Tip for photography at Walt Disney World

grandpaw

Senior Member
Tips and info for photography at Walt Disney World

I have been to Disney World several times and will be going again in the first of March so I thought I would list a few tips and bits of information for others going for their first time
.

On Crop sensor camera most of your pictures will be taken between 18 and 40mm

On Full Frame most pictures will taken between 24 to 70mm

I have found little need for a longer lens. The exception might be the day you go on the safari ride in Animal Kingdom

The F2.8 version I highly recommend for crop or full frame for Indoor and nighttime photography

For my crop sensor camera I take my Sigma 17-50mm F2.8

For full frame I take my Tamron 24-70mm F2.8

Take extra charged up batteries and plenty of cleared memory cards

Shoot Raw or raw + fine JPEG files

I have found an external flash helpful as a fill flash

Crop sensor cameras and lenses are smaller and lighter than full frame

Full frame cameras and lenses are larger and heavier

Get some type of shoulder strap so your camera won’t be hanging on you neck all day. You will thank me for this tip.

Any of the Disney photographers will be glad to take a picture of you with your camera or cell phone at no charge

If you do ask someone to take a picture for you, have your camera ready to snap the picture, don’t expect them to be familiar with your camera.`

There are many angles looking at the castle that make for some very nice pictures that eliminate a lot of the people and result in more interesting shots in addition to the one straight on from the front.
If you are wanting a shot with the monorail in it and miss it coming, remember that the front and rear look exactly the same

It will just look like it is headed in the opposite direction. You may want to take the photo with both ends to see which one you like better.

For the. Fireworks shots I use a tripod with ISO 100, a smaller Fstop such as F16, and a shutter from 8 to 10 seconds long. The wider stops will produce Wide fuzzy light trails and the smaller stops will make the much more defined and detailed. If 10 seconds give you too many bursts in each shot just shorten it to 6 or 8 seconds.

Remember this is a family vacation and NOT a photography job. Remember you are taking pictures to capture the memories that you are having with family and friends.

I forgot the BIGGEST TIP OF ALL
Don't wait until you get down there to try and
figure out how your equipment works, practice and know what you are doing BEFORE YOU GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These are my thoughts and ideas and may differ from your which means your's may be wrong. LOL

 
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Whiskeyman

Senior Member
Re: Tips and info for photography at Walt Disney World

Another couple of tips; ask those same Disney photographers for recommended places and times to get good shots.

And I don't know how they close down the parks now, but it used to be that you could get away with hanging out for a while as the crowd left after the park officially closes. At the Main Street Station for instance, you could set up a camera on a tripod and shoot shoot long timed exposures as the crowds thinned out and get some shots w/o a lot of people in them. Just don't try when the train is entering or leaving the station, because it will shake your tripod and camera.

WM
 

grandpaw

Senior Member

grandpaw

Senior Member
Re: Tips and info for photography at Walt Disney World

One more big tip for photographers that we learned last time is if you have something that is big like a tripod that won't fit in one of the lockers if you ask a cast member where you get wheelchairs or the electric scooters they will keep it for you in one of their big locker for you. They don't advertise this but one of them told me last time and I had them hold on to my tripod for me.

Another tip I would suggest everyone doing whether you are going to take a trip or not is to get Vista Print or someone to print up a bunch of return labels for you and place them on all of your equipment. If you happen to leave a tripod or other piece of equipment somewhere and an honest person finds it, unless your info is on it they have no way of knowing who to try and return it to. These labels are very cheap and I also place one on everything I sell just in case later they might want to get in touch with me for further sales. This return label is exactly the same information as my business card that usually over time gets lost by the person you gave it to. I have them on my flashes, tripods, extra batteries and everything else I use. Having this information on an item does not insure it will be returned but if the person that finds it has no information the chances of you getting it back are zero.

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Whiskeyman

Senior Member

That sounds about the same as when I worked there.

The first summer I worked there, a group walked into a restaurant at about five minutes before the park closed, they ordered appetizers, a full meal, dessert and coffee afterwards. The park officially closed at 1 AM, but some in my department didn't get to leave until after 3:30 AM.

Afterward, the group was angry that they were only offered one form of transportation to leave the park, which was by bus, but by that time all of the monorail and boat operators were dismissed and those systems were shut down, so there was no choice.

I don't remember how much that meal ended up costing WDW, but I do remember that someone estimated the cost and it was quite a bit. And served with a smile.

WM
 

grandpaw

Senior Member
Re: Tips and info for photography at Walt Disney World

This is a PDF copy of my D7000 Tips

file://localhost/Users/jeffimpey/Desktop/Nikon%20D7000%20tips%20.pdf
 
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