I have been a member, "lurker", and occasional commenter on a Disney forum for several years now, and was invited to join a group of photographers from the forum on their second annual photography get-together. Lord Fauntleroy and I already had planned on going to The Happiest Place on Earth on the appointed day, so I decided somewhat hesitantly to take my brand new camera and expose it to weather, rides, crowds, and the critique of other photographers.
I spent most of my time playing with aperture, focus and shutter speed and learned a lot from many of the veteran photographers there.
Rule number one: If you wear glasses and play with manual focus, all of your pictures will come out blurry. Wear contacts, or use auto focus while using the rest of the settings on manual.
Rule number two: Don't be ashamed to use auto focus. Creating an image is about capturing the moment; it's not about being "the master of the machine".
That said, here are two images from The Magic Kingdom on March 6th, 2011:
1/10S f/ 25.0 ISO: 100 FL: 55mm
Taken with Canon EOS Rebel T2i
Taken on 03-06-2011
Matterhorn Waterfalls
I played with the shutter speed in this test shot of the Matterhorn's waterfalls to see if I could capture the "dreamy water" effect. It seems one tenth of a second is just right. Any shorter and the water looks frozen in place, and any longer the camera picks up on your unsteady hands and blurs the shot.
1/10S f/25.0 ISO: 100 FL: 55mm
Taken with: EOS Canon Rebel T2i
Taken on 03-06-2011
Mardi Gras Dancer
You'll notice the face of the Mardi Gras dancer is a bit blurry. No, this is not a focusing issue, the blurriness stems from the slow shutter speed. I slowed the shutter speed down to one tenth of a second to capture the spinning of the umbrella. In that time the dancer moved just slightly enough to cause blurring around her face. Nevertheless, I am still pleased with the shot. It's not an easy one to take, especially in bright sunlight.
Yes, these two photos are not watermarked. I got lazy. Enjoy!
