Night photography at GE

Ener

New Member
Original Poster
I'm travelling to Disneyland on December and after seeing so many beautiful pictures of Galaxy's Edge by night I'm wondering how are these done. I assume they're shooted on tripod but the last time I've been to Disneyland I tried to use mine and it was pretty packed, so it felt very uncomfortable with all the people bumping into the tripod (not to mention the time needed to deploy the equipment and make the photo). After reading about the narrow places Batuu has (like the marketplace) and the crowded it might get Disneyland on Christmas season, I don't feel confident carrying a tripod that might be a nuisance in the crowds and end up drive me mad about it but also I'd regret losing all these awesome night photographs
 

ddbowdoin

Well-Known Member
Mini Tripod... google “tabletop tripod” and you’ll find quite a few decent ones on the market.

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409188


If this little guy can hold a heavy Pentax 67 I’m sure you’ll be ok with I’m assuming a digital camera of some sorts. You just have to be creative in terms of places to put it. I made it work in China for 2 weeks
 

BoarderPhreak

Well-Known Member
With a garbage can every 30 steps, a table tripod would be an easy solution. You can also use it against a wall for additional support on "handheld" shots.
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
I'm travelling to Disneyland on December and after seeing so many beautiful pictures of Galaxy's Edge by night I'm wondering how are these done. I assume they're shooted on tripod but the last time I've been to Disneyland I tried to use mine and it was pretty packed, so it felt very uncomfortable with all the people bumping into the tripod (not to mention the time needed to deploy the equipment and make the photo). After reading about the narrow places Batuu has (like the marketplace) and the crowded it might get Disneyland on Christmas season, I don't feel confident carrying a tripod that might be a nuisance in the crowds and end up drive me mad about it but also I'd regret losing all these awesome night photographs
The real question to be asked to begin with is what camera and what lens are you going to use. some of the newer cameras with the addition of a fast lens do not need a tripod and you can shoot handheld.
 

Ener

New Member
Original Poster
The real question to be asked to begin with is what camera and what lens are you going to use. some of the newer cameras with the addition of a fast lens do not need a tripod and you can shoot handheld.
My camera is a NikonD500 and I have only two glasses: Tamron 16-300 F3.5-6.3 and Sigma 30mm 1.4
 

thomas998

Well-Known Member
My camera is a NikonD500 and I have only two glasses: Tamron 16-300 F3.5-6.3 and Sigma 30mm 1.4

Well the good news is with that camera and the 30mm lens you don't need a tripod unless you are trying to get the fireworks type shots where the stop down and and use a slow shutter to get the light streak shots. That camera and the 30mm would work very well for most any other night shot you might want to take at Disney. You're only limitations is going to be if you try to get photos on dark rides like Pirates or Haunted Mansion and a tripod wouldn't help you there anyways. I say that because that sensor is equivalent to the one in a Sony a6000 camera which I used in a past trip. At that time I used a f2.8 lens which is slower than your 30mm and it worked perfectly for shots of night time parades at the Halloween party which is about the same light levels you'll have at night when you go. I would suggest that you use the manual mode instead of program though because night shots in program mode don't always behave the way you really want them to. Before you go take your camera and shoot some night shots around the city you live in the lighting will usually be close enough that you can figure out what setting are going to work for you without having to do test shots on your trip.

The other thing that will help you get shots you like is to shoot raw and use a program like Capture One to pull out the details in the darker areas without killing the lighter areas. If you do use software to enhance the photos afterwards remember it is better to be slightly under exposed than over exposed as the software can recover the underexposed areas by maybe 2 stops but the over exposed blowout are beyond recovery.
 

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