I hope that this information will also help others planning vacations both to WDW and to other places.

What went well

Spending five solid days at the parks

We only visited Walt Disney World itself and avoided other attractions such as Universal Studios.  For just WDW, this time proved to be exactly what we needed.  Had the weather been warmer and we were visiting Blizzard Beach, we would have wanted an additional day.  Given the size of the parks and how much there is to do, five days was just right.

The Disney Deluxe Dining Plan

Disney food prices are quite expensive.  In particular their sit down restaurants are quite pricy.  Breakfast each morning for the four of us was $60.  Lunch varied from $70 to $110 and dinner varied from $90-$180.  These prices do not include tips.  Given these prices, the dining plan enabled us to save significantly.  It also provided us a good break to get away from the chaos of the parks and experience some very interesting restaurants.

Making dining a big part of the planning

In addition to spending a great deal of time figuring out how much time we needed at the parks and in which order we wanted to see them, I also spent a great deal of time planning which restaurants to visit.  A number of the restaurants – particularly Coral Reef, Citricos, and Sci-Fi Diner, have their own characteristics and provided as much enjoyment as the rides.  For future vacations, I will also spend time looking for interesting places to eat.

Planning what rides to go on and when

The parks were a lot more crowded than we expected, but by using the strategy of visiting popular rides early in the morning combined with FastPass, we rarely had to wait.  We did have access to the tour plans mentioned in the Unofficial Guide to WDW mentioned below – but they were basically worthless.  They either did not contain the rides we were interested in, did not factor in eating meals, or assumed we could get our kids up at the crack of dawn to get to the parks before they open.

Filling our days solid with entertainment, combined with resting intervals

In the past, we often felt that we spent too much time at some locations.  At other times, things just moved at too frantic of a pace and we became tired too quickly.  During this trip, we were quite busy while we went on ride after ride, but we had about an hour each for lunch and dinner that we used to relax.  This worked out quite well – allowing us to move at a fast pace but buffer it with relaxation periods.

Taking the new Canon G11 instead of an SLR

For once, I did not want to drag around a larger SLR and lenses.  A number of people did this at the parks and while WDW did provide storage for many of the rides, this wasn’t the case for all of them.  The G11 worked out quite nice here and fit in my pocket when not in use.

Taking the kids at ages 5 and 6

We saw a lot of babies and younger children at the parks and many of their parents looked quite miserable.  While WDW rides are in general tame, there are a number of them that will terrify younger children.  Our older son was still scared by many of the rides while the younger one had absolutely no problems.  There are also height restrictions on some of the rides that in a few cases did not allow our five year old to ride.  From this experience five years old is probably the bare minimum I would want my child to be to take them to the parks.  Younger than that and the trip becomes more for the parents than for the kids.

What went OK

Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge

We stayed here for the entire trip in a room with a savannah view.  The idea was for the kids to see animals from the room when they wake up and this worked well on one occasion.  While the hotel definitely caters to kids, we were so busy at the resorts that we made little use of it.  In addition, the rooms were quite small and the bed was among the least comfortable we have ever slept on.  I had originally planned to stay at the Grand Floridian but decided against it because I was worried the kids would not find it as interesting.  We visited the Grand Floridian to eat at Citricos and for the hotel itself this assumption was accurate.  Therefore, while I was not very impressed by the Animal Kingdom Jambo House resort, it was probably a decent choice.

The Weather

Of course it is impossible to predict the weather and how was I to know that Seattle would be on average twenty degrees warmer than Orlando while we were there.  On the other hand, except for our last day it hardly rained there.  We were able to do all of the rides except for the water related ones, so it wasn’t that bad.

Going in the 2nd week of January

The guide book listed below stated that the second week in January – after New Years when all of the kids have gone back to school – is the best time to go.  Instead, the parks were quite crowded and we needed to strategize how to see things in order to not spend too much time in the lines.  Luckily, we did not spend much time in the lines do to careful planning – though some rides reached wait times as long as 120 minutes.

What didn’t go well

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World

This book should be renamed - “The whiner’s guide to WDW”.  Most of this book was completely unhelpful and often completely false.  The reviews of restaurants were not accurate and the descriptions of the rides – in particular how appropriate they are for kids – was not correct.  I just really had the impression that the authors have never been anywhere outside of Disney World and have no concept of the outside world.

Disney’s vaunted customer service

When I visited the parks fourteen years ago, I marveled at how happy everyone at the resorts was and the degree to which people (called “cast members”) would go through to make sure you had the best trip possible.  This is no longer the case and I even found the service to be rude on occasion.  In general I would give their customer service an “OK” rating.

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The image above is a seven image exposure blend using my TS-E 24 II and my new Singh-Ray Color Combo.  I really like how the Color Combo brought out the blue in the sky.  As those of you who live here know, blue skies are quite rare here.  Had I not used the filter the sky would have been whitish and I would have had to do some post processing to get the sky bluer – though it would not have looked as natural as it does here.

Above is another image with the Color Combo.  While the previous image was not shifted very much, this one had a bit more shift.  As you can see the vignetting with the TS-E 24 II is minimal.  I generally use the TS-E 24 II for exterior shots and the TS-E 17 for interiors.

The above image used by TS-E 17.  The TS-E 17 does not accept filters  - though a polarizer would have had a negative effect indoors anyways.  In this shot I replaced the windows in Photoshop.  I did it rather quickly and am not crazy about the result but these images will be viewed small.  I also used one of my new toys – Viveza by Nik Software.

This weekend I purchased the Complete Collection by Nik Software using a discount on Ron’s blog.  I have been having fun playing with all of the tools in the package (except for SilverEfex – right now I do not do too much in black and white), but for real estate so far Viveza is the only one I need.  I found that by adding a bit of warmth to the shot and removing some of the green the shot looks a lot better.

The above is another similar shot in these conditions.  In this case the window removal came out a bit better.  I honestly just used the quick select tool in Photoshop.  In some cases it works well while in the previous shot I should have been a bit more careful.

Next week I have my final toy coming – well sort of.  We ordered a G11 for an upcoming vacation where I will not be able to take my 5D2.  Of course, it is probably foolish to think that I will have a chance to use it, as Eitan has been wanting that camera and will quickly take it from me.

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This shot was taken a few months ago by the ponds outside my office.  I spent some time photographing one stink bug and when I found another on a different leaf – I figured – why not?

They stayed together for about thirty seconds – but this was long enough to get a decent shot.  They didn’t seem too offended by one another – but soon went their separate ways.

Stink bugs are one of my favorite insects to photograph as they are so colorful.

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Some time ago my wife, who is a real estate agent, had a listing that I took photos of.  The shoot was quite difficult and I wound up having to reshoot the property.  In retrospect, it was an important property for me because it was what eventually prompted me to move from pure HDR to exposure blending.

The shot above was one of the photos stolen and certainly has its flaws – the worst of which are probably the incorrect verticals.

Unfortunately, after quite a bit of work by both myself and my wife, my wife realized that this wasn’t going to work out so she cancelled the listing.  The seller then relisted the property several months later with a different agent.

Of course, the new agent helped herself to my photos, and I have of course insisted that these photos be removed.  If they are not removed soon, I intend to send her the bill for my services and pursue this in court if they are not removed.

What bothers me even more though was the response from the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS).  When I contacted them asking what I needed to do to get the photos removed, a rude woman responded that they will not take any requests from photographers.  The listing agent must submit a complaint.  Luckily the previous listing agent in this case was my wife so she filed the formal complaint using the form she mentioned.

So far NWMLS has not bothered to reply to the complaint, which has me even more angered.  I am half tempted to file a lawsuit against them for copyright infringement.  This is simply not correct.  If a photographer sends them a certified letter demanding his images be removed from their site, they must do this.  NWMLS must understand that real estate agents do not own the copyright for these photographs – the photographers do.

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Photography-wise, much has happened in the last several months.  I purchased the Canon TS-E 17 and the Canon TS-E 24 II lenses for a number of purposes and they are now two of my favorite lenses.  I will discuss them more in a future blog.

I finally bit the bullet and purchased Lightroom – along with Photoshop CS4.  I am still getting used to Lightroom and have barely used CS4 yet – though I hope to ramp up on them soon.  I do rather like Lightroom – particularly the keywording feature – though I must admit I’m still getting used to non-destructive editing.  I think the thing that annoys me most about it so far is I cannot (or at least I haven’t figured it out yet) overwrite the original JPEG.

I typically use the RAW file as my negative and the JPEG as my currently edited version.  If I change an image significantly – I’ll generally save it as a new file.

I have also learned quite a bit about time management lately.  In the past, I heavily participated in photography forums – most particularly a photography alias at my work.  I have come to realize though that these forums are not that incredibly useful.  In particular I began to notice the following.

1) I was writing more about photography equipment than on actual photography.  This may sound rude, but I have noticed that those who write the most about photography generally don’t take the best pictures.  The reason is the exhausting amount of time it takes to create a decent review and research things.

2) In most forums, the truly professional photographers are few and far between.  If you really want strong criticism of your photos and techniques, you’ll generally need to go directly to the photographers – not to the forums.

Therefore I have ceased participation in most of these venues.  I do still occasionally post in a few places – but only when I have a very particular question and I know there are members there that are very familiar with that subject area.

This has allowed me more time lately, which I hope to channel into consistently writing blogs.

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You probably know that I am into photography and I am a member of the Microsoft Photography Club. This year Photography Club Members from around the world spent five months assembling and publishing a world-class, fine art photo book. The time and talent that went into this project makes every copy of the book a gift to its owner. We even put a full book preview online (160 pages of preview!) 100% of the profit from sales goes directly to the United Way and you get a valued and timeless reminder of how you too make a difference for those in need.

You can preview the book, or order the book, from your desk. Not only does this book make a wonderful addition to any collection, and a thoughtful gift, each copy you purchase contributes directly to the ongoing, important work of United Way. This book is offered for purchase at the cost of printing plus $25.00. This additional amount is contributed directly to United Way in your name and is fully tax deductable as a charitable contribution.

Even if you don’t think you’ll buy a copy of the book, go take a look at the online preview anyway. It really is amazing!

And yes, my photo is in the book.  It is this one.

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From some research on the Internet, I believe this is Tetramorium caespitum, or the standard pavement ant.  They are famous for getting in fights with other colonies, though I do not believe that is what is occurring here.

They are distinguishable from the two spines on its back, which you can see from this shot.  Of course, they are so tiny in real life that you need a good magnifying glass to be able to see them well.

  I took a number of shots of the colony, though I didn’t have a lot of time to stick around there.  It was right next to my work and I felt a bit funny laying on the ground getting these photos while my coworkers were walking by!

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1) What will I get next?

2) What do I eventually want to get?  In the end there should be some limit to what I buy?

In terms of what to buy next, I have had several thoughts given my budget.  I have already decided to pickup the Canon TS-E 17mm once our kitchen remodel is finished.  The question is what else to purchase.

Option 1

Canon 200mm F4 Hybrid IS Macro - This is only a rumor of course.  However given Canon’s press release about a hybrid IS coming out in a lens before the end of the year this is a very possible reality.

I am very torn about this one.  Recently I sold my Canon 180mm macro because I just could not get dependable results out of it.  I do not know what it truly was, but while I can get consistent results from the MP-E 65, I found that the sharpness on the 180L was lacking.  I suspect this new macro would not have this issue.

Canon 85mm 1.2L

This is one incredible lens, but my main worry is how much I will use it.  I would mainly use it for shots of my kids.  It would certainly allow me to sell my Canon 50mm 1.4 that I hardly ever use.

Canon TS-E 24 II

At first it seemed silly to buy this together with the TS-E 17mm.  However, they make an incredible combo.  While the TS-E 17mm has the width, the TS-E 24mm has the advantage that it accepts filters and has more shift.  For real estate, the TS-E 17mm is the best for interiors, while the TS-E 24mm is better suited to exteriors.

Buy nothing and save for the 600mm

This is my dream lens, but it doesn’t seem very logical to put everything into this lens right now.  Besides, at the end of next year they’ll probably announce a replacement.

And the answer is…

Tentatively I have decided to go with buying the TS-E 24mm II along with the TS-E 17mm.  The combination will not only be a killer combination for real estate, they also will be great landscape and travel lenses.

I may change my mind if Canon releases the 200mm F4 Hybrid IS macro - depending on the specs.  However I’m more likely to still buy the TS-E 24mm and put my real estate sales towards buying the 200mm macro next year.

All of the other lenses for which there are rumors seems less interesting.

New Canon fisheye(s)

There are several rumors that new fisheyes will be released.  I have long debated purchasing a fisheye.  Certainly the shots are interesting and you can do some great things in it, but the main worry is whether it would regularly make the final cut for the bag?  I can only fit so much into the bag and I’m more likely to take the tilt shifts than a fisheye.

Canon 24-70 2.8 IS

I have not and do not intend to buy a 24-70 lens.  It has nothing to do with the image stabilization.  That focal length just doesn’t work for me.

Canon 24-105 2.8 IS

This is far more intriguing and I would certainly be tempted.  If such a lens existed, I would probably purchase it eventually despite its size.  That focal length would work well for me and it would be a great vacation lens.  If they could pull this off, it may even push my 16-35 II out of my bag sometimes - given that I would have the TS-E 17 already.  However, I would be unlikely to buy this immediately.  I would want to know that they truly pulled it off and right now the TS-E 24 is more important to me.

Canon 70-200 2.8 IS II

This lens definitely makes sense for Canon.  It is a flagship lens and though the current one is great it could use an update.  As for me, I’m perfectly happy with my 70-200 F4 IS due to its small size and see no reason to purchase a 2.8 version.

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Last weekend we took the kids to see the Blue Angels in their annual show in Seattle.  This was the first time I finally had a lens that could catch them decently in the Canon 100-400.  The lens worked fine and for the most part I felt the focal length was adequate on the full frame 5D Mark II.  The autofocus was quite slow, but I was still able to get some decent shots.

The above shot was the one I received the most comments about and I like the composition.  I also tried to get in close on some of the planes.

  All in all it was a fun day and the kids got a big kick out of the Blue Angels - especially when they flew right over us.

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Here’s the truth about fireworks shots.  In order to get that truly amazing fireworks shot you need to be familiar both with where the fireworks will be shot off that year as well as the optimal spot in the city to take a shot.  Typically this ‘optimal place’ will not be empty and you will need to set up way ahead of time in order to get the spot.

While you are setup in this spot, you will need to deal with photographers and spectators setting up right in front of you and if you need to use the bathroom you can consider your spot gone.  If you have kids, you’ll either need to not take them or they will get restless waiting hours before the fireworks.

The other thing to consider here in the Seattle area is that all of our fireworks shows suck.  The fireworks companies here simply do not utilize the more creative shells that many companies on the East coast utilize.  The one show I know of not shot by a local company here - the Seattle show shot by Pyro Spectacular - also sucks.  This puzzled me for some time, as Pyro Spectacular has a good reputation in the fireworks industry.  After some digging I found that the city of Seattle is not a fireworks friendly city and is such a pain to deal with in terms of budget and restrictions that the end result sucks.

Part of being a truly professional photographer is knowing when not to click the shutter.  Fireworks are pretty, but the chances that you will get a great shot haphazardly are close to infinitesimal.  If you are going out with the intention to photograph the fireworks show, my recommendation is to not go out at all.

Several years ago I got sick of fighting the crowds and found my fireworks shots no better than the millions of other horrible fireworks shots that plague the ‘Net after the 4th.  Therefore, I decided to go a different route and I now purchase some small fireworks items and shoot them off in our backyard with the kids.

Our kids now absolutely love the 4th of July and count the days before we shoot the fireworks.  As we have a small backyard I don’t buy anything big - mainly sparklers (the wood kind), some small fountains, bees, and pagodas (a yearly tradition - each child gets his/her own pagoda).  I do not shoot any festival ball and we stopped shooting firecrackers after some of our guests complained about the noise.

This year I hope to take some pictures of the event, as last year we used small sparklers that expired quickly and I spent all of my time distributing them.  My shots may not be masterpieces, but they will be far more memorable and valuable to me than the junk I would have taken at the fireworks shows here.

Therefore, please do your part this year and save energy by not forcing servers around the Internet to transfer your garbage among the millions of garbage fireworks shots that come after the 4th.

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