Trip Report Yia-Yia, Yetis and Epcotonians. A sweltering Summer of '22 adventure!

It was the night before our Disney trip and I found myself scrambling. So much to do besides "Disney but "Disney" needed to get done. Where are my SD cards? Where are all my Star Wars shirts? Where is my camera bag? We had just moved after-all and things were not where they should be because well we were in a different house. Toni was scrambling too. She is spending the Summer waitressing in Bethany Beach Delaware and came home THAT DAY to get everything ready for Disney. Her Mom however also wanted her to help get her "crap" ready for college (leaving in a few weeks). Tensions were running high and the early morning flight out of Baltimore was like lighting a fuse to a stick of dynamite. Time was ticking away!

This was going to be a different trip for us. Just three of the five in the family as my wife Val decided to sit this one out and my daughter Alex couldn't get her schedule to work. So Val will be going to New Mexico to visit Alex in a month as the final three, the triumvirate headed to Walt Disney World to meet up with my sister Marina's family and my mom (Yia-Yia).

The Triumvirate -

Toni (center), Sterg and yours truly.

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As you may or may not know, one of the things I love about going to Disney is honing my photography skills. For this trip I decided to rent two fantastic (and expensive) lenses. The Sony GM 50mm f/ 1.2 and the Sony GM 14mm f/1.8 lenses to be exact. The cost to buy both of those lenses would be as much as the cost of the entire trip. Additionally I rented a lens adaptor to pair with my old Minolta 70-210 "beercan" lens that I wanted to try out on the Safari.

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I've been crazy after the 14mm lens due to it's wide angle nature. It's actually so wide it's referred to as an "ultra-wide angle" lens. Wide angle lenses have wonderful applications at WDW and I was going to see how this baby was going to work for me. The 50mm 1.2 is a lens with a great reputation. Very fast, very sharp and producing beautiful bokeh as your sharp subject stands in front of a background that literally melts into a dreamy blur of photographic delight.

By 11pm all that was packed, what was left of my Star Wars shirts was packed - "Chris, aren't we just getting a bit too old for Star Wars shirts?" Val quipped - and everything else on my list was packed.



Toni was also packed and had full-filled her "getting ready for college" obligations.

Val said her goodbyes and goodnights..
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and went to bed.


It was soon time for me to lay down for 3 hours of sleep. The hardest thing left for me to do was wake up with my alarm. I think I'll have a glass on wine (or two?). After-all, what could go wrong?
 
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fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
It never ceases to amaze me how much you catch in your photos that I never see when I'm there!! Sooooo good!
Season 16 Wow GIF by America's Got Talent's Got Talent

Thanks @cgersic ! It's fun to try to find those type of shots.

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Thanks. Same to Toni

Let me know when you get back - getting thirsty for some fractal beers. 👍

Hey @fractal
Loving every thing in the report !

The caretaker shot is one I always try ( with my crappy iPhone) - I never get it but your shot is what I am always hoping to capture

Juno Temple Boss GIF by Apple TV+


Max

Thanks Max! Don't feel bad - very hard shot.

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fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Camera securely connected to tripod - check.

Camera strap around my neck in case someone stumble into me - check.

Appropriate settings dialed in - check.
(what makes these appropriate? It starts with what I'm trying to accomplish. I want a long exposure - meaning keeping the shutter open for several seconds. This long exposure will capture the path the fireworks make up into the sky and all the explosions that occur within those several seconds. In this case I don't want the lens and camera set for allowing maximum amount of light in. That was the strategy in Haunted Mansion where I need a very short exposure like 1/100 of a second to freeze all the movement. For fireworks, the tripod gives you the stability to keep the exposure open longer and prevent any blur while capturing all the good stuff in the sky. So the aperture was small like f/11 or f/12. Aperture readings are a fraction so the "larger" the number the smaller the aperture or opening in the lens. f/1.2 is a wide opening, f/12 is a small opening. The smaller opening/aperture limits the light allowed into the camera/onto the sensor which allows me to use a shutter speed of 8 to 20 seconds long. In addition, the low ISO setting does the same. In Haunted Mansion my ISO was 6400, for the fireworks it was 50. ISO is like an amplifier. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the sensor is to light, but it also diminishes image quality by introducing "noise". Like a amp on a stereo can make the music louder but not as clear. The three setting; Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO make up what is commonly called the Exposure Triangle and manipulating them to get the proper exposure for the subject at hand is part of the art, challenge and fun of photography!)

Let the show begin!

My first shot - this was a 9 second exposure at f/11 that captured the streak across the castle.

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Then things started to get more interesting...

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fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I was a big fan of Happily Ever After and I loved shooting those fireworks in 2017. Our 2020 trip had no night hours in the parks and hence no fireworks. I was not happy when I heard Disney did away with HEA with this new show but that didn't dampen my excitement to shoot fireworks on Main Street.

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I adjusted setting slightly to allow for longer exposures.

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Meanwhile, as I was enjoying my camera at the Hub, Sterg and Toni were watching the fireworks on Splash Mountain...



UP NEXT - THE FINALE AND WALKING OUT OF MK
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Late to the party with my page 4 entrance but following along and loving it so far. I am with you 100% on the Wall, Freeze, Beaver problems. My absolute favorite are the people that Beaver at the top or bottom of an escalator where the people behind literally have nowhere else to go.

Also, GO PHILLIES!
Regular Season Sport GIF by MLB
I also love people who look any direction than the one in which they are walking. Do we have a name for such people yet?
 

fractal

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The fireworks continued. Notice the shadow of the tall man wearing ears to the left of the castle. He was one of the people asking me to throw some light on his wife for a photo before the show. By the way, I set up around 10:15 for the 11:00 show in order to get the spot I wanted.

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There goes Tink!

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The finale! I think this was the longest exposure of the night at 14 seconds.

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I had a smile on my face as I reviewed the photos on my camera's screen. After the show the tall guy with ears came up to me and asked if I could light him and his girlfriend up with my light while taking their photo with their phone.

"Sure, no problem"

After seeing this, three more couples asked the same which I happily obliged. 🙂

The lesson here is don't forget or be afraid to use the flash on your phone for photos - just try to get closer to your subject. Do the same during the day when your subject has the sun or lots of light behind them.
 

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
Good question! They bother me too. Depending on my mood, I will sometimes just let those people walk into me to embarrass them.
My husband says I'm too polite. He has what he calls the "F you excuse me" which is when there is a group of Beaver people, he will say "Excuse me" in such a manner that there is no disguising the "Get the F out of my way!" in the tone. If they don't move, he'll just barrell through them. All well and good for a 6 foot 1 or 2 broad-shouldered guy, but people treat me like I'm invisible.
 

Wicked Sisters

Well-Known Member
In the Parks
No
Your Haunted Mansion photos are absolutely fantastic. As we haven’t been to WDW for 15 years we assume there must be some different ghost. we didn’t recognise the three cats before, are they new. Also I could imagine a few of your castle firework photos in frames on my wall😊 Thank you for sharing them
 

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