Category Archives: Walt Disney World

Restored

Posted by Mike on

Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

One week! For the second time since I purchased this PC I had to re-install the operating system and all my applications. As I mentioned in a post early last week the boot drive of my photography laptop crashed last Sunday. I played with it until late Monday night in a desperate attempt to make a miracle happen… I couldn’t.

I decided I was not going to completely tear the PC apart in order to reach the small SSD drive embedded in the heart of this beast. Considering the non-existent use of the CD drive I chose to replace the drive with a HD drive tray and install a second 1 TB, 7200 RPM hard disk. Yes, I will lose a little startup speed and the applications might not pop open as quickly as they did from the SSD but the extra storage space would be great and ease of any future repairs would be increased. Besides, it was not like I was playing online games with this baby!

 

MLCreations Photography: Magic Kingdom &emdash; Castle Color Reflection

 

All the pieces arrived Thursday and about an hour after getting home from work the system was performing the first of the OS installs to bring everything back to normal. As I had learned from the last system crash I needed to first restore Windows 8.1 before I could upgrade to Windows 10. The Win 8.1 restore was not a problem. I attempted the upgrade to Win 10 but the system was hanging on the process. That issue took me another day to resolve (FYI – Win 8.1 Windows Update programs needed to be updated manually via a few downloads before the system would work properly – OMG!).

By Saturday morning I had my basic system working. The rest of Saturday was all about reinstalling my photography software and getting the system back to its fully protected, fully backed up operating condition. About half way through the process I found a directory with a lot of my stuff that I must have setup last crash. I wish I had written that down somewhere. It would have saved me an hour or two! 🙂

 

MLCreations Photography: Magic Kingdom &emdash; Era Mixing

 

I have started working through my images from last Sunday’s trip to the zoo. I’ll get a post online soon. I chose to add a few Cinderella Castle images to this post instead. To revive the post-processing muscles after a short hiatus I went with pics from my happy place. I also ventured to those directories first as I have been trying to plan a Spring trip back down and coordinating my work schedule with price shifts at Disney has been challenging. As much as I love going, I am unwilling to pay the prices during the ‘Peak’ seasons. I get supply and demand, but really, does the hotel room’s cost to operate increase by 50-100% during specific weeks of the year? Crazy!

Anyway… Make sure your files are backed up! The crash didn’t upset me too much other than the fact I would need to do all the work to restore the applications. I knew my data and those files important to me where safe.

Monorail Shade

Posted by Mike on

Monorail Monday
Future World, Epcot, Walt Disney World

There are classic views of the monorail while you are in Epcot. Views you must capture if you are a monorail enthusiast like myself. And then there are those different views of the monorail. The out of the ordinary views. Those are the views I look for. Sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t. I haven’t made up my mind on this one yet. It is is different, I’ll admit.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Monorail Shade

 

While you are in Future World at Epcot the Monorail track passes over head while it makes the loop around Spaceship Earth. This is the big reveal! Your first look at Epcot as the Monorail is cruising into the station. If you are sitting on the right side of the car you will have a continual view of Spaceship Earth. On the left you get glimpses of the attractions in Future World or at the top of the loop you can see into World Showcase.

This image is from a bench almost directly under the track on the way to Mission: Space. My eye always catches contrasting colors and the yellow in the umbrella against the blue sky was a combination I wanted to incorporate. I have done another monorail image incorporating these umbrellas, but the closeness of the track I thought would provide a unique view. I fired off a burst of exposures but I liked one of the first as the monorail is starting to enter the scene. Negative space can enhance an image as much, if not more, than by filling the whole frame.

Outside Looking In

Posted by Mike on

China Pavilion, World Showcase, Epcot
Walt Disney World

I’m down to a handful of days before I set out on another adventure to Florida. I’ll be driving down for the Christmas holiday and I am hopeful I will be able to find some more of those beautiful sunrises and sunsets. I did not make any plans to visit a Disney Park although I am thinking of making a tour of the monorail resorts (Polynesian, Contemporary and Grand Floridian) to view the holiday decorations. I will also be trying to hit up Disney Springs for a little shopping and food.

I guess I am drifting to my Disney place which brought me to this image from my October trip. Frequent readers know my fascination/appreciation for the China Pavilion at Epcot. I’m always looking for different views or angles to capture the architecture and wonderful details of this pavilion. The time right after sundown is typically the best as the sky is not yet black and the lights do not over-power everything in the area.

This view is from a small walkway on the right of the pavilion which is seldom used by guests. I was able to setup the tripod and work my scene to get the composition I wanted. I loved the light illuminating the plants in the foreground while the trees and taller plants created a couple of natural frames for the buildings in the background.

In order to capture the range of light and be able to highlight the details I wanted, I used three separate exposures. I combined the images using Photomatix to create a well balanced image that is technically an HDR image but not as intensely processed as HDR images can be. I have learned over the past few years that shadows are as important as light to an image. 🙂

To finish off my processing I use OnOne’s Photo 10 software suite. The Effects module allows me to ‘tweak’ the image with a plethora of controls. This ‘pluses’ the image and helps me create the picture I have in my head .

  

MLCreations Photography: Epcot &emdash; Outside Looking In

Outside Looking In
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {0.6, 2.5 & 13s bracket}, 12mm, f/5.6, ISO 400

Harper’s Mill Morning

Posted by Mike on

Frontierland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

I have always been a morning person. It might have been born out of necessity (first to use the bathroom, etc.) but now I find I enjoy the quiet, alone time getting up early affords me. The early rising doesn’t stop when I am on vacation either. It is a part of my daily routine to wake up early that even without setting an alarm I will be awake way before the sunrise. This works to my advantage as a photographer as I have the best opportunity to capture the great morning light (when it shows itself).

This image in the Magic Kingdom was captured after I had been in the park for almost 2+ hours. This was my before ‘dawn day’ on my last trip. The park is still waking up and the guests have not managed to find their way to every corner. There is a semi-secluded, seldom used walkway along the Rivers of America between Liberty Square and Frontierland that I always use. It allows me great views of Tom Sawyer Island, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and the Liberty Belle. Frequent readers of my posts will know I love this area of the park.

I generally capture a tighter crop on either Harper’s Mill or the Liberty Belle but on this morning the sunlight on the banks of Tom Sawyer Island really caught my attention. From this far end of the walkway I was able to capture the big view. What I think is cool about this image is that the illusion is not broken by any elements. Everything in the scene looks from the same time period. Although the Imagineers do a great job at minimizing the intrusion of different park elements into another it is not always possible. I’m going to add this view to my list of images to capture at night when I return.

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Harper's Mill Morning

Partners

Posted by Mike on

Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

With all the images I have captured in Walt Disney World, I do not believe I have one that captures the Partners statue in the Magic Kingdom to my liking. I have tried! It is typically a crowded location with Photopass opportunities and everyone trying to include the statue in their pic.

The morning of early entry into the park did afford me a great opportunity to grab the statue in front of the illuminated castle minutes before sunrise. The sky was starting to lighten but the lights still highlighted the statue. A big bonus for me was there were no people crowded around to worry about. I know on my next visit I will be looking for another early morning in the park.

   

MLCreations Photography: Magic Kingdom &emdash; Partners

Partners
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, 2s, 28mm, f/8, ISO 200

Mornin’ Cindy

Posted by Mike on

Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World

When I was in Walt Disney World in October my most anticipated day was the Friday I was going to the Magic Kingdom once I realized it opened early and I would be in the park about thirty minutes before sunrise. I had visions of the sunrise over the castle as I stand on the bridge between the hub and Liberty Square. I’ve seen other photographer’s images of this view and I was excited to get my own version. It did not matter to me how early I would need to get up in order to be at the park for that opening.

It was a small shot to my overall mood to discover as I arrived at the park that an early morning fog had settled over my kingdom. I was a little upset but I can only complain slightly as the conditions did allow for one of my favorite castle pictures to date (Pre-Dawn Cindy). Another blow to my mood once I had captured this colorful front view of the castle was the realization that the bridge to Liberty Square was not open during the extra magic hour which granted me this pre-dawn access. Even though I might have been missing out on my castle sunrise due to the fog I thought a good consolation prize would be a reflected view of the colorful castle.

Not to be a big pouting baby, I ran around the park grabbing as many images as I could before sunrise. Eventually the sun managed to burn through the fog and by the normal park opening the bridge into Liberty Square was open. I was able to grab an image of the castle, not the one I envisioned but I think I made it work for me…

 

MLCreations Photography: Blog Post Related &emdash; Mornin' Cindy

Mornin’ Cindy
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 12-40mm f/2.8, {1/40, 1/80 & 1/200s bracket}, 12mm, f/16, ISO 200