Looking for advice:

[Sarah Marie]

I have a canon rebel t5 that I plan to take with me.
I am still super new with the settings-ISO, aperture...
So I am getting to be extremely anxious about it. I was thinking maybe i could preset setting for daylight and nighttime(Shows and fireworks).

I have three different lenses:
18-55mm
75-300mm
55-250mm

I was planning on just taking my 55-250 lens- This is the lens i spend most of my time with. But im nervous i wont be able to get some good shots of my family while they sit next to me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[mom2rtk]

I would suggest starting by reading Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. Settings are going to vary based on what you're shooting and conditions where you are. You can't really have a daytime setting and a night setting. Sometimes you're in the shade, sometimes full sun. Some night shows are darker than others.

 

[Sarah Marie]

this is true, was trying to "cheat" the system in a way of not having to figure out the right exposures while out and about and end up missing something. I dont want to be on auto...

 

[mom2rtk]

this is true, was trying to "cheat" the system in a way of not having to figure out the right exposures while out and about and end up missing something. I dont want to be on auto...

Unless you take the time to figure out how to select settings, I would recommend auto.

But it's not as hard as it sounds. The Bryan Peterson book is really easy to understand and should help a lot.

The semi-automatic settings are a great place to start (aperture priority, shutter priority) but you also need to understand how ISO fits in the puzzle. I still forget to adjust that going indoors and out sometimes.

 

[HatboxGhoul]

I don't have direct help as I don't have a Canon, I shoot with Nikon.
The lens I take with me are a 10-20 mm, 18-200 mm, 35 mm. They've always served my needs for photos of the parks, character greetings, and family shots are harder but I use the 10-20 mm and fix the distortion in Photoshop when I get home.

 

[Sarah Marie]

I don't have direct help as I don't have a Canon, I shoot with Nikon.
The lens I take with me are a 10-20 mm, 18-200 mm, 35 mm. They've always served my needs for photos of the parks, character greetings, and family shots are harder but I use the 10-20 mm and fix the distortion in Photoshop when I get home.

thats good to know.. So sounds like I should bring my 55-250 and my 18-55 lens.

 

[HatboxGhoul]

Using those two lens would give you the best range without having to carry more lenses than you need. I would suggest a neutral density filter as well it'll give you a real nice look with your photos.
This is a neutral density filters effect. Left is no filter, right is a neutral density filter added.

 

[violakat03]

When I carry my Nikon D7000 into the parks, I only take one lens in, and that's the 18-105mm. I've never personally needed anything more than 105mm in the parks. I usually end up in the wider range of the lens.

I'd recommend using one of the semi-auto settings. I'm usually on shutter priority when I'm at a park so I can choose whether I want to freeze motion or blur it. The hardest part honestly is going to be remembering to adjust your ISO as it gets dark or if you go inside - I still screw this up on occasion and wonder why I can't get the light meter where I want it without a ridiculous aperture (followed by a "duh!"). Let the camera handle at least one of the settings and you'll probably be happier with the results if you're not used to shooting on full manual yet. If you aren't used to using exposure compensation (the little +/- button), I suggest reading up on it and practicing with it. It gives you an amount of control more comparable to full manual while still letting the camera do a lot of the thinking for you.

 

[boBQuincy]

I dont want to be on auto...

What's wrong with Auto? Auto (and the next step up, "Program") almost guarantee that you will have a well exposed image. The semi-auto modes do almost as well in that regard although you could set a shutter speed or aperture that limits the camera from getting a good exposure.

 

[dmaxphil]

As has been mentioned, get to know the shutter and aperture priority modes on you camera. Also learn what auto ISO does and how/when to set the minimum shutter speed - max iso.

 

[Sarah Marie]

What's wrong with Auto? Auto (and the next step up, "Program") almost guarantee that you will have a well exposed image. The semi-auto modes do almost as well in that regard although you could set a shutter speed or aperture that limits the camera from getting a good exposure.

Im thinking Auto may be my BFF here. I have just been practicing out of auto is all

 

[mom2rtk]

Im thinking Auto may be my BFF here. I have just been practicing out of auto is all

Definitely keep practicing outside of auto. Definitely read "Understanding Exposure". But at Disney I would recommend auto unless you're confident of your new skills. I shot auto for many years before I figured out what I was doing. But that first trip outside of auto my shots weren't as good. Just too many moving parts to keep track of when I was trying to stay in the moment and enjoy the trip. Thankfully I have now (mostly ) trained my brain to remember to adjust settings as I go and I'm happier with my shots than ever. But the first trip outside of the green zone wasn't pretty for me.

 

[Sarah Marie]

Definitely keep practicing outside of auto. Definitely read "Understanding Exposure". But at Disney I would recommend auto unless you're confident of your new skills. I shot auto for many years before I figured out what I was doing. But that first trip outside of auto my shots weren't as good. Just too many moving parts to keep track of when I was trying to stay in the moment and enjoy the trip. Thankfully I have now (mostly ) trained my brain to remember to adjust settings as I go and I'm happier with my shots than ever. But the first trip outside of the green zone wasn't pretty for me.

Def dont want to miss anything.. so thank you!!

 

[fractal]

I have a canon rebel t5 that I plan to take with me.
I am still super new with the settings-ISO, aperture...
So I am getting to be extremely anxious about it. I was thinking maybe i could preset setting for daylight and nighttime(Shows and fireworks).

I have three different lenses:
18-55mm
75-300mm
55-250mm

I was planning on just taking my 55-250 lens- This is the lens i spend most of my time with. But im nervous i wont be able to get some good shots of my family while they sit next to me.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

You're going to need something wider than 55mm on a crop sensor. 18-55 + 55-250 will cover anything you want to shoot (except dark rides - you'll need a faster lens for that).

Are you planning on bringing a tripod for fireworks? If so you definitely can't shoot that on AUTO. If not, you can shoot in AUTO handheld but don't expect anything great.

You have to think like the camera when on AUTO. To simplify, the camera will meter how much light is available and use that to determine shutter speed first, then aperture, then ISO. I bet most of your AUTO shots in bright sunlight are at high shutter speed, & f/8 or smaller. At night the shutter speed will slow dramatically and ISO will be cranked up, which will give you a lot of blurry and noisy photos. It's fine if you are just documenting your trip, but doesn't lend itself to being creative or artistic with your photography.

 

[Sarah Marie]

You're going to need something wider than 55mm on a crop sensor. 18-55 + 55-250 will cover anything you want to shoot (except dark rides - you'll need a faster lens for that).

Are you planning on bringing a tripod for fireworks? If so you definitely can't shoot that on AUTO. If not, you can shoot in AUTO handheld but don't expect anything great.

You have to think like the camera when on AUTO. To simplify, the camera will meter how much light is available and use that to determine shutter speed first, then aperture, then ISO. I bet most of your AUTO shots in bright sunlight are at high shutter speed, & f/8 or smaller. At night the shutter speed will slow dramatically and ISO will be cranked up, which will give you a lot of blurry and noisy photos. It's fine if you are just documenting your trip, but doesn't lend itself to being creative or artistic with your photography.

I wont have a tripod. should i get one?!

 

[dmaxphil]

I wont have a tripod. should i get one?!

It's a bit of a hassle, but if you dream about taking shots with longer shutter speeds for fireworks or night shots - it's a bit of a requirement. If not, when shooting auto at night, the camera will boost ISO to the max and slow the shutter speed to the point where you'll have more bad, blurry, noisy shots than keepers.

It's really not tough to learn the basics of what a camera is doing when it gathers light for an exposure. Don't feel overwhelmed. You basically have ISO, Shutter speed and aperture.

Aperture changes the hole size of the blades inside the lens (seriously, go look at a lens and you'll see the blades). Bigger the hole, smaller the f-stop or aperture number and more light comes in. If you turn your camera on and put it in Av mode and then change aperture using main dial then look at front of lens, you'll see the aperture blades changing.

Shutter speed controls how long the sensor is exposed to the light/image. Figure this as being the speed of the sound the camera makes when you push the shutter release (take a picture button). Any image or movement captured during this time becomes the final image. Slow shutter speeds lead to blurry pictures on moving objects. Fast shutter speeds freeze action. Put your camera in Tv mode and use main dial to change from 1" (1 second) to 1/250s. Hear the change in speed? Now take a picture of a moving object using both of these to see the impact.

ISO boosts the light sensitivity of the shutter. Problem here is that high ISO leads to really noisy, ugly images. You need to find out the max ISO you are comfortable with.

As you raise one of the three (ISO, shutter speed, aperture) one or both of the other two will need to change to maintain an identically lighted exposure. Raise shutter speed (less light comes in), you need lower aperture (bigger hole, more light) OR raise ISO (more light sensitivity).

Have fun and again, once you get past the above ideas it all becomes pretty simple.

 

[manning]

Shoot in RAW. Here's why:

 

[msummers]

Regarding the camera settings, full auto will work but the camera is making the decisions for you. If you want some artistic control over the image, use shutter priority and aperture priority depending on the situation. In aperture priority, you're selecting the aperture and ISO and the camera is then selecting the shutter speed. Since you're selecting the aperture, you control the depth of field in teh shot so you can choose to include a lot of background in the shot or very little so you focus just on the family. In shutter priority, you're selecting the shutter and ISO and the camera is then selecting the aperture. This allows you to blur fast moving subjects by using a slow shutter speed or freeze fast moving subjects by using a faster shutter speed. This is a good setting to use for parades.

 

[fractal]

I wont have a tripod. should i get one?!

With a tripod you'll be able to take long exposure shots. Your fireworks photos will look much better than handheld, plus you can shoot many night time shots of the castle and elsewhere. It's obviously not a must but will take your photos up a big notch - assuming you know how to make the best use of the stability the tripod provides.

The downside is they're a bit of a pain to carry around - and you have to get over the awkwardness of breaking one out in the middle of a Disney Park.