General Tips for Taking Photos at Walt Disney World

At Walt Disney World, there's always something going on. And whatever it is, it is generally moving at a quick enough pace that you either see it or you don't. I've ruined my own wonderful mood more than once by trying to capture these wonderful things on camera and failing. After five trips to Walt Disney World, I still don't have it down, but my pictures have much improved. So here are a few tips for taking your own vacation pictures.

1. Turn off the flash.
Obviously this is only during daylight hours and when otherwise well lit, but if your camera is on auto, you'll lose valuable time while your camera tries to decide if it needs to flash or not. By turning off the flash, you cut focus and decision time down greatly giving your a better chance at that great photo.

2. Use the "Sports" setting.
Most digital cameras come with a setting for capturing moving targets... I mean, subjects. Parades aren't the only things you'll want to take pictures of that move. Don't forget things like Kilimanjaro Safari's (the truck doesn't stay still, and neither do the animals!), or taking pictures while you're actually on rides. In addition, your subject doesn't need to be the thing moving. How many times have you be running to a ride, only to spot Tigger waving at you? With the sports setting, you may not even have to slow down.

3. Zoom before hand.
Obviously this won't work for everything, but if you're planning to take pictures at a parade, or get a close up of your traveling party while you're on a ride, plan ahead and set up the zoom before you're trying to take the picture. For instance, if you want a shot of the floats as they approach you, you'll want to zoom in. If you want the parade floats as they're directly in front of you, you'll want to zoom out.

4. Keep batteries handy.
True, you can purchase batteries almost anywhere in the parks, but I can guarantee you that if there's a bad time to run out of batteries (such as on Kilimanjaro Safari- this happened to my brother in law), that's when it'll happen. And you don't just want to have them somewhere on your person, you want to keep them handy. In your camera bag is good, or in a zippered pocket in your trousers.

5. Make sure that you have plenty of memory.
Either use a huge memory card, or bring a back up. As with the batteries, you can buy more memory (or load pictures to a CD), but it may not be convenient and will certainly be expensive.

Above all, you want to be ready. Keep your camera handy at all times as characters love to simply show up in guest photos and you never know what (or who) may appear. But remember to sometimes look away from the lens for a minute. Your memories don't happen through the camera, they're just preserved that way.