Picture This!

Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular.Copyright © Scott Thomas Photography 2007
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/13s shutter, f5.6, 1600 ISO, -0.3 EC

In a previous blog entry, Barrie talked about ways to stabilize your camera when shooting in low light at Walt Disney World. Camera system manufacturers now have another alternative for you. New lenses which compensate for image blur caused by small, involuntary movements (wobbly hands, shooting from a moving vehicle, etc.) called camera shake. Manufacturers have various names for this technology. Canon calls it Image Stabilizer (IS) technology while Nikon's Vibration Reduction (VR) system help give you sharp images with their digital SLR cameras. Other manufacturers and third-party lens makers like Sigma and Tamron have their own versions.

The links I've supplied above will give you the technical details of how these lenses work, I just know that they do. The picture taken during the first scene of the Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular at the Disney-MGM Studios is an example of a Nikon vibration reduction lens at work. This image was captured using available light at a shutter speed of 1/13 second using the Nikon 18-200mm VR zoom lens fully extended to 200mm. The best part is, I was sitting in the third row of the theater and hand holding my camera. One must still take steps to stabilize the camera by holding arms in close to the body, holding one's breath and slowly pressing the shutter, however, these lenses will produce a higher percentage of great images in low light conditions. So, the next time you are told, "No flash photography". Smile knowing your VR or IS lens will allow you to capture the show.

You do know photography can be an expensive hobby, right? These new lenses are no exception, ranging in price from $250 to over a $1,000 depending on the focal length, zoom range and speed of the lens. Nikon claims and I have been successful getting an extra two stops without the need for a tripod. This means while I would normally not use shutter speeds below 1/60th of a second. Using the VR lens, I get excellent results at 1/15th of a second or lower hand holding my camera. These lenses will never replace a tripod but they do give you more flexibility for those times you can't or won't carry one with you.

Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show explosive finale. © Scott Thomas Photography 2007
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/250s, f/8, 200 ISO, 0 EV, 20mm Focal Length

Don't go away! Histograms are not hard to understand. They are a great tool for us digital photographers to know, at a glance, if the picture we just took is well exposed. No more being disappointed when we see the photos on our large computer screens that looked so good on the camera's little LCD. If you are not sure if your camera is able to show a histogram, check its manual.

Simply put, a histogram is a graph that displays how light is distributed in your picture. The left side of the graph represents the shadows (dark areas), while the highlights (light areas) are on the right. Remember bell curves from your old math or statistical classes? Rarely does a histogram from a photo take on the look of a perfect bell curve but the principal is the same. You do not want to see the curve bunch up to either side or get cut off which is referred to as a clipped histogram. A clipped histogram to either the left (dark) or right (light) side is something to be avoided. In the histogram example shown here, while there is a spike on the dark side, it is not clipped and falls off before the edge. The spike can be seen in the dark upper portions of the image.

By taking a photograph and looking at the histogram my camera shows me, I can tell if I have overexposed (histogram pushed to the right side or cut off) portions or all of the image. From there, I can adjust my exposure using the exposure compensation button. I may need to change the ISO setting if the histogram is showing a very underexposed (everything pushed or cut off on the left side of the graph) to increase the sensor's light sensitivity moving the histogram towards the center.

Take this entry's photo from the Disney-MGM Studios Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show. I had to be quick with this shot as the car flu over the ramp faster than I was ready for. Checking the LCD image afterwards, I felt it looked good. Once I saw the well-distributed histogram, I was confident it was good.

As you can tell, the histogram is an excellent way to see if you have the exposure you are looking for quickly and easily.

Further Reading: I highly recommend this article on histograms: Understanding Your Digital Camera's Histogram.

This was Challenge #3:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2006 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50/55-200, 1/1000s shutter, f4.0

This laundry line comes from the set of the Lights, Motors, Action! Extreme Stunt Show at Disney-MGM Studios. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this show. Having seen the Indiana Jones stunt show I wasn’t expecting to be wowed but was I ever wrong. I loved this show! Even though I’m not a big fan of car chase scenes in the movies, it was really fun to learn how those scenes are created. There are some fun surprises in the show. If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, be sure catch it on your next trip. You won’t be sorry.
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Challenge #4: Where in the world is this?

Do you know? Do you have a guess? Send in your answer by clicking on the comments link below this post.

Not all light is pure white and will have a certain color temperature. Engineers express this in degrees Kelvin which you might have used in your high school physics or chemistry classes. Our eyes see color temperature as color casts like blue, green or red. Have you ever taken a picture and have it look bluish or greenish when you see it just fine? That is because your camera's White Balance setting sees color temperatures. Our brain "knows" what color you are looking at so it adjusts for color temperatures that are not too extreme. Digital cameras are getting better automatically adjusting white balance with each new model but they are not there yet.

What do we do to get the right color? Digital camera designers and engineers have given us several ways to adjust the white balance and even fine tune it. Depending on your camera, look up white balance settings in the manual. You should see similiar settngs as these with a brief description: Auto or AWB, Incandescent (sometimes referred to as Tungsten or Indoor), Daylight or Sunny, Cloudy, Flash, Shade and Fluorescent. On the camera itself, these different settings are represented by icons. You may want to copy this information and carry it with you for reference. Those icons can get confusing. On most digital SLRs, you can also fine tune these settings further. On my Nikon D70, I can adjust plus or minus up to 3. For example, I often use Auto -3, which gives me very vivid colors, especially reds and yellows. It can sometimes give me too much red as evidenced below in my photo of Ariel during the Voyage of the Little Mermaid stage show at the Disney-MGM Studios. Not only is her hair a flaming red so is her skin!

Ariel with bad white balance setting. © Scott Thomas Photography 2007
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/15s, f/5.6, 640 ISO, -1 EV, 150mm Focal Length

Another photographer, Mark Barbieri, shows us how to set the white balance correctly. Notice Ariel's skin color is what we see during the show and how I expect the Disney Imagineers wanted us to see her. I'd like to thank Mark for allowng me to use this photograph.

Ariel with good white balance setting. © Mark Barbieri

As always, you should practice using each of the white balance settings. For instance, the Shade white balance setting will warm up colors in a scene as shade looks bluish to a camera. That doesn't mean you have to use it in shade, it will warm up a sunset just as nicely. Investigate how others are using their white balance settings on the camera you own. Photography forums have lots of information on creative uses of white balance.

Further Reading: How to Set White Balance

Tower of Terror collage. © Scott Thomas Photography 2007
Nikon Coolpix 995, 1/360s, f/7.5, 100 ISO, 0 EV

I love creating new artistic works from my photographs. This one I am particularly proud of as it came together over a couple of years. I first took the picture of the Disney-MGM Studio's Tower of Terror during a trip back in 2004. I liked the clouds overhead. On a return trip a year later, I was in an hour wait queue to ride the Tower of Terror. Since I had my trusty Nikon Coolpix 995 with me, I passed the time by taking pictures of things I came upon in the queue. Disney Imagineers do a wonderful job of detail and I wanted to capture some of it.

Fast forward a couple of months and I came upon a speciality photo software package called LumaPix FotoFusion which made it very easy to create photo collages. If you are a scrapbooker, you may also want to take a look at this software. FotoFusion has frames in all shapes and sizes. There are backgrounds to choose from or you can use your own graphics or photos as was the case with mine here. It makes it easy to get started creating a collage by selecting the photos you want to use and pressing the Auto Collage button. If you don't like the first layout it comes out with, press it again. Once you see something you like, you can take over for the final arrangment of the images, change sizes of the images, put different frames and borders on them, add text in any font your computer has and use special effects like shadowing and blurs.

Taking my Tower of Terror image from 2004 as the background and grabbing a few from my queue photos in 2005, I started putting together my collage. It's a lot of fun moving the images around, selecting frames, colors and effects, even rotating them. After I got done, I wanted something more. The font wasn't creepy enough. It didn't take me long to find a Twilight Zone font on the Internet which gave an authentic look to the final product.

Photo collages are a great way to create new images from photos you had no idea what to do with.

Running applications on the Internet has come a long way since portals like Yahoo and Google introduced Online Email. Now you can run spreadsheets and wordprocessors as well as figure out when you can call for your Advanced Dining Reservations at Walt Disney World.

Just recently, a new online photo editor was offically launched called Picnik which lets you do many general edits to your photos as well as add special effects, shapes, text and frames. Picnik has two versions. A Basic version which is free to use and a Premium version for $24.95 annually. Picnik currently interfaces with some of the more popular photo sharing websites such as Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Photobucket, Webshots and even Facebook. You'll find links on the Photo Tab of Picnik for more information on how to use photos from those sites.

Before Editing. © Scott Thomas Photography 2007	After Editing. © Scott Thomas Photography 2007
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/80s, f/11, 400 ISO, -0.3 EV

I wanted to see just how good such an application might be so I created a free Picnik account and got started. Since this is an Internet application, it doesn't matter whether you are using a Windows, Linux or Mac operating system. As long as your browser supports Picnik, you'll be fine. I had no trouble using Picnik in Internet Explorer or Safari. If you don't use any of the services Picnik interfaces with, you can do what I do and upload a photo directly from your computer. You can only work on one photo at a time.

For our example, I choose a photo I took of Disney-MGM Studio's Beauty and the Beast Stage Show where I had the wrong white balance setting causing a very reddish cast to the actor's faces. Picnik has tabs across the top for Home, Photos, Edit, Create and Save & Share (see screen shot below). The Edit tab is where you start to improve your images. You can Rotate, Crop, Resize, and even fix Red-Eye. You'll find adjustment tools for Exposure, Color and Sharpen on this tab, too.

To fix my image, I started with the Exposure tool. To enter any of the tools, just click on the corresponding button. In Exposure you can add or subtract exposure and contrast using sliders. An Advaced tool is also available which shows a Histogram and adds sliders for Highlights and Shadows. In this case, I added a little exposure to lighten up the photograph. This is a good place to note that all your editing is done on the entire image. You don't have a way to selectively edit like you would in Photoshop and other simliar PC based photo editing applications.

Picnik Application (click for larger image)

The major fix I needed for this example was for color. Under the Color tab, you have Auto Color, Neutral Picker and sliders for Saturation and Color Temperature. Knowing the white balance was my main concern, I slid the color temperature slider to the left which adjusts the color cast towards the blue end of the spectrum. I had to slide it a long ways and ended up at a -65. It looked good but not quite good enough. I hit the Reset button to start over. This time I used the Auto Color button and while it looked a bit washed out at a setting of -84, the skin tones were much better. All the tools in Picnik have a Reset button. In that if you find what you are doing gets a bit odd looking, it's easy to start over. Clicking the OK button, retains the edits. I added a little sharpening in the Sharpen tool, too.

Now the fun begins. While I liked the photo, it needed "something". I entered the Create tab of the Picnik application and started trying various effects. After adjusting the color temperature earlier, I noted the photo looked a bit washed out. Using the Boost tool, I added some color back in adjusting the slider to 5 percent. This brought back a little redness to the faces but it looked more natural. I found I liked the look of adding a Matte around the subjects. You can control the size, strength and color of the matte effect. I emphasized the golden color of Belle's dress and the Prince's suit trim this way. Next, I went to the Shapes tool and added the heart shape. I changed the heart's location, size, color and fading before adding the text in the Text tool.

Once I was satisfied with everything, I went to the Save & Share tab and saved the new image back to my computer's hard drive. Be careful here. Picnik will use the same name for the edited version. Picnik might think about adding some sort of extension in a future update.

I was very impressed with how far Picnik has come in the last three months when I first discovered it. The developers keep adding new tools, controls, effects, shapes and fonts all the time. Being an Internet application, you can access it from any computer in the world. Might come in handy for doing edits from a hotel room in Walt Disney World for all you bloggers and webmasters out there. I suggest giving Picnik a try the next time you need to do some photo editing and see if it might work for you.

This was Challenge #11:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50/18-200VR, 1/400s shutter, f5.3

You’ll see the logo for Hollywood Public Works all over Disney’s MGM Studios (soon to be changed to Disney’s Hollywood Studios). This goofy guy is one of the Streetmosphere actors who entertain guests along Disney’s streets of Hollywood. Although many people correctly guessed that this photo came from MGM Studios, Amanda Campbell was the first person to reference the Streetmosphere performers. Congratulations Amanda, you’re this week’s winner!

Check out this link for an interesting article on the History of Streetmosphere.
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Challenge #12: Where in the world is this?

Do you know where this is? Do you have a guess? Send in your answer by clicking on the comments link below this post.

Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50/18-200VR, 1/400s shutter, f10

In my last tip I talked about deciding whether to orient your pictures either vertically or horizontally. Take a look at this photo of the guitar outside of the Rockin’ Roller Coaster at MGM Studios. Is this a vertical or horizontal composition?

That was actually a trick question – it’s neither! If you look closely you will see that the building behind the guitar appears to be slanted, but trust me, it wasn’t. It was my camera that was slanted. Sometimes, an unusual angle is better suited to your subject.

I wanted this photo to have a very specific look. The subject of the photo was the guitar and I wanted to emphasize the size of it. When I composed the shot I started out holding my camera vertically but then I tipped it to line up the guitar strings with the left edge of my viewfinder. I had to move both the camera and myself around quite a bit to get just the right angle. I wanted to get some of the piano keys in the photo but not the railing that is in front of them. I wanted the name of the coaster to show in the photo and I wanted the neck and strings to extend beyond the edge of the photo, near the corner, but not centered on it.

It took a little effort to get everything just right but it was worth it because I am happy with how it turned out in the end. Try taking some of your photos at different angles. You may end up with some interesting results.

This was Challenge #27:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1.0s shutter, f8

Sam’s BBQ is from the Osborne Family Spectacle of Dancing Lights. This spectacular holiday display can be found at Disney’s Hollywood Studios during the Christmas season.

Congratulations to Derek Carty, this week’s winner. Jim Thompson, Patty Carty, Nick Romano, Christina, Sarah and Chris Kotcamp also all gave the correct answer and will be entered in the February winner's drawing.
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Challenge #28: 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, 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 a copy of Hidden Mickeys Walt Disney World by Steve Barrett and some special AllEars® goodies!

We've all done it. You get off of the Tower of Terror a few minutes before the afternoon parade is to start and rush down Sunset Blvd. You get there and all the curb side places are taken. In fact, people had staked out their places hours before. As the crowd is three deep, you end up having to shoot over people's heads like this.

Lilo & Stitch Motorcar. Copyright © Scott Thomas Photography 2008
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/200s, f/8, 200 ISO, 35mm Focal Length

This is where a zoom lens comes in handy. You can fill the frame with your subjects. Eliminating foreground and background distractions. At full zoom, many times you have to shoot with a wider aperture which will cause the background behind your subject to get that pleasing bokeh like this.

Lilo & Stitch Closeup. Copyright © Scott Thomas Photography 2008
Nikon D70/18-200VR, 1/320s, f/5.6, 200 ISO, 200mm Focal Length

Ah, that's much better and you didn't have to barge in front of anyone. I have found a zoom lens that goes to 200mm to be an excellent way to capture parade, street and stage performers at Walt Disney World.

This was Challenge #33:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/3s shutter, f3.5

Brandy White was the first one to send in the correct answer this week. Brandy knew right away that our photo was from Muppet Vision 3D at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. These are the Great Gonzo Stunt Props from the pre-show area. I’d really like to know what’s in the box of really weird stuff right below it!

Congratulations to all the readers who knew the answer to this past week’s contest and sent it in before the end of Thursday: Jodi Fox, Danusia Rogacki, Andy Apple, Neil Taylor, Alan Lichtman, Carissa Totleben, Karen Pizzuta, Catherine Moore, Suzanne Davis, Traci Stocker, Bob Hite, Shannon Wright, Amy Rupp, Laura Heacox, Sharla Manglass, Kim Adams, Kathleen Mcgrath, Lisa & Tony Battaglia, Heather Coursen, J Albrecht, Kathi Allen, Wendy S, Aruna Mohan, Carrie Mcdermott, Marie Bertini, Bev Carson, Janet Kodra, Kim O'Brien, Ruth Fell, Sharon Dale, Trey Morris, Louis Grilli, Sarah Davies, Dana Hall, Lisa Edmonson, Tim Sayler, Christine Benoit, Kerri Schafer, Katie Fry, Eve Cunning, Alyse, Jennifer Tremley, John Sloboda, Jaca Rogers, Greg Gebhart, Chrissy Palmerlee, Kyle Buff, Sara Lewis, Allison Collins, Kelly Jean Clarkson, Jaime Thomson, Scott Button, Nick Straka, Marie Hodur, Katherine Gast, Tim Rachuba, Andrew Bentz, Baines Family, Kellie Carter, Bryan Timko, Chris & Alison, Erica Andrews, Kye Layton, Debbie Hicks, Kerry Ross, Charrissa Lin, Jullie Petrie, Stephanie Visco, Melissa Mathias, John Dupre, Christie Condit, Nora Beirne, Katelyn Palermo, Garland Cox, Dan Record, Hillary W, Josh Rohrbach, Jennifer Lalli, Beth Finn, Deb Ragno, Tina Lefante, Pollyanna Buff, Dave Wang, Mark Antry, John Pasqueralli, Dawn Bach, Craig Bendele, Curtis Bille, Tim Wingfield, Katie Wetzel and Monica Alderman.

Remember, to be included in the drawing you must send in your answer before the end of the day on Thursday.
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Challenge #34: 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, 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 a copy of Hidden Mickeys Walt Disney World by Steve Barrett and some special AllEars® goodies!

This was Challenge #34:

And here's the answer:

Copyright © 2007 Barrie Brewer, Nikon D50, 18-200VR, 1/400s shutter, f10

I don’t think I’ll ever get used to guests walking around the parks, gnawing on giant turkey legs! I haven’t tried one myself, but I have friends who consider this a “must do” when they are at Walt Disney World. Belicia Dawson was the first one to let me know that Toluca Legs Turkey Company is located in Disney’s Hollywood Studios. That’s the answer to challenge #34.

Congratulations to all the readers who knew the answer to this past week’s contest and sent it in before the end of Thursday: William Ellis, Michelle Ellis, Jennifer Schwing, Hollie Hinton, Marie Hodur, Holley Blyler, Bryan Timko, Wendy Cacka and JR Cacka. Each of you will be entered in the April winner's drawing.
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Challenge #35: 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, 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!

If you read my December 25, 2007 blog, you know that my holiday gift to you is that each month I will post a photo calendar page that you can print out and use at home or work during 2008.

This photo of Buzz Lightyear was taken during the Stars and Motor Cars Parade at Disney's Hollywood Studios. That parade has now been replaced with Block Party Bash which debuted on March 14, 2008. Check out Mike Scopa's Parade Moving 101 blog for a great article on what it takes to move a parade more than 2,000 miles.

Back to old Buzz though... the trick to getting a photo like this during any of the parades is to think about the lighting. Start by scoping out your location in advance. Make sure you aren't looking into the sun. If the sun is directly behind your subject you will have a hard time seeing them because of the backlighting. They will show up as a silhouette or, in the very least, be dark and hard to see.

The best spot will have the sun a little to the side of you, on the same side that the parade is coming from. This way, the cast members won't be looking into the sun when they look at you, which means you'll get more face shots.

Second, make sure your subject won't fall under the shadow of a large building or tree. Even dappled shade isn't that great. It will cast shadows on your subject that could make the difference between a really great photo and just an ok shot. Now unfortunately, this means that you will probably also have to stay out of the shade - but as my mother always said, "we have to suffer for beauty"! I don't think she was talking about photography, but it fits.

Finally, and I know this seems silly but, use your flash. Even on a bright, sunny day a flash will help to fill in any stray shadows that may occur - like the shadow from a big costumed hand waving at the crowd.

You will need to have Adobe Reader on your computer to download the calendar(s). Just click on the photo to download the calendar you want.

This one prints out at 8.5" x 11". It's handy if you need a calendar that you can write on.

This one prints out at 4.75" x 4.75", the perfect size for a CD Jewel Case frame.

If you read my December 25, 2007 blog, you know that my holiday gift to you is that each month I will post a photo calendar page that you can print out and use at home or work during 2008.

Surprise! Two calendars in one month! Several people asked on our survey that I post the calendars sooner. Well, your wish is my command. I'm jumping ahead so that you can have more time to add appointments, birthdays, etc. to your calendar before the start of the month. Now you'll have about six weeks lead time instead of two.

Thank you very much to everyone who completed our survey. We were thrilled with the number of responses we received. We really appreciate all the feedback and recommendations. If you didn't get a chance to weigh in, or if you ever have anything you want to share with us, please use the comment link at the bottom of each post. We love hearing from you!

You may recognize this as the Sorceror's Hat from Disney's Hollywood Studios. Some people love it and some hate it. To me it's just another cool thing to photograph!

You will need to have Adobe Reader on your computer to download the calendar(s). Just click on the photo to download the calendar you want.

This one prints out at 8.5" x 11". It's handy if you need a calendar that you can write on.

This one prints out at 4.75" x 4.75", the perfect size for a CD Jewel Case frame.