'Finding Nemo -- The Musical'

[PixieDust32]

Any tips on how to take good pics? Where to seat?
Thanks

 

[MarkBarbieri]

It's a relatively tough show to shoot, but not as bad as Fantasmic! or Festival of the Lion King. The trouble is that it's relatively active and not terribly bright.

You need to sit close. Maybe not down in the pit seats, but definitely near the front. The farther back you sit, the more you'll need to zoom in. The more you zoom in, the harder everything gets.

Do you have a DSLR or a P&S? This is one situation where you will really struggle to get good pictures with a P&S. Regardless, you'll want to set your ISO at 800 or higher. You'll probably want to shoot with a relatively wide aperture (f/5.6 or lower). Because so much of the scene is dark, you might want to try spot metering.

If all else fails, feel free to download and use some of my shots. I'll post a few samples below. Keep in mind that these were taken with a high end DSLR (albeit a 4 year old model) and a pretty expensive lens. Don't expect results like that if your going in with a pocket camera.








http://photos.barbierifamily.org/gallery/4978857_QNwb6#298241313_8YvWj

 

[Groucho]

I just finished processing my shots of this, as a matter of fact...

First - it should be obvious, but definitely keep your flash off! Otherwise, you will likely get a visit from a cast member. (It happened to someone in the same aisle as us.)

It's certainly not the most challenging thing to shoot on property, but it will be tough with a PnS. I pretty much left my camera in "P" (biased for high speed) mode. It didn't hurt that we got a seat right in the front, about six rows back, right next to the runway. I think I did pretty well in terms of reach with a lens that maxes out at 135mm - if you're farther away, extra zoom may really help, but I wouldn't want to go slower than F2.8. Shooting in raw is good; if your camera can't shoot in raw, you may want to try turning down setting the color curve to "natural" instead of "bright" or "vibrant" or "chrome" or whatever your camera calls it - the colors are pretty vibrant already and shouldn't really need extra boosting, they may end up looking really unnatural.

Here's a few shots along with the exif information:

Here's one where they were right by us: ISO 400, 135mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

Another close-up... ISO 2200, 135mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

This one had more white balance adjustment than any other - would you believe, 50,000 and +80 in Lightroom? Obviously it's not quite the "true" color you see during the show but it's more natural. ISO 800, 95mm, F2.8, 1/90th

A fairly bright scene here. ISO 280, 108mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

ISO 560, 90mm, F2.8, 1/90th:

ISO 800, 135mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

Also - if you've never seen it before, I'd recommend just sitting back and enjoying the show - worry about taking photos on the second viewing.

 

[wdwensel]

Wow, Mark, that second shot of yours is outstanding. And Groucho, I love the last one you posted.

 

[cmwade77]

First off, let me say that I personally didn't care that much for this show, if there is room and they happen to be letting in as I am going by, I MAY go in to see it.

Secondly, I must say that i found this the hardest show to shoot at any Disney Park. Fantasmic! is super easy when you really know your camera, if you don't know your camera it can be very difficult. If I ever decide to go back to take pictures of this show before I finally talk my DW into letting me get a dSLR, I would take my Kodak DX7630 P&S, I have pretty much full manual control over everything, except I can't manually focus. Or I might try my Nikon, as I can manually focus with that. My Olympus is not good for this show, but is great for everything else, at least as far as a P&S goes.

Also, great shots for those that have posted them.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I got some great shots of this show with my Canon S5. First, as someone mentioned, do not use flash! Make sure you get a close seat.

I took a tripod with me. It came in very handy for low light situations.

I am at work or I would post some of my pictures.

I love this show!

TC

 

[LPZ_Stitch!]

You can even get decent pictures with a good P&S ... here's one I took at max zoom from the very last row with my Canon Powershot S3:

With spot metering, Av mode with the aperture as wide as it will go, and ISO 200 you can get a shutter speed that's *just* fast enough for the IS to give you a relatively clear pic ... if, of course, no one blinks!!

 

[Tuffcookie]

Here are the ones I took with my S5:

All taken at Auto setting, no flash, & a tripod.

TC

 

[PixieDust32]

It's a relatively tough show to shoot, but not as bad as Fantasmic! or Festival of the Lion King. The trouble is that it's relatively active and not terribly bright.

You need to sit close. Maybe not down in the pit seats, but definitely near the front. The farther back you sit, the more you'll need to zoom in. The more you zoom in, the harder everything gets.

Do you have a DSLR or a P&S? This is one situation where you will really struggle to get good pictures with a P&S. Regardless, you'll want to set your ISO at 800 or higher. You'll probably want to shoot with a relatively wide aperture (f/5.6 or lower). Because so much of the scene is dark, you might want to try spot metering.

If all else fails, feel free to download and use some of my shots. I'll post a few samples below. Keep in mind that these were taken with a high end DSLR (albeit a 4 year old model) and a pretty expensive lens. Don't expect results like that if your going in with a pocket camera.








http://photos.barbierifamily.org/gallery/4978857_QNwb6#298241313_8YvWj

WOW! Thank you so much! Your photos are amazing. Well I don't have DSLR, I have a SLR with a lens like this....

I'll try. Thanks for your offer.

 

[PixieDust32]

Here are the ones I took with my S5:

All taken at Auto setting, no flash, & a tripod.

TC

WOW! love them. Thank you.

 

[PixieDust32]

You can even get decent pictures with a good P&S ... here's one I took at max zoom from the very last row with my Canon Powershot S3:

With spot metering, Av mode with the aperture as wide as it will go, and ISO 200 you can get a shutter speed that's *just* fast enough for the IS to give you a relatively clear pic ... if, of course, no one blinks!!

Looks good! Thank you. I have also a canon powershot.

 

[PixieDust32]

I just finished processing my shots of this, as a matter of fact...

First - it should be obvious, but definitely keep your flash off! Otherwise, you will likely get a visit from a cast member. (It happened to someone in the same aisle as us.)

It's certainly not the most challenging thing to shoot on property, but it will be tough with a PnS. I pretty much left my camera in "P" (biased for high speed) mode. It didn't hurt that we got a seat right in the front, about six rows back, right next to the runway. I think I did pretty well in terms of reach with a lens that maxes out at 135mm - if you're farther away, extra zoom may really help, but I wouldn't want to go slower than F2.8. Shooting in raw is good; if your camera can't shoot in raw, you may want to try turning down setting the color curve to "natural" instead of "bright" or "vibrant" or "chrome" or whatever your camera calls it - the colors are pretty vibrant already and shouldn't really need extra boosting, they may end up looking really unnatural.

Here's a few shots along with the exif information:

Here's one where they were right by us: ISO 400, 135mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

Another close-up... ISO 2200, 135mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

This one had more white balance adjustment than any other - would you believe, 50,000 and +80 in Lightroom? Obviously it's not quite the "true" color you see during the show but it's more natural. ISO 800, 95mm, F2.8, 1/90th

A fairly bright scene here. ISO 280, 108mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

ISO 560, 90mm, F2.8, 1/90th:

ISO 800, 135mm, F2.8, 1/120th:

Also - if you've never seen it before, I'd recommend just sitting back and enjoying the show - worry about taking photos on the second viewing.

Thank you, I know, no flash Im taking notes, thank you guys.