From: curt@foundation.wpd.sgi.com (Curt Schimmel)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.disney
Subject: Re: Photo Tips Needed - Disney Rides
Date: 19 Nov 92 04:00:00 GMT
Organization: Silicon Graphics, Inc.  Mountain View, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: foundation.wpd.sgi.com

In <636@esun179.gdc.com> wiehn@gdc.com (John Wiehn) writes:


>I'm off to WDW  in December and want to take pictures with my SLR 35mm
>camera.  I'd like to hear from others who have attempted to take pictures
>inside Disney rides/attractions.

>What speed film?  ISO 1000??  I tried taking pictures in the great movie
>ride last time I went but just got back blurry pictures.  I used ISO400
>speed film and a fast shutter speed. 


I'm not a professional, but here's what I've tried.

There are three problems with taking pictures inside attractions
without a flash.  First is low light.  You can compensate for this by
using fast film.  I tried 1600 speed last time with the widest possible
aperture on my fastest lens (f1.7), and I still didn't get as much
light as I wanted.  Konica makes a 3200 speed that supposedly isn't
noticeably more grainy than 1600.  I might try using that next time.

The second problem is color balance.  Standard 35mm film is balanced to
give accurate color during "typical" mid-day sunlight.  Theatrical
lighting uses tungsten bulbs which have more yellow in it than natural
sunlight.  Hence your pictures come out with a yellow cast in them.
You can compensate for this with an 80A blue filter, however this cuts
out 2 stops worth of light (i.e. reducing your shutter speed by 2
settings).  This makes your pictures look blurry if you're moving too
fast.  I tried shooting with and without the filter with 1600 speed
film.  Neither produced satisfactory results.  The best pictures were
with 1600 speed film and no filter.  They came out yellowish, but had
very little blur.

The third problem is focusing.  I find it difficult to focus manually
in low light.  Fortunately, the auto-focus on my Minolta 7000i works
quite well in low light, so I don't have to worry about this.  I just
have to make sure the focus zone has something in it that isn't all
black.  Not all auto-focus systems work this well.


>Many of the attractions won't let you use flash so thats out of the question.


Right!  As others have said, please, Please, PLEASE, don't use a flash
inside attractions!  A standard flash unit can't put out anywhere near
enough light to adequately illuminate an indoor attraction.  You'll
just end up wasting film and annoying a lot of people.  This is
especially important for the Little Mermaid show at the The Studios.

You always see people taking flash pictures at big arena type shows
(like the Indiana Jones stunt show).  This is pointless.  The
action is at least 100 feet away from you.  No ordinary flash can
reach that far.  Use 400-1000 speed film and a zoom lens if you
have one.


>What advice can you give this novice photographer??


Well, that depends what kind of pictures you like to take and how much
time you're willing to invest.

For myself, I like night photography.  Using a tripod, an 80A filter,
cable release, stop watch, 100 speed daylight film (to get a sharp
picture), and lots of patience,  I've gotten great pictures of things
like Spaceship Earth, Living Seas, Splash Mountain, fountains, etc.,
all of which are beautifully illuminated at night.  Shutter speeds for
this are in the 3 minute range.

Candid pictures of people on or coming off the thrill rides are also
fun.  A great shot to take is to use a zoom lens and slow shutter speed
to get a picture of the log going down the hill on Splash Mountain.
Use about a 1-2 second exposure and zoom in and focus on where the log
will be ahead of time.  As the log starts down the hill pan the camera
to track it and keep it in the center of the viewfinder.  After you
start panning, release the shutter and continue panning smoothly until
the exposure is over.  It takes practice, but if you do it right,
you'll get a shot where the log is almost perfectly in focus with the
background streaking by.

It's also fun to get people's expression after the drop.  You can hang
out on a walkway near the bottom of the drop and catch their
expressions as they re-appear into the sunlight.  Use a zoom lens and
fast shutter speed for this (250-500).  Big Thunder Mountain is another
place to get good pictures like this.

When taking scenic shots of buildings and attraction exteriors, I try
to find a spot to shoot where there won't be anyone standing in the
foreground.  For these shots, the building is your subject.  Having
people standing around in the way will diminish the results.  Sometimes
it's worth waiting for the people to move on in order to get a better
picture.  This is one of the reasons the postcard pictures look so
good: there's no one (or hardly anyone) in them!

When shooting portrait shots of people, like when the kids are posing
with Mickey, use a wide aperture (small f-stop number) and higher
shutter speed.  This will blur the background making the subject stand
out.  Focus carefully on the subject or the people will be out of
focus.


>How about good pictures of the Nighttime Disney parade and events?????

I've had reasonably success getting pictures of the Main Street
Electrical Parade, both with and without a flash, using 1600 speed
film.  Without a flash, shutter speeds were down around 1/45 and 1/60
of a second, so you gotta hold still!

Spectromagic is harder to shoot.  With MSEP, the floats are lit in a
fairly uniform fashion.  In Specrtomagic, the floats have different
levels of lighting in different areas making it hard to get a good
meter reading.  I tried shooting without a flash to try and capture the
nighttime mode, but I wasn't satisfied with any of the pictures I took,
there was just too much contrast in the floats.  A flash is about the
only way to get a decent picture here.  With a good flash unit, you can
probably get away with slower speed film, like 1000 or maybe 400.

Other tips:

Changes in temperature can cause your lens to fog.  After a night in my
cool hotel room, my lens would fog up the first time I took the lens
cap off each morning (when the hot, humid air first hits it).  I
carried lens cleaner with me.

Buy film at a discount store ahead of time.  It's expensive in the
park.  I like Fuji HG 100, and Kodak Ektar 125 for daylight shooting.
Never pack film in suitcases, it will get x-rayed at the airport.  I
hand carry all my film in a clear plastic bag and ask for a hand
inspection at the security checkpoint.  Too much x-ray exposure
and the film will fog.  This is *very* important for high speed
film!

It's also worthwhile to use a good developing place.  Print film can be
adjusted about 2 stops in either direction to correct over or under
exposure.  The cheap places won't do this for you.  If you live in the
west, Kits Cameras does a good job.  They will also reprint any shots you
don't like, making them lighter or darker, at no charge.

That should be enough to get you started.  Whenever I go, I shoot
lots of pictures from different angles, different exposures, and see
what worked out best when I get the pictures back.  Then I use what
I learned for the next time.

Above all, have fun.

Curt