It’s been years since I’ve shot these guys, so I figured it was time for a redo. @whoiscliffwang provided some additional external lighting which not only contributed to the final image but making focusing in this very dark area much easier. Overall, I think this is a much better and moodier effort than the one I did 4 years ago. Enjoy.
I have really been out of editing the past few weeks. I finally mustered enough effort to edit this sunset shot of Harambe in Animal Kingdom. This sunset initially was looking lackluster and then decided to give a brief but excellent show. I had just enough time to walk the path from Lion King, setup my tripod and take a few shots before the color was done.
This is the Walt Disney World version of Splash Mountain which I shot with the Nikon Z7 and 35 1.8S lens. This is an incredible dark ride combo and very light weight. Sharpness is through the roof in comparison to my DSLR and prime lens setups. My only complaint, as has always been the case with the 35mm is it’s a bit too tight for some of the dark rides for my taste. I think that 28mm is the perfect focal length for 99% of dark ride shots in the parks, which is why my Nikon 28 1.4 remains my favorite lens to shoot the dark rides. Additionally, the rendering appears to be just a bit nicer on the Nikon 28 1.4 compared to the 35 1.8S. Of course, the Nikon 28 1.4 is $2000 and the 35 1.8S is only $850 so you’re getting a lot of value from the 35mm.
It’s been quite some time since I looked at my Disneyland catalog and I realized I still have many untouched photos from that trip. So, I guess I’m going to start mixing some Disneyland back into my feed as I go through them again. I keep my Walt Disney World photos in a separate Lightroom Catalog from my Disneyland ones (I separate catalogs by locations) so I just need to remind myself to switch back and forth instead of always perusing the Walt Disney World one for new shots to edit.
Pandora sunset photos have become my absolute favorite photos to edit from Disney World. They are probably the closest you’ll get to a pure landscape photo in the parks and this lends well to my editing style. I did a 2-shot blend here along with a copious amount of dodging and burning and light painting. The light painting allows me to mold better the shape and direction of the light within the photo. This adds dimensionality you can’t obtain just by moving a few sliders around.
I rarely shoot the parks with other people. It simply doesn’t fit with my fast-moving shooting style, but on this night I made an exception to shoot with fellow IDP admins Cliff Wang and Nick Barese While this did slow me down from my typical pace, the chance to make Canon jokes at Nick’s expense more than made up for this. For this shot Cliff provided some additional external lighting on the Splash Mountain hut that really helped pop it out a bit more as it was getting lost in shadow. Enjoy!
This shot was taken with the Nikon Z7 and Nikon 24-70 F4s. For anyone looking to lighten their load but not lose out on image quality I can’t recommend this pairing enough. In fact, the images are sharper than what I was getting out of my DSLRs! Per usual I’ve color corrected Beast’s Castle so it’s not a single blue color. This is done with a curves adjustment layer where I manipulate the various color curves to change the blue of the roofs to a red color like what is seen during the day.
I believe this is my first time taking this shot with the inclusion of the side towers. This shot was again taken on the night with the fast-moving clouds. I love the movement and energy they lend to the shot. The orange cast of the lights along with the breaks of blue from the intermittent clearing makes for an interesting color combination. Enjoy.
I don’t have anything interesting to say about this photo. It’s Rivers of America. It’s Cinderella Castle with Dreamlights. Enjoy.
My alternate title for this shot was going to be Creepin’ on Cinderella Castle. I decided I’d go for the more obvious title in the end… but now since I’m telling you anyways you get the best of both worlds. I opted to shoot from here as I have tons of sunset shots from here and they are all the standard wide view from the bridge. I probably framed it with too much tree (and I didn’t like my crop options) but at least it’s something I haven’t done many times before.