BEST DINOSAUR TOYS

Walt Disney World
Disney’s Hollywood Studios
Hollywood Boulevard

Please press "L" to view this one LARGE! :)

Photographically speaking, I’d say my trip this past May was less than stellar. I came away with some good stuff, but I certainly don’t feel like I did my best work (contrary to a couple of trips in 2010 where I really felt like I was in a groove). I had a lot on my mind that week (work-centric) and found it really hard to concentrate on WDW Photography, even while in the parks. However, I think the main reason I struggled was due to my inexperience in using the Canon 17mm tilt-shift lens, which stayed on my camera 90% of the time. I used WDW as my training ground for getting really familiar with the lens. I played around with the TS before the trip, but never spent more than an hour at a time with it (honestly, it frustrated me to no end and I seriously considered selling it at one point). I can now say that I am much more familiar with the lens and plan to keep it as the creative potential is vast. Being able to keep vertical lines straight is a great tool to have, but the ability to control the plane of focus, in both direction and depth of field is where the real power of this lens lies, and I have only scratched the service of that ability.

This is my favorite of the tilt-shift images that I captured during May and I’m not exactly sure why. I was straightening some of the buildings on Hollywood Boulevard when I noticed “Pluto’s Toy Palace” gift shop through my viewfinder. I immediately had the idea to tilt the plane of focus over that sign (and anyone walking under it) and throw everything else to the left and right out of focus, which would also give the “toy” or miniature look to people walking through the frame (playing on the “Toy” in the sign). Typically, I think that effect works best when your perspective is from an angle looking down on your subject, but I think it works pretty well here too, just on a smaller scale. I love the subject isolation here and smooth bokeh (not easy to achieve with the typical UWA lens) and I also think the soft, golden light was perfect. One thing I could have done to really ice this one would have been to expand that DoF slightly so that Pluto on top was in focus too. Anyway, hope you guys like this one as much as I do.

We've been to this shop, where they sell all these tiny bullsh.. things that nobody really needs but everyone buys. My daughter Zoe (she's 3 years old - she's in the background on the left) took here stuffed animal bee with her all day. In the shop she found this sun chair that was supposed to be holding your cellphone when you don't use it. Quickly she figured out that it's the perfect place to relax and chill for the bee...

Shot with Canon PowerShot S90 at ISO 800.