NEW ARTICLE: Disney Character Portraits: Hints & Tips

[Tim]

Scott Dommin writes a fantastic article on Disney Character Portraits: Hints & Tips.
READ THE ARTICLE HERE!

Discuss the article here! Great job, Scott, and thanks!

 

[prettypixie]

Thanks for the tips. I have not taken many character portraits at Disney and when I look back at them, they are not usually looking at the camera. I'm guilty of not waiting in line...I just take them from the side of the line since I'm not usually patient enough to wait. Looking at some of these great shots shows me what I've been missing. Especially now that I will have kids to take with me on my next trip!

 

[Craig]

FANTASTIC!
Thanks Scott. Great article full of great tips. I never would have thought to bump up my iso on portraits.
I love your portraits.

 

[Scott]

Thanks guys! Glad you enjoyed it.

 

[molander]

See? Just as I said in another post, I'm constantly learning things here. Love this place.

Any tips for indoor portraits? I lost Mickey's ears in the Garden Grill last year. Granted, I have a better camera now but I don't know what to do to avoid this problem.

 

[mPower]

Off camera flash will do a lot to help. Short of that, bounce the light off the ceiling!

 

[Roger]

Scott, great article.

But I was wondering about catchlights in portraits. Some like it, some don't. And some camera companies don't put flashes in their full frame models. Anyone else have any thoughts about catchlights?

 

[Tim]

catchlights work for me. I like 'em.

 

[Scott]

I like catchlights, too. I think they're important. I find that if you take out catchlights (via Photoshop), the person's face looks somehow "fake" or lifeless.

Any tips for indoor portraits? I lost Mickey's ears in the Garden Grill last year. Granted, I have a better camera now but I don't know what to do to avoid this problem.

Molander, your photo still has a lot of detail. I lightened the shadows a bit as you can see below. They could have been lightened even more, but they were starting to look blotchy. It might turn out better on your original photo. There are a few reasons why it might have come out dark originally. First, your flash might not have been powerful enough. Small cameras obviously can't have a very powerful flash. That, combined with the fact that you used a low sensitivity (ISO160), would make it dark. Your exposure compensation was at zero, which is OK, but you might have had your flash compensation set at a low value. I don't know if your camera can even set the flash output, but it might be something to think about. And finally, your camera might have been fooled by the bright reflection from Mickey's face.

[This attachment has been purged. Older attachments are purged from time to time to conserve disk space. Please feel free to repost your image.]

 

[Roger]

I like catchlights, too. I think they're important. I find that if you take out catchlights (via Photoshop), the person's face looks somehow "fake" or lifeless.

Unless you're using a reflector or there is a strong light source behind the camera, isn't this another use for a flash? (and another reason Canon should re-design the 220EX to be like Nikon's SB400)

 

[PolynesianMedic]

It's amazing to me how easy it is to recover photo's like this today.

 

[goofy101]

great article Scott

 

[Scottwdw]

Wonderful article, Scott! I will enjoy doing some of these on my next trip. Don't forget about character meals. Great place to get portraits as the characters expect to have thier photos taken when they come to your tables.

Then there as those very nice servers at the restaurants which I photograph for my website.

Server presenting me with the Flying Fish signature entree, Potato-Wrapped Red Snapper.

 

[Scottwdw]

Any tips for indoor portraits? I lost Mickey's ears in the Garden Grill last year. Granted, I have a better camera now but I don't know what to do to avoid this problem.

A flash unit that can bounce off the ceilingl or nearby wall will help a great deal with indoor portraits. Another tip is to "drag the shutter" when using flash. What I mean by that is to use a shutter speed slower than your flash's sync speed. Most flash units sync at 1/60th of a second. If you shoot below that (you'll have to use either manual or shutter priority mode) the ambiant light (background light of the room) will be captured. This helps in separating your subjects and gets rid of the totally black look of straight on indoor flash. This may be called Slow Sync in your camera manuals for both dSLRs and P&S models.

I use 1/30 or 1/40. If you have a tripod and can get your models to hold still, use 1/20 or 1/15. And, as Scott says, try and get more than one photo.

 

[mainstreet1997]

oh wow! Great article. I think Im going to print this out and take it with me to refer to on my trip (or atleast on the airplane). I was just thinking that I have probably taken picture of everything. Whats next? But its a whole new ballgame with a brand new camera! My first trip with my A630 i went for a walk around World Showcase and just took pictures I liked.

PS - 10 more posts until I reach the next level!

 

[mainstreet1997]

Yesterday I spent about 3 hours at World Showcase listening to the Holiday Storytellers and decided to practice taking character portraits

Genie at Morocco

Father Christmas in the United Kingdom

The 3 Wisemen (Kings) in Mexico

Sigrid and Julenissen (Norway)...my favorite -

The Monkey King in China

Holiday Storyteller at Japan

The Drummers at Japan

 

[Scottwdw]

You just never know when you are going to run into a character...

Nikon D70, 18-200VR, 1/60s, f/8, ISO 200, EV +0.3, 150mm focal length, flash used at -1.0 power

Why Davy Crockett was at a Dickens' Christmas event is beyond me but all the other characters referred to him as Mr. Crockett.

 

[Roger]

Especially since Mr. Crockett died gave his life for Texan Independence seven years before A Christmas Carol was published.

 

[prettypixie]

wonderful portraits mainstreet!

 

[Scottwdw]

Especially since Mr. Crockett died gave his life for Texan Independence seven years before A Christmas Carol was published.

;D And I don't think he lived long enough to be such a grey beard. However, it was funny seeing the other characters interact with him. Don't know if he was part of the troop of actors that are hired or just someone who dressed up and joined the fun.