The Time The Space

Photography by Matthew Cooper

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A Prime Magic Kingdom | Matthew Cooper Photography

It feels like I’ve taken at least a dozen sunset shots from this location over the years. It’s one of the most photogenic spots and each sunset offers something different, allowing each new shot to be unique. In addition, this was my first time shooting...

It feels like I’ve taken at least a dozen sunset shots from this location over the years. It’s one of the most photogenic spots and each sunset offers something different, allowing each new shot to be unique. In addition, this was my first time shooting this location with my Nikon 28 1.4 prime lens. I found this lens to be a great walk around lens and worked perfectly here. It was wide enough to fit Cinderella Castle in the scene but so close to 35mm that the distortion is very limited. In this case you get a nice, straight and tall rendition of the castle.

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Sleeping Beauty Castle & the Birds | Matthew Cooper Photography

Though I only intended to have one bird in my photo I ended up with a whole bunch and thus the title choice. This is one of the rare day time photos I feel is decent enough to post. It was taken shortly before golden...

Though I only intended to have one bird in my photo I ended up with a whole bunch and thus the title choice. This is one of the rare day time photos I feel is decent enough to post. It was taken shortly before golden hour, so the light had started to soften. The sky has interest with the clouds and the reflection is relatively still. I did some minor cleanup along with some color balance. light saturation adjustments and a few curves adjustments to finish off the image. Enjoy!

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Be Our Guest's Wishes of a Magic Kingdom by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: Today's shot isn't necessarily anything that hasn't been done before but I felt the need to try something different for Wishes that wasn't from in front of Cinderella Castle but wasn't so crazy that it would be foolish to try. Seeing also as I had Be Our Guest dinner reservations roughly an hour and a half before Wishes it made choosing this location easy. I did find it funny after both my wife and I had setup to shoot the fireworks here a lady (clearly a Walt Disney World first timer) approached me and asked what we were waiting for. When I told her fireworks, she was shocked we'd be able to see them behind the restaurant until I explained the fireworks were actually launched behind here. She, like many people I assume, don't realize just how far back the fireworks are being launched when you view them from Main Street. She quickly ran and grabbed her family who were wandering off to wait and watch the fireworks here. Not really important, I just found it mildly amusing... My fireworks shots are something that has definitely evolved over the years from shooting without ND filters, with ND filters, with or without ND filters and bracketing shots for blending before and after. All have their ups and downs and the way I do it now is kind of a blend. For this shot I used the Nikon 14-24 2.8 along with a 7 stop ProGrey ND filter and then bracketed a series of shots at the end as well. Instead of using the bracket and just blending the fireworks into that however I lean more towards using the single fireworks shots and blending in bits and pieces from shots in the bracket. There are a couple of reasons for this. One being that when you blend the fireworks into the bracketed shot it tends to not look quite as realistic because you don't get the reflections from the fireworks on the objects in the foreground. The second is when you shoot an area like this with a 7 stop ND even super long exposures leaves some areas dreadfully underexposes. Having the bracket allows me to fix a lot of darker areas and also then finally map in the stars over the top. One last thing I did, which I have done for a while now is color correct Beast's Castle. Generally the color is just an awful blue when photographed at night, however I've found you can fix it pretty easily using a warming color filter along with some quick curves adjustments. Its an extra step that does take a little bit of time to get just right but I think its worth the effort. Hopefully you do too. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Classic MGM Studios by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: I shot just one night at Hollywood Studios this trip and even that seemed almost excessive. As more and more has been shuttered what remains is a bunch of stuff I've already photographed so many different ways it just feels stale. Well, that is of course except for the return of the classic unobstructed view of the Chinese Theater. I still shot other stuff throughout Hollywood Studios but honestly my main focus was different shots of the Chinese Theater. I'm very happy to have shots of it now and with all the upcoming construction at Hollywood Studios I feel like I'm mostly done shooting the studios until all the new stuff opens. I just can't see my self staying to close out the park again until something new and fresh is there. Now for this shot I had already seen a few people shoot it wide so I wanted to do something different so I shot it with my Nikon 70-200 to create some compression down Hollywood Boulevard. I think I actually prefer it this was as it really makes the Chinese Theater feel closer and larger instead of appearing miles away. Either way you can't go wrong with this classic view that made me think back to the days when I was kid visiting MGM Studios in full form. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Spaceship Burst by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: This was taken towards the very beginning of my chasing light journey at Epcot which had me going all around the park trying to get as many shots as I could in the time just before, during and immediately after the golden hour. I figured the best way to do it was to start at the front of the park where I could shoot into the sun still just over the trees for some cool sunbursts before making my way into Future World and then onto the World Showcase. There's not really a lot to this one. I didn't want to just shoot a bunch of leveled shots (though I have some of those too) so while there was still enough light to comfortably shoot what I wanted handheld I wandered around Spaceship Earth looking for some cool ways to photograph it using angles. In my opinion it's really not all that hard as the structure actually lends itself nicely to some creative angles. Here I'm using the struts holding Spaceship Earth up to lead from the corner into the frame. This was a 3 shot handheld bracket but I only used 2 for my blend. One was perfect for everything but the very bright light in the corner from the sun so I used a luminosity mask to blend in from the underexposure to expand the range and get rid of the blown out areas. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Compass of the Dreamers by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: No trip to Walt Disney World is complete without Cinderella Castle photos. Unfortunately with construction on the ramps and bridges as well as the Castle Couture this made photographing the Castle in a way that was still appealing a bit of a challenge. Through most of the Cinderella Castle pics I post from this trip there's no doubt you'll still be able to see bits of the construction here and there but I've shot these photos in such a way that I believe it minimizes and in some case completely hides the fact there was construction underway. Take this shot as an example. I've done this shot before as a wide landscape shot but doing that this time would have really shown off the construction of the ramps and distracted from the compass on the ground as well as Cinderella Castle. Using a vertical composition instead I was able to hide almost all of the construction with only a little bit of the construction walls showing. The way they look in fact you may not even notice they are construction walls if I had not mentioned it. In addition, shooting low to the ground made sure the focus is on the compass up to the castle and that you could not see any of the construction mess behind the relatively low walls they had up around the ramps. Shooting at full height would have no doubt shown off these issues. Finally as I often do with a shot like this I used focus stacking in addition to bracketing. For those unfamiliar this involves taking a series of shots with different focus points at varying distances from the camera. In this case I took one series of shots with the focus point towards the front of the tip of the compass and then another series focused around mid way up Cinderella castle both at F8. Why not just shoot at an aperture with a larger depth of field such as F16 or even F22 you may ask? Well typically the sharpest results your lens will produce (and I have confirmed for my lenses) is around F8. Furthermore as you continue to stop down to F16 and beyond you begin to introduce diffraction which actually decreases the sharpness of the resulting image! Therefore in instances where I can take the time the ideal way to create a shot that is tack sharp from front to back is to take the multiple shots with different focus points and then stack and blend them in post. It does take a bit of extra time both in shooting and processing but the end result is well worth it, especially when viewing at higher resolutions. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Tomorrow Starts Now by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: Tomorrow Starts Now On the first morning at Disney I had Be Our Guest reservations at 8:20 and the park had early magic hours from 8:00-9:00. As this was the week prior to time change the sunrise time wasn't much after the park opening. In fact arriving on the bus there was some magnificent colors but they were fading as I made my way through security. Clouds were starting to roll in as well but I was still hoping I'd be able to get a couple shots once I got in the park with some of the morning light. With the construction going on with the castle I didn't even bother going for a more typical sunrise photo but did quickly get a shot in the hub before noticing some gorgeous light starting to appear from the clouds behind the Tomorrowland entrance. The light did not last very long but it lasted just long enough for me to get what I needed and still make it in time for my breakfast reservation. This is one of those shots I felt really good about from the moment I took it. What I love about it is how the hints of the lights from Tomorrowland's various signs and neon are still showing as the golden light begins to blanket the area. The combination of the lights of the night and the light of the new day combine to create something extra magical. I love too the almost cold, sterile, metal filled future the picture potrays as opposed to the brightly lit neon future Tomorrowland normally elicits. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Japan Illuminations Ultra Wide 172 Seconds by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: I have shot from this location many times as I know many other photographers have. It's kinda the go to location for great Illuminations shots. I've never shot it with my Nikon 14-24 however as I usually prefer to shoot with an ND filter and I've never had one for that lens until this trip. As I mentioned previously this day had been a major bust for photography outside and so around 7:30, just to be safe, and because I was tired anyway I went ahead and headed to Teppan Edo to setup for the shot. Fortunately there was no one there and I was able to setup and relax for a bit and just take in the atmosphere here... as well as watch the radar in hopes of an epic down pour for shooting later that night. What I really liked about using the 14-24 here is the ability to include the Pagoda on the far right. In the past I've shot my Nikon 24-70 from here and featured the Torii gate alone. I really think this wider view is the best of all the ones I've done as there's something interesting to look at across virtually the entire frame. A quick bit of technical info. As mentioned this was with the 14-24 2.8 and I used the Pro Grey filter system to attach an ND to the 14-24. I used a 7 stop ND for this show. The exposure was 172 seconds at F8. Enjoy, happy fireworks Friday and have a great weekend everyone! TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Futureworld Sunset by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: After a great sunset in Magic Kingdom the day before I was hoping for similar results my next day in Epcot. I decided to start shooting from in from of Spaceship Earth as the sun was still bursting above the trees and then made my way over to Future World West and along the International Gateway chasing light the whole way. I had met back up with my wife to sample some more of the foods from the Food & Wine Festival after what I thought was the end of the show. Suddenly as we were walking around there was a wonderful burst of color on the horizon and I quickly looked for something interesting to take advantage. I've seen plenty of wide shots across the lagoon of the World Showcase and while they can be nice, most are ultimately just pictures of a nice sky and water with little context to where it's taken. With that in mind I opted for the Nikon 70-200 to bring Imagination and the Land of Future World West up close to star in the shot. I usually check all my shots after taking them, and I don't always know if I'm going to like a shot til I get it into post but this was one of those shots even as I was taking it, and especially after previewing it on the back of the camera, I knew I was going to love it. I hope you do too. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Be Our Guest Sunset by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: For most of the trip until this day the skies had been rather dreary and disappointing. I was able to use the rain to my advantage earlier in the week but was really hoping for a break and even just one beautiful sunset. Finally on day 4 things appeared to be shaping up for a spectacular sunset. The sky was blue with plenty of clouds and sunset was approaching. Now normally I would start chasing the light from Cinderella Castle but due to the construction on the ramps and bridge there were tarps that made it pointless to photograph. With that in mind I decided to try my luck from the new Beauty and the Beast area and nature decided to deliver a stunner. From here I was then able to chase the light along the Rivers of America into Frontierland for a variety of excellent sunset shots which I'll be sharing here and there. For this shot I used the Nikon 14-24 2.8 which is always a favorite of mine for these types of shots but a new element is I finally have an adapter and set of ND filters including grads I have that I can utilize with the Nikon 14-24 2.8. This was useful as even bracketing you will often get areas of the sky that are blown out. Utilizing the ND I was able to properly expose the sky which allowed me more flexibility with blending my exposures so the sky was exposed exactly as I wanted in each spot. I hope you enjoy the final result. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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Epic REFLECTIONS of China by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: I have taken a lot of photos of the China pavilion and the Temple of Heaven over the years. Still, this is probably my favorite. This particular day had been a big bust photographically thanks to off and on rain and grey skies all day leaving me to shoot mostly inside. I kept hoping for a huge downpour to give me some puddles to work with but the rain hadn't really left much on the ground. Finally, midway through Illuminations there was an epic downpour and puddles started forming. This was a double win as the park emptied even quicker than usual thanks to the rain and because now I had tons of awesome puddles to work with. The rain slowed and I was able to set to photographing all around the park. For most of these photos I simply placed my camera on the ground in the puddles using a small Disney gift bag as it's only protection. I have to blame myself for this as I had brought a rain jacket for my camera but forgot it in the room! Still it worked out great. One thought I had while shooting these photos was I wouldn't have minded having a flip screen on my D810 similar to the D750 to make framing my shots a bit easier as I had to lay face down in the puddles to get the framing for my shots. I had slightly planned ahead however and wore my fast drying and water repelling Arc'teryx gear I usually wear when hiking in the rain so it wasn't too bad... even if they were basically dripping water as I left the park that night. Ultimately I hope it was worth the effort and you all really enjoy this shot. Thanks for looking! TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net | Institute of Disney Photography

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There's Magic in the Kingdom by Matthew Cooper Via Flickr: I was going through my library to see if I could find something worthwhile to edit that I hadn't processed yet. I stumbled across this shot and was honestly kinda shocked I hadn't processed it yet. A perfectly good Cinderella Castle sunset shot completely untouched? I'll take it, and I have to say this is has ended up being one of my favorite castle sunset shots I've done to date. I hope you like it to. Enjoy. Don't miss my Disney Photo Editing series on YouTube. If you are interested in seeing techniques I use to edit my photos (now in smaller bit size form) be sure to check those out on YouTube. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | www.travelnoob.net

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A Salute to All Countries But Only America on Flickr.

Usually we wait til the last minute to show up for the American Adventure and thus this room is never empty so I've never bothered shooting it before. This time however we were pretty tired and it seemed a great place to rest and wait for the show. I of course took the opportunity to get a couple shots and this was my favorite. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube Video

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Carry a Torch on Flickr.

I'm getting a lot closer to having posted all the scenes from Carousel of Progress. I think I'm going to work on finishing up the rest the next few days so I can go ahead and post them all. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube Video

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The Spirit of Norway Extinguished on Flickr.

Looking at this shot with Malestrom still intact makes me sad. I for one am going to miss the Malestrom. My only hope is that perhaps they will use the new Frozen themed ride to educate people about Norway as opposed to making Frozen Movie the ride. P.S. I recently started a new travel website called TravelNoob. Lots of pictures from different spots in the USA. Check it out and let me know what you think at www.travelnoob.net TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube Video

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Mouse About Town on Flickr.

Here we've got a shot of one of the shop entrances in Hollywood Studios. I personally really like the signage used for most of the shops in Hollywood Studios though a lot of the neon can be difficult to photography correctly. Still, I'm always up for a challenge and this one wasn't particularly difficult. Mickey's hand moves on this sign so I took a high iso shot to freeze it but in the end decided not to use it as I preferred the look of motion. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube Video

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Monorail in the Sunlight on Flickr.

This is one of those shots I just happened to luck into. I wasn't looking to take this shot but as I was walking here towards Imagination I saw the monorail coming and quickly fired off a bracket and the elements were just there for a nice picture. Anytime I can get a sunburst and some cloud action I'm pretty happy. Enjoy. TheTimeTheSpace - My Portfolio | Facebook | Tumblr | Instagram | Twitter | Youtube Video