New Tangled Area Photo op?

[matt9112]

So they've been doing this throughout February. People all over social media were going nuts. I guess it was originally supposed to be only 2 weeks or so of testing but it's been held over due to demand. I was there Sunday and there was no information about it, but I asked several cast members and character attendants and they all told me they "thought" it was happening sometime after sunset that evening. I went back over several times and shortly after 7pm, they started the line and set up the tripod for the photos.

Now, there was a HUGE interest in this, including multiple Disneybounders (as Rapunzel and Flynn of course) and the line quickly went all the way down to HM. As far as I know, they were at it most of the evening. I was SO excited to get the photo....but. They are still experimenting apparently with position. Earlier photos had the "fountain" in the background, but my night, they did it the other way, with the camera pointing towards the restroom enterence and the pathway with people walking behind you. They didn't do a good job balancing out the camera settings/lightning that night because my pics came out...disappointing.

Here's an unedited pic:
View attachment 192335

Lightning is harsh on my face and too dark on the other side. Shot is W-I-D-E and too many random people.

The one with my husband and I is even worse.


View attachment 192336

They had the "poses" down nicely - hold it and look at the camera, look at the lantern and then hold it up in the air for a single, or hold it and look at camera, look at lantern and look at each other for a couple - but I was so bummed with the actual result. There was a HUGE line and HUGE demand for it. And it's such a creative idea. I applaud the concept. I just wish my results were better.

Looks good to me but I'm no photography major.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

Thanks for posting some real world examples.

Agree that the background spoils the shot. This really needs to be done without other people being visible. Some creative use of angles is needed.

Killing the background is a matter of proper exposure and use of the camera.

For example; open the aperture up (which blurs the background and helps gain a faster shutter speed to prevent motion blur) and expose the faces correctly (as none of the above do) which will darken the background.

 

[wdwmagic]

Killing the background is a matter of proper exposure and use of the camera.

For example; open the aperture up (which blurs the background and helps gain a faster shutter speed to prevent motion blur) and expose the faces correctly (as none of the above do) which will darken the background.

IMO the background is an important part of the shot though, removing that means the shot could be anywhere. It just doesn't need to be filled with guests.

 

[BoarderPhreak]

IMO the background is an important part of the shot though, removing that means the shot could be anywhere. It just doesn't need to be filled with guests.

I agree that preserving some of it is important. You don't want people standing in front of a black background with only the lanterns visible. You can play with the exposure to find the sweet spot. Or just do what I do - wait until the background is more agreeable in terms of people. Most of my WDW photos for example, might lead you to believe the parks are always empty for that reason.

 

[MissM]

Looks good to me but I'm no photography major.

Look at the example photo Disney used on their blog post:

Background is suitably darker. You can't see a ton of random people. It's closer in on the face. You can clearly make out the sun motif on the lantern itself (the contrast is nicely balanced) as well as the background lanterns. The glow is warm and yellow, there's no harsh shadow edge on her face.

Mine on the other hand is too wide, the background is too bright and busy. The sun motif is distorted due to improper balance and the background lanterns are blurry blobs. It has a greenish (sickly) color balance. And there's a harsh and unflattering shadow bisecting my face.

The difference is night and day. In order for this to be a better success, they need to have the position and camera settings locked in so people get consistent results. Up until the recent announcement, it's only been a "test" event, so variation in the photos was to be expected since they were experimenting with the setup. But now that it's been held over "indefinitely," they need to have better configuration so people can be assured they get a good photo every time.