Does anyone have any theme park advice/photos they would like to share?

[praline3001]

This summer the family is doing the big Disney trip and we are all very excited!

With the new camera and a few new skills I have learned on here my mind is already scheming up some photo ideas while we are there =p

Does anyone have any good theme park photo advice or shots they would like to share so I can get some ideas for my own shots?

One thing I am really trying to play in my head is the character meals we have booked. I love getting character shots with my kids (yup I am THAT dorky mom) The problem that comes about is lighting. They are dark and they frown on tripods as the servers don't want to trip over them. The result for me is always grainy funky flash shots. Now that I am wonderwoman with my new camera (IE.. 10 foot tall and bullet proof) I am hoping I can overcome this problem. All I need now is the red cape

Here is an example of what I mean when it comes to those character meals. See all the icky grain and redish yellow nasty in the background? I can't use a tripod ~ lighting is terrible to begin with and I only have 2-3 minutes TOPS to grab what candid shots I can.
My photos end up over exposed or under exposed and grainy. Of course this is a cheap point and shoot I was using but it does highlight one of my big problems when it comes to hurry up and take the shot before you lose the expressions VS bad conditions =/



How can someone quickly and EASILY prevent these types of photos in those kind of conditions?

[praline3001]

MOD ~ I messed up and posted this in the wrong forum can you please move it for me? SORRY about this!

[inkista]

Weeeeelllll... there is one surefire way, but you may not have the money, time, or interest to do this, which would be to get into off-camera lighting. It can be done with a G10, since the G10 has a flash hotshoe on it, but you'd have to buy an external flash unit and some way to trigger it remotely. And then you have to learn about lighting and flash photography.

I'm not sure I'd advocate this, though, unless the Strobist website has already caught you in its toils.

Oh, wait! Simpler (if more limited) solution. Get a speedlight and learn to bounce. Bouncing the light means pointing the flash at a surface (like a ceiling, wall, or reflector) which will spread and soften the light to something that looks more pleasing than direct on-axis light. The 270EX is small enough to be a good match with the G10, but you can only tilt the head, so the light will still be on-axis even if you bounce it. The 430EX or 430EXII lets you tilt and swivel, but may be hard to balance on top of the much-smaller G10. I do the off-camera lighting thing with an ST-E2 on my G9, and a 580EXII, but I had all that gear for my SLR, anyway.

BTW, if you're an eBay fiend, you don't have to get a Canon flash. A bunch of different flashes work with the G9/G10. You just have less automatic function with them.

Your other options are to try turning off the flash and increasing the iso, which will cause problems with noise. There are a bunch of software processing packages that can help you smooth the noise out, but with the smaller sensor camera, it's a problem. Shooting RAW may also help a bit.

And then there's the option of getting a dSLR, which you probably really don't want to do. The advantages a dSLR has in this type of situation is that the larger sensor allows the use of iso 800 without huge noise issues, and the ability to slap on a lens with a wider max. aperture than f/2.8, both of which can help in low-light situations.

If you think a tripod's going to help you, maybe you could use a small tabletop one, like a Gorillapod or Ultrapod. But I'm not sure how much help that would really be; the G10 is already stabilized, and going with a shutter speed that's any slower than you could achieve handheld, you're likely to get subject motion blur.

One thing you might want to try to help steady the camera for long exposures is to get yourself a lensmate, so you can use the traditional SLR hold. The lensmate is primarily for putting filters in front of your camera lens, but it also gives you something to hold on to, without putting the retractable lens at risk.

[praline3001]

I really do want to learn more about lighting and reflectors and external flash photography BUT I am in kindergarten here and your speaking trig
Also I really don't think the other guest would care all that much if I asked (no matter how politely I did so) "would you mind if I place my shoe mounted flash right here next to your food?" LOL

Those dining places are super crowded and the tables are extremely close together. Its TERRIBLE photography wise!

Throw in a few 100 kids running by and tripping over you and ... well it would make for a difficult shoot for anyone ~ let alone ME LOL

That photo was taken with a cheap walmart point and shoot (was my DD's camera and she was 7) The batteries went dead in mine
But now that I have this new camera .. I am hoping for a decent shot.

I would LOVE a DSLR .... errr would have to do some serious sweet talking with the husband LOL The general plan is for me to learn the settings and basics from this G10 and once I know how to use all of the functions to its fullest THEN I will upgrade to a DSLR ... no sense buying more than I know how to use at this point LOL

I can try bringing up the ISO and then removing the noise after. My camera does have an IS BUT I have a horrid shaky hand. I have been shooting in the house in the evenings with no flash TRYING to practice
and even with the IS I still get blurr ... but I don't get blur with a flash ~ just over exposed photos

MY camera DOES shoot in RAW woohooo
Bad news? I have never attempted it LOL
Will it help a great deal with indoor low light situations?
I was under the impression it didn't make that big of a difference and just took up more space on your SDHC card?

[praline3001]

Oh, wait! Simpler (if more limited) solution. Get a speedlight and learn to bounce. Bouncing the light means pointing the flash at a surface (like a ceiling, wall, or reflector) which will spread and soften the light to something that looks more pleasing than direct on-axis light. The 270EX is small enough to be a good match with the G10, but you can only tilt the head, so the light will still be on-axis even if you bounce it. The 430EX or 430EXII lets you tilt and swivel, but may be hard to balance on top of the much-smaller G10. I do the off-camera lighting thing with an ST-E2 on my G9, and a 580EXII, but I had all that gear for my SLR, anyway.

Oh this does sound a lot simpler for the situation at hand. I sent your post to my husband so he can read it when he gets home. He is a boy scout leader and good at rigging things such as this LOL
I call him Mcgyver! LOL
With your post I can better explain what I need and he can come up with something!

I was just practicing with the AV setting on my camera (rather than M)
I think for my purposes the AV setting might work out better (with the AV at 2.8) This way I don't have to waste precious moments adjusting the shutter and ISO... my camera has a cool little blue light that lights up to give the stabilizer a little boost by adjusting the ISO for me.
It isn't perfect but This particular situation is really tricky on how much time I have to get those darling candid shots.

I am sure with 20-30 years of practicing photography under my belt I could do something better ... but with my limited experience this might be the most sure fire method for me to get decent shots. I can take out the noise when I get home.

I also played with the RAW and did see minor improvements BUT being on vacation (especially Disney with a world of photo ops) I am going to have to be careful how much space I store on my cards LOL
my 8gig SDHC went from 1250 shots to 300 when I went to RAW.
We will be there for 2 weeks and I have 4 8gig cards but I am planning on taking a ton of photos and weeding out the bad ones when I get home and can take the time to view them. I ALSO am going to try my hand at the multi shot mode with the sports (or kid/pet) setting while riding some of the rides! I would LOVE to get some great shots of my kids on some of the outdoor coasters and I think this would be my only shot at having a chance.... set it all for lots of movement and multi shot away and out of a 100 I might get 1 or 2 really good ones LOL
I have never tried to take a picture on a coaster so it would be cool to try (NO upside down coasters cause I dont want to lose the camera LOL)

[inkista]

Originally Posted by praline3001

I really do want to learn more about lighting and reflectors and external flash photography BUT I am in kindergarten here and your speaking trig

Sorry! If you need more explanations on anything, feel free to sing out--there are a lot of folks here learning lighting from the ground up, and you're not alone.

Basically, the dead-white look that you get with the built-in flash of a P&S is due to two things: the size of the light, and the placement of the light right next to the lens. You have no choice on the direction the light is coming from, and the small size of the light always makes it hard.

Studio light typically creates a larger light source by either using a larger light, or diffusing it somehow.

If you get an external flash unit (one of those Canon speedlites with names that end in EX), you can put it on top of your camera by placing it in the hotshoe. The light will be larger than the built-in flash, and since the head of the flash tilts, you can point it at the ceiling, and the reflected (really big soft) light will come down onto your subject with a more natural look. If you can take the flash off-camera, you can also change the angle and distance of the light from your subject. But you can good effects bouncing with the flash on the camera as well.

So you don't necessarily have to put plonk your shoe on someone else's table.

Those dining places are super crowded and the tables are extremely close together. Its TERRIBLE photography wise!

Yeah. Plus once the characters come through, it gets even worse.

I would LOVE a DSLR .... The general plan is for me to learn the settings and basics from this G10 and once I know how to use all of the functions to its fullest THEN I will upgrade to a DSLR ... no sense buying more than I know how to use at this point LOL

That sounds like a good solid plan to me. The G10 is a lot of camera.

I can try bringing up the ISO and then removing the noise after. My camera does have an IS BUT I have a horrid shaky hand.

That's why I recommended the Lensmate--gives you something to wrap your fingers around. Also, making sure that you're not shooting with your arm extended can help. Using both hands to hold the camera can also help you keep it a little steadier. The G10 has an optical viewfinder, you may want to experiment with using it. (BTW, if you're running out of battery and don't have a charged spare, turning off the LCD and using the optical viewfinder will drastically extend your battery life).

MY camera DOES shoot in RAW woohooo
Bad news? I have never attempted it LOL
Will it help a great deal with indoor low light situations?
I was under the impression it didn't make that big of a difference and just took up more space on your SDHC card?

It depends on how comfortable you are with post processing photos. If you never post process, then you're right, it won't make that big of a difference and it'll just take up more space on the card. The difference between shooting RAW and shooting JPEG is that the RAW file is the "raw" output from the sensor, uncompressed. The JPEG file is compressed with a scheme that throws out information to make the file smaller. With the RAW file, you have all the information. If you make BIG adjustments in post-processing, like adjusting the exposure or the white balance, the missing information of the JPEG file can cause some problems, while the RAW file having all the information won't.

For example, if you goof up your white balance setting, with a RAW file, you can just reset it to whatever it should have been in post processing. With JPEG, if you try to do that, you might end up with some color halos. This is probably the best reason to shoot RAW if you're shooting indoors, since the camera almost never quite gets the color balance right.

With low-light photography and RAW, you could also underexpose to use a faster shutter speed to freeze the action, and then adjust the exposure in post-processing so that it won't look too dark. You may, however, possibly introduce more noise than using a higher ISO setting, but it's one way to get around the problem. I think if you're worried about space, though, I'd only use RAW if I were shooting indoors in tough situations, and then set the camera back to JPEG for the rest of the time.

[AnnaV]

Bouncing a flash is really simple and looks great. You just point it at the ceiling and get lovely soft light. I can't advise on what would fit your camera, but have a look here not fo the actual flashgun specs but to see the effect of bouncing flash http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/sb400.htm

The other thing would be to get your partner or daughter to stand by the table, spend a few mins getting your settings perfect by taking test shots and adjusting, so you are 100% ready when the servers come

[praline3001]

inkista ~ I sent your post to my techie husband and he is in the process of reading them to help me come up with a plan.

He did have a question (its the engineer in him I guess... LOL)

He wants to know what if the ceilings are too high? How to bounce light then?

EXP he is using is our Castle breakfast. Yes, we have booked breakfast with cinderella and all of her princess friends. Its one HUGE room with super tall ceilings. The tables are all dark brown wood. Where do I try to bounce off light there? You know I have got to get decent shots inside of the castle HA HA as its an early breakfast, natural light most likely WILL NOT be my friend.

MY thought is at this particular place, to go ahead and shoot raw on the AV setting. This will help me with ISO and shutter speed but I can still keep the F2.8. I REALLY am not experienced enough to try and quickly change ALL of the settings THAT quickly LOL
(I did a shooting with my DH on M and he told me he was going to die of old age before I took the damn shot LOL)

This way if it does come out under exposed I can fix the white balance and then convert it over to Jpeg, correct?

Another issue the old husband is having is Disney is very PC and strict about flash photography in the majority of their indoor attractions (shows/rides/events...)
He said if I go to Disney jail he won't bail me out LOL

He is willing to rig something for me but he did want to address those issues.

[AnnaV]

You could always get a diffuser or make one http://digital-photography-school.co...line-barf-bags

[inkista]

Originally Posted by praline3001

He wants to know what if the ceilings are too high? How to bounce light then?

Yup, that's the problem with bouncing. You may be SOL in that situation. A pro photographer would probably be using off-camera light and a huge diffuser like an umbrella or softbox, or have an assistant with a reflector stand in a strategic spot. Some folks use a bounce card. There are a lot of DIY solutions to light modifiers, but the one I like best is probably this one.

...This way if it does come out under exposed I can fix the white balance and then convert it over to Jpeg, correct?

Yup. You just have to be sure you've got software that can handle the RAW file. The Canon software that came with the camera can handle it, but may be clumsier than what you're used to using.

Another issue the old husband is having is Disney is very PC and strict about flash photography in the majority of their indoor attractions (shows/rides/events...)
He said if I go to Disney jail he won't bail me out LOL

Actually, iirc, the reason they restrict flash photography isn't for PCness, but because some of those audioanimatronic shows are/were light-cued. In those types of situations, honestly, you can't really use a flash and you need a dSLR and a fast lens--if you aren't being joggled around at high speeds. I'd say use the flash & diffuser for breakfast, then dump that stuff back up in the hotel room/a locker, and just pack the G10 and forget about getting pics inside the attractions/theaters.

The thing is that the G10 is a great camera to take with you. Disney parks tend to be crowded, hot, and a serious case of sensory overload and cat-herding. And you'll probably be going on a rollercoaster or two. Most SLR folks who ask for advice on what to haul into a Disney park are told "just take a P&S" because what are you gonna do with the camera bag when you do Star Tours? It's not gonna fit into that little net bag they provide for your hat and sunglasses. And don't forget you may be standing around for hours in line--that's actually the best time for getting photos of the family--keeps you from getting too bored.

I hate to say it, but knowing about FastPasses and timing the lines is probably going to do you more good at a Disney park than knowing how to use a flash. Enjoy being at the park, and don't let photography get in the way of that. Doing the full camera gear I'm-in-photographer-mode thing at a Disney park is best done if you a) have been before b) have an annual pass, c) are going solo, and d) really weren't gonna go on any of the rides, anyway. Trust me. I've done it. With full pano rig and tripod. It's a blast to roam the parks just for pics, but it's not necessarily the best way to spend your time. And at a Disney park, time costs...