Hockeyman55 - Theme Park Pics Thru My Eyes

[Hockeyman55]

A double dose of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Orlando

[firewalk13]

Ha, I love that first one of rip ride rockit! The expressions are awesome, great capture.

[Hockeyman55]

Happy Fireworks Friday everyone

Wishes at the Magic Kingdom

[hyyyper]

Wow, those are some crazy shots. The color balance is almost perfect, even in the dark shots. May I ask what kind of equipment you are using?

[Hockeyman55]

Wow, those are some crazy shots. The color balance is almost perfect, even in the dark shots. May I ask what kind of equipment you are using?

 

Thanks Hyyyper I tend to think I get more lucky with some of these shots than anything else and they are nowhere near perfect. For example the firework shot I just posted is by far perfect, the castle is a blurry from the tripod moving during the picture but it isnt bad to the point I didn't want to post it.

 

I shoot with a Sony A55 and use these lenses. Looking to upgrade camera bodies pretty soon though.

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 XR

Rokinon 8mm Ultra Wide Angle f/3.5 Fisheye Lens

Tamron 70-300mm f/4.0 DI LD

Sony 35mm f/1.8 lens

[Hockeyman55]

Night time at Universal Orlando Citywalk taken back in October.

[Tanks4me05]

*Casually browses thread, expecting some person's boring, crappy, blurry, colorless photos.*

 

HOLY CRAP. The one of HRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR at night was my favorite. I enjoyed utilizing the same effect on Windseekers. I just wish some more coasters had lighting packages that I could photograph.

[Voxelmatic]

Wow. These are some awesome pictures! I really love them

[Hockeyman55]

Voxelmatic and Tanks4me0 thank you both

 

Happy Saturday to all! Here is just a quick cute shot of Chip and Dale taken at the hub area of the Magic Kingdom

[Voxelmatic]

Rodents!

[TPDave]

I love the reflection one a couple of pages back, really nice!

 

Dave

[Hockeyman55]

Thanks Dave

 

 

Here is a shot I took back in 2011 at the Busch Gardens Bash. This was my first and so far only TPR event I have been on and also began my DSLR with it being the first time I shot at any theme park. This one is one of my earlier shots of Shiekra

[jray21]

Incredible photos! Can't wait to see more!

[Werner]

Indeed great photo's, can't wait to get a new camera soon... After selling my Nikon D700. And start getting to know my new equipment before TPR tours 2013

[Hockeyman55]

Incredible photos! Can't wait to see more!

 

Thanks Joey. I'm enjoying your Brazil trip report

[Hockeyman55]

Indeed great photo's, can't wait to get a new camera soon... After selling my Nikon D700. And start getting to know my new equipment before TPR tours 2013

 

Thanks Werner. What camera are you looking at getting? I got a buddy who just picked up a Nikon D600 but he's not sure if he wants to keep, he was using a Sony Nex7 and enjoys the small size.

[Werner]

Im thinking of going back to superzoom camera, proberly the Fujifilm X-S1. 'Still the manuel zoom lens 18-624mm F2.8-5.6, RAW files, good to use to iso 800(they say in the reviews), and much more inportant for me... No more 10 kg bag on my back.

 

I have to say since the 2011 trips, i didn't use the D700 unless for my last summer holiday, thats the main reason. This looks like a solid replacement camera to take with me on vacantions.

[bert425]

A double dose of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Orlando

 

absolutely gorgeous pics, but I think the HRRR pic is my favorite.

 

Four People hanging on for dear life, and Three People screaming in sheer ecstasy.

 

that says it all about Roller Coasters!

[B&MIntaminGCI]

Is there a simple tutorial that you use for your HDR shots?

 

I was browsing your Flickr and I was in the Busch Gardens Tampa set, and I noticed the 2 Montu photos and the edited brighter/HDR one is amazing, but I'm curious as to how you did that with only 1 photo

[Hockeyman55]

Im thinking of going back to superzoom camera, proberly the Fujifilm X-S1. 'Still the manuel zoom lens 18-624mm F2.8-5.6, RAW files, good to use to iso 800(they say in the reviews), and much more inportant for me... No more 10 kg bag on my back.

 

I have to say since the 2011 trips, i didn't use the D700 unless for my last summer holiday, thats the main reason. This looks like a solid replacement camera to take with me on vacantions.

 

 

Check out the Sony Nex7 or even Olympus E-M5, both take unbelievable pictures and are compact and wont weigh you down lol

 

 

A double dose of Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Orlando

 

absolutely gorgeous pics, but I think the HRRR pic is my favorite.

 

Four People hanging on for dear life, and Three People screaming in sheer ecstasy.

 

that says it all about Roller Coasters!

 

Thanks Bert The close up coaster shots are the best

[Hockeyman55]

Is there a simple tutorial that you use for your HDR shots?

 

I was browsing your Flickr and I was in the Busch Gardens Tampa set, and I noticed the 2 Montu photos and the edited brighter/HDR one is amazing, but I'm curious as to how you did that with only 1 photo

 

 

I started messing around with some HDR stuff after running across this web site. http://www.stuckincustoms.com/ unbelievable photographer and Trey also has a rally good HDR tutorial on his site that I used as a guideline, I dont use Photoshop all that much so I skipped those steps.

 

The Busch Gardens pics I think for the most part I used a program called Nik Color Efex, which is a plug in for Lightroom. It really is a great program and has some setting that make some of the photos appear as an HDR shot.

 

Here are a few shots that I processed as HDR. I use a program called Photomatix to combine the separate images and turn them into these HDR shots.

This shot is an original straight out of the camera just to show the difference before and after. Took on the fly as I was walking thru LM and didnt really set up for.

This is a single shot HDR that I created mirror copies to make. I save an original and then the next one I raised the exposure by 1 and then the last one lowered it by 1. I then take all 3 and merge together using Photomatix and then tweak in Lightroom once done. This picture isnt really anything special but just wanted to show how you can take a single shot and turn in into an HDR shot.

This one I actually took 3 separate shots with different exposure value and combined and made a more natural look.

This one is the same as above but went a little crazy with it.

[SLUSHIE]

 

This photo is pretty great. It's composed really well with Pluto and main street decorations in the background. It's just like something you would would see in a flyer at a hotel or on their website and stuff. If you have a portfolio, that's the kind of shots you should be showcasing.

 

As far as HDR, it works much better if your doing it for reals and using separate photos taken with different settings. Some cameras have this feature built in and will take the 3 or whatever photos at different settings automatically without you having to change it for each one.

 

The method you used is fine for fixing underexposed areas but not the greatest to get the HDR effect.

[Hockeyman55]

 

This photo is pretty great. It's composed really well with Pluto and main street decorations in the background. It's just like something you would would see in a flyer at a hotel or on their website and stuff. If you have a portfolio, that's the kind of shots you should be showcasing.

 

As far as HDR, it works much better if your doing it for reals and using separate photos taken with different settings. Some cameras have this feature built in and will take the 3 or whatever photos at different settings automatically without you having to change it for each one.

 

The method you used is fine for fixing underexposed areas but not the greatest to get the HDR effect.

 

Thanks Slushie. The Pluto was just a happy accident really. I snapped about 3 or 4 shots at that spot and that one came out the best with the family moving just enough to see Pluto

 

I dont shoot much HDR but for the Everest shots I did shoot them auto bracketed in the camera. The Little Mermaid line was just a single pic

[Hockeyman55]

The Magic Kingdom is such a great setting for some night shooting, especially around holiday time.

This one came out cool with the ghosting of the shoes heading towards the castle.

I posted this Dumbo shot on on the Magic Kingdom thread but wanted to post it on here also.

Celebrate the Magic show

Cindy's castle all deck out for the holidays

[Hockeyman55]

This is a shot I wanted to try something different with than the other millions of shots I have seen of it. I went with a longer lens to bring in the background and create this shallower depth of field