My wife and I have a long history with amusement parks. About fifteen years ago we were both working at the biggest amusement park of them all, down in orlando florida. That is where we met and fell in love. I’ll let you guess which park I am talking about. Our careers as cast members is long past, but we still love traveling to these destinations. Now that we have a young boy our love of the parks has been rekindled. One thing that goes hand in hand with amusement parks is photos and photography is what has brought you to this blog. Shooting in these locations takes a certain skill set and a lot of imagination!
Shoot Wide- My first recommendation is to bring your widest lens. This may sound strange because you will shooting people and the wide lens are less flattering on people when they get to edge of frame, There is a very good reason to keep that wide on your camera, amusement parks are crowed! The more distance you have to put between you and your subjects more more of a chance that people will get between you. This will get very frustrating, so get your widest glass, that way when you are up close to your friends and family you can still keep them all in frame.
Shoot Deep- use a small aperture when outside, using big apertures will blur out the background of course and you probably want the princess castle in the background of your daughters portrait to be easily recognizable. Don’t get me wrong , shallow depth of field is beautiful for portraits but remember you are capturing not only person but also this special location.
Get Those Cliché Pictures- Even though everyone has those pictures with the characters or in front of the haunted house make sure you grab them. Not all the photos are artistic some are just recording great memories.
Spot Meter Mode- Most of the the attractions will be low light situations. This where you should throw your camera into spot metering, that way you can make sure you are exposing your image for your subject. If you are using evaluative, your camera will try to balance out your subject and the dark shadows of the attraction, usually resulting in a slow shutter speed. Which in turn will blur any moving subjects. Throw your camera in spot meter mode and you will have much more control.
Bonus Tip!- put down the camera! have fun! We all know how expensive it is to go to these parks, make sure you aren’t working all day, you will miss great experiences with your family. Also Try not to pose your family and friends, no one wants to be posed all day long when there are reverse triple looping roller coasters to be ridden!