I have many shots like this from the hub, so I wanted to try something different to mix it up. I opted to blend a frame of the castle with the Dreamlights with a frame of the kiss goodnight. This look sort of emulates the look you get as the lights cascade on and off and twinkle during the kiss goodnight. If nothing else I think it looks super cool on Cinderella Castle.
Here’s another shot with the Rokinon 12mm fisheye. I like how it curves the frame just a bit here along with the lights in the upper left corner. I ended up doing a slight crop removing some space from the right and the bottom that made it just right. Enjoy.
The Rokinon 12mm 2.8 fisheye lens I use is the cheapest lens I own, but also probably the most fun to shoot with. The image quality is good (but not quite great) paired with the Z7. My biggest complaint I suppose is that the front element tends to come loose and then the images are out of focus. If you aren’t pixel peeping, you may not notice the shots aren’t tack sharp. I had this happen on a few different occasions during the week. But again, for a $375 lens purchase I can overlook these shortcomings for what it does offer. Most exciting of all is the ability to get compositions like this one that just don’t work as well with a regular wide-angle lens.
Here’s a shot that’s become popular over the past few years. Unfortunately, I did not have a fisheye for my FX camera until very recently, so I never took one of my own. Consider that rectified today. One thing I found particularly interesting the colors that popped off the moon as I increased the color contrast. An unexpected surprise I think looks really cool. Enjoy!
I post various stuff from around Walt Disney World and Disneyland but I know what you all really want to see are sunset photos of Cinderella Castle. So here is yet another one. Enjoy.
I’ve been extolling the virtues of the Nikon Z7 the past few images, but it can’t be overstated how much the electronic viewfinder has contributed to my images. Being able to nail perfect exposure after perfect exposure due to the WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) nature of the viewfinder is simply incredible. I’m able to spend less time tweaking exposures in post and more time on the creative aspects of my edits. This shot was taken as the sun set behind me casting some wonderful colors on the clouds behind Tomorrowland and on the sign itself. Enjoy.
It’s been a while since I did a Fireworks Friday shot so here we are. This was a multi-shot blend to get the fireworks and lasers together along with some foreground elements such as the dreamlights and various cleanup. It’s nice to watch/shoot the fireworks behind Cinderella Castle as you avoid all the craziness down Main Street and is really my preferred method these days.
This shot was taken with my Nikon Z7 and the Nikon 24-70 F4S z mount lens. My last trip was my first time putting the mirrorless system through the paces and I wanted to get a good sense of what it and its native lenses were capable of. Therefore, the z mount 24-70 F4S and 35 1.8S spent a lot of time on my cameras. Some might complain that these lenses aren’t 2.8 or 1.4 respectively (there is a 24-70 2.8 available now) but this is not an issue for me. The sharpness is what counts and they blow their f mount counterparts out of the water.
On this evening I opted to use my Nikon 28 1.4 as a walk around lens. Typically, I use this lens for dark rides, but the rendering of this lens is so amazing I’ve started using it for other stuff too. Combined with the Z7 it may be my absolute favorite combo now. The Z7 ability to dial in a perfect exposure with no guess work required has helped me cut down heavily on bracketing. Also, the in-camera stabilization allows me to shoot at much slower shutter speeds hand held than I ever dreamed possible with my previous DSLRs. This shot is 1/20sec at ISO 320, something I would have never managed previously with my shaky hands. I would have needed to boost the ISO to get a faster shutter speed or waste time setting up a tripod. In the fading evening light that would mean getting to shoot fewer scenes. In conclusion, the Z7 has made an immediate and noticeable positive impact on how I shoot and the images I produce. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to jump to the Nikon mirrorless system.
Here’s a slightly different angle on the French Pavilion maze. The flowers add some nice contrasting color that really drew me to this spot. Edited a bit darker and moodier than I have in the past as well but I’m digging it. I also did a black and white film noir edit for this one that I might share later. Enjoy.