Photographing a Disney Monorail at Night

Posted on January 27, 2012 by Scott Thomas Photography

When I shared my Best Disney Photos of 2011 last November, I promised I would be telling you how I was able to light up the monorail.  Today is the day!  Enjoy!

I have seen other photographers sharing photos of Walt Disney World Monorails at night in Epcot using a single flash unit to illuminate the moving vehicle.  Without a flash, one could only get a blurred monorail late at night.  You know me by now, I had to see if I could light up a monorail using my trusty Nikon SB-600 Speedlight flash unit.

I set up a tripod near the Universe of Energy so I could use Spaceship Earth for a backdrop when a monorail came by. Another reason for this location is the monorails slow down when they enter Epcot allowing me to use slower shutter speeds. The Universe of Energy being closed at night even if Epcot has an EMH (Extra Magic Hours) night makes it quiet enough to hear as a monorail approached. When a monorail appeared I tried to wait for it to get to the T in the track (see photos).  I got better with each monorail.

I set my camera to use Rear-sync flash (sometimes called second curtain) where the flash is fired at the end of the exposure.  This freezes most everything being photographed even if it is moving. Bright lights, like a monorail’s headlight, will still show a streak. The flash’s power was set to full power (+/- 0).

I put my camera in Manual mode and set the aperture to f/5 and ISO to 3200. I adjusted the  Nikon 28-300mm VR zoom lens for the scene until I found 82mm gave me a good composition.  Used auto-focus to set focus and turned it off.  By doing so, the focus will not change unless I moved the camera or hit the tripod. I used a remote shutter release to eliminate touching the camera. The Nikon SB-600 flash was in the hot shoe on the camera.

The first monorail was orange and I took it at 1/30th of a second.  I was a little quick on the shutter and the flash did not cover as much of the monorail as I had hoped.  I liked how Spaceship Earth looked.

Monorail Orange passing Spaceship Earth at night.

Monorail Orange passing Spaceship Earth at night. Nikon D300/28-300VR, 1/30s, f/5, ISO 3200, EV 0, 82mm focal length, rear-sync flash at full power, tripod.

Monorail Green was the second one to enter Epcot.  I changed the shutter speed to 1/15th of a second. Notice how the headlight has become elongated in this photo.  Spaceship Earth is better exposed and more of the monorail has been lighted.  I hit my mark, too.

Monorail Green passing Spaceship Earth at night.

Monorail Green passing Spaceship Earth at night. Nikon D300/28-300VR, 1/15s, f/5, ISO 3200, EV 0, 82mm focal length, rear-sync flash at full power, tripod.

Monorail Blue was the next one and has an even longer headlight streak from the longer exposure at 1/4th of a second.  The monorail is well lighted and Spaceship Earth looks great behind it.  The mark is a bit late but I liked it better. I cropped it to a 4×5 (8×10) ratio.

Monorail Blue passing Spaceship Earth at night.

Monorail Blue passing Spaceship Earth at night. Nikon D300/28-300VR, 1/4s, f/5, ISO 3200, EV 0, 82mm focal length, rear-sync flash, tripod at full power, cropped.

I now know it can be done.  I will try it again with a whole monorail as it crosses the World Showcase walkway from Future World. Others have done it with off-camera flash.  Something I want to try at Walt Disney World in the future.

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Assignment 17 Recap

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Scott Thomas Photography

I really enjoyed seeing everyone’s creative juices flowing as they looked at either past photos or created new ones for this assignment.  The Rule of Thirds is a good thing to learn and keep in mind as you are looking through your viewfinders or LCD displays.  It helps to create a strong and more interesting composition.

I would like to thank Kent Weakley for offering a place in his Composition eClass (which you could still join in on if you are interested).

The first person to submit a link is a new upstate New York photographer I meet on Google+, Michael has a 365 Photo blog called Picture Day where he shared a golden sky and lamp photo improved with just a tweak to the lamp’s positioning.

Regina knows how to get my attention with a vastly improved photo from one of my favorite rides at Walt Disney World featuring Professor Cumulus Isobar and the town of Tumbleweed.

Next up is our prize winner!  Dawn put me to shame with her Straight Out Of the Camera (SOOC) photo composed with the Rule of Thirds of a twilight sky. Very well done!

My good friend and fellow Disney nut, Jeff, links us to a flickr set of four before and after photos where he applied the Rule of Thirds to improve them.  I found the ‘after’ photos much more compelling.

This assignment struck a strong cord with one of my Ithaca photobloggers.  Turns out Barbara had been wrestling with what makes for a good composed photo.  Her examples fit this assignment very well but still challenges the reader.

Experimentation is how we learn.  Nye shows us her starting photo and then applies three different compositions based on the Rule of Thirds.  Sometimes it is good to bend the rules. 😉

I do love The Petal Pushers photo for this assignment.  For the life of me I have no idea why a plastic bottle is hanging from a tree. Sure made for a great photo and a good link, too.

I challenged Debbie on one of her previous blogs about composition and she responded with before and after versions of the photo which I feel really brings home the concept of the Rule of Thirds AND how to improve a photo with it.  Oh, and those tiger cubs are so cute, too!

Karma shows us not one but two and a half photos which she improved with creative cropping.  The rainbow sprite show captured is my favorite of all the submitted photos.

Nora is another Google+ contributor.  She used flickr for her before and after versions of an artifact she photographed in Walt Disney World’s Tower of Terror.  The ‘after’ photo is the clear winner.  Something to show new camera owners.

Truels fought off some computer gremlins to bring us a series of summer images he masterfully re-cropped into a stunning set of warmth.  Make a good start to a photo book. 🙂

People must think I like Walt Disney World or something. 😉  KD strongly improved the composition of photos from her last trip to Orlando.  Epcot’s World Showcase really popped out at me from the set.

Lauri is one of those up and coming photographers I see so much of on Google+.  Her brilliant beach composition really nails it.

Sybil had a little difficulty with the assignment. I do have to agree with her that the before photos were better and followed the Rule of Thirds better than the ‘after’ photos.  So, I say to her, you got it!

Deanna not only improved a wonderfully wacky photo, she still is looking for the answer to the mystery of her daughter’s eyes.

I got some advice from a waterfowl which really improved an okay photo into a much more interesting one.  I need to talk to animals more often.

I would be remiss not to mention Birgitte’s musical salute to my assignment.

Now that you are well versed in the Rule of Thirds, find ways that work which break it! 😀  I’ll be back in March for another assignment and accompanying prize offer.

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View 213: George Eastman House

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Scott Thomas Photography
George Eastman House and International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York.

George Eastman House and International Museum of Photography and Film in Rochester, New York. Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/60s, f/11, ISO 4000, EV 0, 45mm focal length.

The 35,000-square-foot Colonial Revival house of George Eastman took three years to build and was completed in 1905 at a cost of $300,000.  The estate originally included a stable, garage, barn, five greenhouses, and many vegetable and flower gardens on eight and one-half acres.  The house has thirty-seven rooms, thirteen baths, and nine fireplaces.

Today the house is home to the International Museum of Photography and Film which resides behind the original home which is kept as a memorial to the man who created modern photography through his company, Kodak.

Conservatory room of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York (see text for more information).

Conservatory room of the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York (see text for more information). Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, f/8, ISO 2800, EV 0, 16mm focal length, HDR.

I have visited other homes and museums of millionaires from the 19th and 20th century before.  Unlike the others, George Eastman never married so his home was more like a bachelor pad.  As an avid big game hunter, he used lots of animal trophies, furs and even feet of antelopes and elephants for ashtrays and trash cans in his house. His library features a desk topped with a rhinoceros hide.

In 1928, on George Eastman’s second African safari, he returned with an elephant trophy. Research has showed that Eastman’s taxidermists were so impressed with the animal’s great size they made a mold of it to cast a copy for their showroom. In 1989 the mold was used again to create the fiberglass replica now on display in the conservatory during a $1.7 million dollar restoration of the house.

The elephant George Eastman had taken only had one tusk and was described as “rogue”. He had the tusk removed, mounted separately and displayed on the floor below the trophy. Two wooden tusks were made for the mounted head as replacements. The original ivory tusk has long since disappeared and another is on display (seen in the photo above).  George Eastman also supported financially the first wildlife film photographers in Africa which brought back the wonders of the continent which was full of mysteries to Western civilization in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The Library in the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York.

The Library in the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York. Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, 1/8s, f/8, ISO 6400, EV +0.3, 16mm focal length.

Floor to ceiling book shelves are found on every wall in Eastman’s library except where the window and fireplace are.  This is one of the smaller rooms in the house and George had more shelves built in the living room to be able to hold his entire collection of books.

A photo cutout of George Eastman sits in the Reading Room of the his house in Rochester, New York.

A photo cutout of George Eastman sits in the Reading Room of the his house in Rochester, New York. Nikon D700/Tokina 11-16mm, 1/60s, f/2.8, ISO 5600, EV 0, 15mm focal length.

I planned my visit to the George Eastman House a few weeks ago so it was a coincidence  a couple of days before I took these photos Kodak, the company George Eastman founded back in 1888, declared bankruptcy.  It is my hope, Kodak can emerge from it and again take its place as one of the most innovative technology companies in the world as it had become when George was at the helm.

Posted in Travel, Weekly View | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 10 Comments

Photographic Inspiration

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Scott Thomas Photography

Every day I get up and take incredibly beautiful photos.  Ah, if only, eh?  Somedays I have no idea what to photograph.  Nothing looks good.  Sometimes I review my own advice on how to get out of a photographic slump.  Other times I turn to the Internet.

I save a lot of  links to articles and websites via Twitter, Google+ and newsletters.  I read through a few last night and wanted to pass them on to all of you.

Lottery Scratch Off Games at the New York State Fair in Syracuse, New York.

Hanging lottery scratch off game tickets create colorful repetitive patterns at the NY Lottery booth in the New York State Fair.

If you are new to photography or have been doing it for years, the Digital Photography School (DPS) website has lots to offer you each week.  This past week, the thought provoking article talking about The One Question You Should Ask Yourself Before Taking Any Picture got me considering my approach to photography.  Do you “see” and photograph patterns around you?  If you, like me, seem to miss such opportunities.  The DPS photo essay called 33 Inspirational Images that Feature Patterns and Repetition will help. I highly suggest you subscribe to the DPS weekly newsletter for more great information and inspiration.

When I see a post or tweet about X number of something, I usually get curious enough to check it out.  Here are a couple I found very helpful.

22 Things You Can Do Today to Change Your Photography (If you are interested in #6, contact me, please!)

10 Top Ways To Use Different Angles In Your Photography

Speaking of slumps, Scott Bourne has a short and to the point way of keeping boredom out of photography.  When I follow this advice, I get a great feeling of accomplishment even if it scares me to start.

Speaking of advice, I found this article surprisingly informative: 5 Pieces of Advice You Can Give Anyone.

Have a great weekend everybody!

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Wood Duck Advice

Posted on January 18, 2012 by Scott Thomas Photography
Male wood duck (Aix sponsa) on the ice of a pond at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. Uncropped version.

Male wood duck (Aix sponsa) on the ice of a pond at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. Uncropped version.

The wood duck was telling me to use the Rule of Thirds when I was photographing him at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo last weekend. I did my best but there were other ducks to either side of him.

Like in sports photography, photographing animals at zoos or in the wild does not always lend itself to in camera composing of photos.  You have little control as to where the animals are or may move to.  Thus a lot of my wildlife and zoo photos are cropped for composition.  For instance, I was able to crop Mr. Wood Duck’s photo per his suggestion below.

Wood duck (Aix sponsa) standing on ice at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. Cropped version.

Wood duck (Aix sponsa) standing on ice at the Rosamond Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York. Cropped version.

His eye is near one of the power points of the frame.  Maybe I will add a little bubble with some funny text coming out of his mouth.  What would he be saying?

Click here to see how other photographers did with the Rule of Thirds assignment.

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