 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!

Ready for Christmas yet? Shopping all done? Gifts wrapped? Yeah, me neither. Here is something you can start doing at Walt Disney World today. Taking pictures of the fabulous Christmas decorations in the themeparks and resorts. With more coming by the end of November with the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Christmas parades and special events held all through the holiday season.

How best to capture the millions of lights Disney Imagineers use is our topic for today and I have a some tips for you. Let's start with something people often overlook as it gets dark so early in November and December. Take photos of lighting displays during the magic hour after sunset when the sky and lights become balanced. Though it's not a Christmas display, the photo of the Planet Hollywood sign demonstrates what I am talking about here. I used AWB (Automatic White Balance) here while others will say to switch to a Tungsten or Incandescent white balance for best results. A tripod would be useful but I get good results shooting down to a quarter second (1/4s) with image stabilized lenses. The key is to wait for the sky and lights to come together. Keep taking shots until you start to see the results you are looking for. The provided link will go into more detail.

Now you are saying to yourself, who has time to wait for the light at Disney besides it's mostly full night when you are there. The lights are so pretty, there's got to be a way to photograph them. Well, you are right. Below is a technique you can use called "Dragging the Shutter". This technique is used a lot in wedding photography to allow for room lighting to be seen instead of stark dark backgrounds in large banquet halls.

Nikon D70/18-70D, 1/30s, f/4.5, ISO 400, +0.6 EV, 46mm Focal length

On camera and external flash are normally synced at shutter speeds between 1/60 and 1/250 of a second. When you use a flash and purposely use shutter speeds below the normal flash sync speed, it allows more time for ambient light to be captured by the camera's sensor. This gives a more pleasing and natural look to the photograph as you see on the right hand photo of the Donald Duck topiary I took at Epcot during Mousefest 2006. Both photos were taken the same way except for the use of flash. This can also be called Slow Sync in your camera manuals.

Using flash for photos of large areas is not practical. For best results, we have to use long shutter speeds (of less than 1/60th of a second), high ISO speeds of 800 or greater and find a way to stabilize our cameras. In the photo of Main Street USA, I was able to do all three.

Magic Kingdom's Main Street USA all decked out for Christmas.
Nikon D70/18-70D, 1/20s, f/4.2, ISO 1600, +0.3 EV, 35mm Focal length

As you can see, I am using a very high ISO of 1600 (my camera's highest available), a shutter speed of 1/20 of a second and I stabilized the camera by leaning against a garbage can and using my elbows to form a human tripod. I took several images to make sure I had a few which would come out sharp. If I had a real tripod, I could have used even slower shutter speeds and smaller apertures but I'll leave that discussion for another time.

By using these tips both at Disney or at home, your Christmas light photography will make your friends and family envious of your talents. Click this link for more tips on capturing the spirit of Christmas photographically. That's my gift to all of you!

Cap'n Jack's and Rainforest Cafe restaurants at Downtown Disney Marketplace.
Nikon D70/18-70G, 1/250s, f/8, 200 ISO, +0.3 EV, 56mm Focal Length

Any time you can take pictures during the Golden Hour of the day, they just have a wonderful look about them. Downtown Disney Marketplace was the first area in Lake Buena Vista Disney developed and has grown to include Pleasure Island (or what is left of it) and Disney's West Side. Given my other Walt Disney World hobby, I tend to include restaurants in a lot of my photography. So, I thought it fitting to use this as my selection for this week's Disney Pic of the Week theme on Downtown Disney.