Disney

Landspeeders ‘r Us

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Southernly Beauty – The Deuce

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Morning at Arch Rock

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Disney

Eureka Mill & the Case of the Missing Grizzly

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Mickey & Minnie’s Great Movie Ride

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Goonies Never Say Die

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Disney

I’m Photographing (Sunset Boulevard) In the Rain

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper

Here’s another shot I took in the downpour at Hollywood Studios. I had to go with a rare (for me) 16×9 crop to eliminate all the extra ground and make the composition a bit better. It was raining so hard I had to keep the camera pointed down with the hood on or the lens would get instantly and completely covered in drops. This of course dictated my composition to some degree, but it was worth it to get some awesome water reflections on the ground. Like the CM who sought cover under the awning everyone else had already run for cover. I meanwhile was just photographing in the rain.

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Disney

Happily Tilted Ever After

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper

This was taken during the show just after it was announced the parks would be closing after the weekend. It made the whole thing feel a bit surreal. I originally wasn’t even going to shoot the show as I had already shot it a previous night from a different location but figured I might as well give it a go as I knew it might be a while before I had another chance. For good measure I did this weird tilt thing, because why not, and I think it turned out decent enough. Enjoy!

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Disney

Donald Duck Delivery Driver – Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper

It’s crazy to think this ride has only had 11 days of being officially 06opened. As it just opened before the parks closed, I imagine there are so many that still have not been able to experience this ride. There are some cool photos to be had but honestly the scenes are all so dynamic and in motion that it must be ridden (several times) to really appreciate. This scene with Donald driving the delivery truck is one I think we’re going to see a lot of!

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Disney

Black Spire Marketplace Entrance

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper

There’s something about archways that always have my reaching for my fisheye lens. I love how a fisheye can make curves even more pronounced. I was originally setup further into the scene and used the edge of the arch as a cut off point for the shot but I decided to back up a bit to include the entire arch plus some of the features on the outside wall. I really preferred this when I compared the two shots back in Lightroom so here it is. Enjoy.

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Disney

Millennium Falcon’s Perch

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper

Alternate title was Imagine There’s No Blue LED Lights, It’s Not Hard If You Try. It’s a bit wordy but gets the point across, I think. Disney’s light designer is obsessed with bathing all the night scenes in blue light. To me it’s boring and takes away the realism. So, like I’ve done with other scenes, such as Prince Eric’s Castle and Beast’s Castle I’ve gone ahead and color corrected the scene to the best of my ability to make it more realistic. I personally prefer it to the mountain being completely washed in blue. What do you think?

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Disney

Peter Pan’s Flight – Pow Wow

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper

For those of you who don’t know I shoot a Nikon Z7. The Nikon Z7 recently received a new 3.0 firmware update that touts much improved auto focus, including low light auto focus. Peter Pan’s flight felt like a great ride to put the firmware to the test. I rode pan a total of 4 times during the Magic Kingdom After-Hours event we attended and each time with the Nikon 28 1.4, AF-C and dynamic area AF the autofocus was fast and accurate. In fact, the only shots that weren’t perfect were due to motion blur from me not being steady enough and just poor framing. The takeaway is that the new Nikon firmware almost made shooting this ride too easy! It performed exceptionally well on all other dark rides as well. When it comes to using the Z7 on dark rides I’d say that we’re really on Easy Street these days. It just can’t get any better! ?

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Disney

Adventure Awaits

by Matthew Cooper
written by Matthew Cooper
I tried two new things with my photography this trip. The first which I want to talk about today is the use of a nighttime light pollution filter. Theoretically this filter reduces the light haze in the sky caused from light pollution. I watched several videos and looked at many example photos all of which were by astrophotographers using them to shoot already dark skies. In all the examples the filter did a good job of reducing light pollution, increasing contrast and improving what I’ll call smoothness in the sky. I was curious how this would work out in a very light polluted area such as Walt Disney World and I’m happy to report I found the results to exceed my expectations. My night skies are much nicer straight out of camera with limited hazing and light blooming in the sky. The contrast and especially the night sky color is very nice straight out of camera with much less work required to get the result I’m going for. It did not have a detrimental effect on the foreground where I also noticed increased contrast and less light blooming.
You can purchase the filter I used by clicking here. Make sure to choose the appropriate size for your lens.
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