Well, a completely unplanned evening turns into some of the better Illuminations shots I've gotten so far! Arriving at Boardwalk and checking into my room at 4pm Friday, I unpacked, enjoyed some walking around on the Boardwalk and snapping some pics, then decided to go renew my annual pass at the Epcot World Showcase gate just around the corner. Once the pass was renewed, it was just too tempting to not walk into Epcot even though my plans did not include it for the night. As it was nearing dinner, we decided to see if we could get into anything in Epcot on 'zero' notice. After a little thinking...we figured Morocco was the best chance (it's virtually never sold out despite being very good food). Sure enough, we got right in with no wait. After enjoying the beautiful belly dancer, and walking back out into the humid post-dusk night, I realized we were just minutes from Illuminations. Should I stay and watch again, or not? I walked back to France, but just before crossing the bridge to the UK, I decided to stop along an unoccupied section of lakeside wall, and watch the show. It wasn't the best location, because it was partially blocked by one of the tree islands...but I've seen it a million times and didn't mind if I missed some of the globe and fountain bits. Of course, without tripod, pictures seemed futile. But the wall had a decently flat top right near eye level...so I decided to steady the camera on the wall, and breathe out every time I was ready to snap a shot. I fluctuated between 3 and 5 seconds...and gave it a go. The beginning of the show, with the globe and fountains: A zoom on the fountains: Then the fireworks begin!: Then everything goes nuts: Pop pop pop pop pop!: Big finale...everything going full bore: I started working my way across the UK bridge just at the finale, while the last bit of music lulls, then crescendoes again. That put me on the Epcot Resort-area walkway right as it ended - first through the turnstyles out, and back to Boardwalk in just a few minutes' walk. And all for a night that I wasn't really planning on heading into any parks or taking any pictures. I was pretty happy with the fireworks shots I managed to come away with, especially considering the unplanned location and the lack of a tripod. But Disney makes the show grand enough that it's hard to blow it!
Very nice ! Specatacular, actually, without a tripod. I know the exaxt location you're talking about. I like it because it is fairly "low traffic". We often watch from there after an Alfredo's dinner.
Thanks guys. JC - that spot is a pretty good 'last minute' spot if you want to catch the show when you've already seen it, because like you said it is very low traffic. It's just inside France, to the right of the bridge to UK and to the left of the wine cart (when looking at the lake) and just behind the artist booths. I shot maybe 14 shots - 3 were overexposed as I had to get the shutter speed and aperture right...and 2 were a it blurry because of me moving the camera. The rest came out pretty good...and I started to get better with timing the shots with the fireworks as it went on, which is why alot of the shots above are near the last half of the show.
great effort, justin. illuminations is a very hard show to shoot... i frequently throw more away than i keep from that show.
Well, for being an unplanned shoot you did well.. there are things here I haven't seen done in pictures yet. I mean certain firework elements, certain twirly bits, or the big fine blue line one. To tell the truth I'm not sure how photogenic the twirly bits are, they just don't look majestic enough. But.. I appreciate those unplanned moments, the situations where things just work out. Sometimes I want to write a book and call it "using fate to plan your Disney experience". Of course I'm joking, but there have been times where I've tried a day at WDW with zero planning, simply taking things as they came, and overall things worked out very well. I guess you could call it intuition, I just go with my gut and in the end have a fabulous day. Take that, Passporter! I'm particularly interested in the one with the blue fountain spray effect (not the water, the actual fireworks). There are a smaller number of what I'm terming rogue blue elements, located above the main blue sprays. All the other elements I can figure out, but those few blue bits seem out of place, I wonder if they're malfunctioning. I'll bet I'd have never noticed them if I'd seen that sequence in real time. Only in time lapse do they stand out.
Thank you Tim! I usually have alot of throwaways myself...and did have a few this time. But I also shot alot fewer this time than usual since I wasn't even planning to shoot in the first place. Dan, I'm not 100% sure, but I think that those rogue blue bits that aren't in line with the blue fountaining are probably where I caught the trailing embers of the last fireworks to go off just before the fountains started. It would explain why they are so far off a centerpoint...and also would explain the remnants of the other ,yellow-white squiggles which you can see falling but without a centerpoint. The illuminations moves so fast and furiously that you rarely get the chance to shoot a clean set of fireworks without catching the end of the last one or the beginning of the next one! And I think you're right about the fate...the 'happy accidents' as Spielberg likes to call them, when you get something on film that wasn't planned but ends up being something cool or interesting. I've gotten quite a few at Disney in much the same way - just occasionally firing off an unplanned shot or two and finding myself liking some of those more than the planned and staged shots.
Exactly, JC. And I like the wine cart even more when there's a young, attractive French woman inside serving the wine. France is one of those countries in Epcot that I always visit every store - even the perfume and makeup store in back - just to see the cute French girls and make them speak to me in that accent. Aaaaah, les femmes!
I want to take photo's like this. These are absolutely beautiful. I hope that I can take some shots like this and get similar responses someday soon.
I'm sure you will! Thank you for the compliment. I've learned more about photography over the past 4 years through photo forums and advice from very kind and knowledgeable veterans than I did in 25 years owning an SLR (I was just a vacation snapshooter). And I've picked up some great ideas and tips here too - blatantly copying some of the photo spots and brilliant compositions of members here, and our illustrious leader, Tim. Do the same - plagiarize away, and ask as many questions as you can come up with! Everyone here is more than happy to help, and folks like myself are busy trying to pay forward all the wonderful tips and advice we've received.
