Reflection Warped

Posted by Mike on

Monorail Monday
Walt Disney World

I hate to say it but due to inclement weather the Walt Disney World posts will have to continue. I was hoping to bring some of the great Florida weather back with me last week but it looks like my return had the opposite affect… I apologize. Forecast for most of this coming week is rain out here with me. Wishing your weather is better.

The start of the work week is also Monorail Monday in the Disney photography community. I am sure most of the regular readers of this blog are well aware of this fact as I do my best to contribute each week. This week is interesting though due to the nature of the image I chose to share.

The first image is my normal or classic monorail image. I love a reflection and when I can capture the monorail and its reflection I am one happy camper. As I was processing this image I became more aware of the unique quality of the reflection. It is distorted by a set of ripples traveling through the water. I chose to reprocess my image focusing on the distortion. The second image in this post is my result.

I changed the format to square and processed the image differently than my original. I started with a preset from Trey Ratcliff called ‘A Beautiful Release’ and modified it slightly. I also added a subtle vignette to keep you focused on the reflection. Did it work?

  

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Reflection Warped

Reflection Warped
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/160s, 12mm, f/9, ISO 400

  

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Reflection Warped Part Two

Reflection Warped Part Two
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/160s, 12mm, f/9, ISO 400

The Duke

Posted by Mike on

The Great Movie Ride, Hollywood Studios

The Great Movie Ride at Disney’s Hollywood Studios was originally sponsored by MGM. When the theme park opened it was originally named Disney-MGM Studios. Recently Disney worked a deal with Turner Classic Movies to sponsor the ride and the show was refurbished. I hadn’t experienced the new ride but I took the opportunity this trip to not only see the changes but cool off during a hot day at the park.

This ride is quite the challenge to photograph. Not only are you on a constantly moving vehicle, the lighting is not to promote pictures. I was finally able to capture the John Wayne scene but I struggled with the processing to get the color right. I know it might be a bit of a crutch but I ended up converting this image to B&W which I think works really well.

  

MLCreations Photography: WDW in B&W &emdash; The Duke

The Duke
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 1/100s, 21mm, f/2.8, ISO 6400

Dinosaur Gertie

Posted by Mike on

Echo Lake, Hollywood Studios, Walt Disney World

  

MLCreations Photography: Hollywood Studios &emdash; Dinosaur Gertie

Dinosaur Gertie
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {0.5, 1/5 & 1/13s bracket}, 19mm ,f/16, ISO 200

Generation Gap Bridge

Posted by Mike on

Pop Century Resort, Walt Disney World

I know! Only a few days ago I blogged an image of this bridge. But that was a sunset image and this is a sunrise. And that image was looking toward Art of Animation and this is looking toward Pop Century. Totally different… 🙂

On Sunday morning I walked across Generation Gap Bridge to the Art of Animation resort to capture some scenes in the resort’s Cars area. It is wonderfully themed if not lit with way too many spot lights (really makes photography challenging). On my walk back to my room I was greeted with the following sunrise view of the Pop Century resort.

I did my normal thing… I setup the tripod on the left side of the bridge and captured a few images. Before I continued on my way I thought maybe a few shots from the opposite side would look good. It was then that I realized the symmetry of the views. And being one who can not pass up good symmetry, I planned on capturing two images that I could use to create the pseudo-panoramic image below.

In Lightroom I played with the crops until they were as near mirror images as I could make them. I transferred the images to Photoshop and set about adding the two views in a new file with a black background. I had sized the image to leave a smll border around each image. After everything was set I processed the images with my normal workflow. Ta-da!

  

MLCreations Photography: Around WDW &emdash; Generation Gap Bridge

Generation Gap Bridge
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 2.5 & 2s, 12mm, f/11, ISO 200

Harambe Theatre

Posted by Mike on

Africa, Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World

When Disney decided to build an area at Animal Kingdom for the world of Pandora from Avatar, they needed to move the theater that housed the Festival of the Lion King. This worked out well as they expanded the village of Harambe in the Africa section and created a wonderfully detailed area. The old theater was very utilitarian in style but this new one fits in well with the rest of the village. I finally was able to capture this building and hopefully do it justice.

  

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Harambe Theatre

Harambe Theatre
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, , 12mm, f/16, ISO 200