WDW in B&W – WBW03
Crescent Lake Area
Across Crescent Lake
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/200s, 24mm, f/11, ISO 200
Across Crescent Lake
Category Archives: Walt Disney World
Thunderstruck
Frontierland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
My apologies to AC/DC up front. The title felt appropriate. Here is an image of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad that I decided to play with a little. The original image was not terrible but it was a bit lackluster.
I wanted more drama in the sky which gave me the idea of ‘tweaking’ it myself in Photoshop. I placed the original sky on a separate layer, enlarged it a little and then applied a radial blur. The origin of the blur is a third from the bottom in the center. This location gave the sky a more natural movement and highlighted the silhouette of the ride the way I envisioned it.
Thunderstruck
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/400s, 17mm, f/8, ISO 200
Coming Into the Station
Monorail Monday
Epcot, Walt Disney World
Coming Into the Station
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/500s, 70mm, f/8, ISO 400
Space Mountain
WDW in B&W – WBW02
Tomorrowland, Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Do you ever get a concept for an image in your head and then when you attempt to execute it just doesn’t look right? That was me yesterday morning. I had an idea for something I thought would look cool and the conditions appeared to be in my favor (at least at home). When I arrived at my locations the sky was clear with nothing to help add color and interest to my concept. I tried! I really did but it was just not working, so I bought some donut holes and went back home to drown my sorrows… LOL!
I’ll keep the concept in the back of my head for another day.
What you get instead is another look at my Walt Disney World in Black & White series. I’m including the original color version as well for this post as I think it works as an interesting image too. I like the starkness of the all white Space Mountain building against a cloud-filled sky with just a hint of additional color from the sign. It might actually be a stronger image than my conversion to B&W.
Space Mountain
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/4000s, f/2.8, ISO 200
Space Mountain
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/4000s, f/2.8, ISO 200
The Forbidden One
WDW in B&W – WBW01
Animal Kingdom, Walt Disney World
The Forbidden One
Nikon D5100, Nikkor 35mm f/1.8, 1/250s, f/16, ISO 400
Roger E. Broggie
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
Roger E. Broggie
Nikon D5100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 70mm, f/5.6, ISO 100
At the Center
Monochrome Monday
Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World
At the Center
Nikon D7100, Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8-4, 1/100s, 17mm, f/5.6, ISO 800
Florida Fresh Corrected
International Flower & Garden Festival
My original post and image of this truck I found at the Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival has never really sat right with me. It didn’t speak to me nor did it make me feel the way I did when I captured the image. I have been reading quite a few books about photography lately but none of them have been technical books. They have been about creativity and expression.
A few of those books are:
Creative Visualization for Photographers – Rick Sammon
Learning to See Creatively – Bryan Peterson
The Creative Fight – Chris Orwig
and a few eBooks:
Chasing the Look – David duChemin
The Evocative Image – Andrew S. Gibson
These books have fueled a change in my approach to photography. Not only am I trying to capture a beautiful or interesting image, I’m trying to capture and process an image that conveys more of a feeling.
This is what has bothered me about my original Florida Fresh image. It was a very colorful image of a scene I found in Epcot. But for me it lacked a connection to that day when I clicked the shutter. On that day I was feeling deflated. Disney was losing some of its luster. It was crowded, I felt I was being nickle and dimed to death and I was not being successful in what I wanted to achieve photographically.
When I found this truck I was both excited and frustrated. I waited patiently for my turn to grab a picture but there was a lack of etiquette among the guests. When I am at Disney I always wait my turn and make every attempt not to interfere with someone else’s enjoyment of the parks. I was not getting back what I always tried to give…
I eventually gave up and sat down on a bench away from the truck. It was then another idea for this image came to mind. I switched to my 60mm macro lens (I brought very few lenses that day) and waited for that brief moment when my long view would be clear. I was able to grab one image before the guests returned to the area. Success!
I felt like a hunter who stalked and captured his prey from the safety of distance. I grabbed an image in a very narrow window of opportunity. I also felt like this compressed view of the truck is more how I would find it in an orange grove back in the 30’s. My original processing didn’t bring any of this out.
Below is my second attempt to present Florida Fresh…
Florida Fresh
Olympus OM-D E-M1, M. Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro, 1/80s, f/11, ISO 400
MLCreations Photography 