Taking great photos at theme parks

If you’re an amusement park fanatic, you’ve probably been anxiously waiting all winter for summer to arrive. Now you can finally drag your friends and family on all those exciting and scary roller coasters! But just because you’ll be spending a large portion of the time hanging upside down, don’t think that you shouldn’t bring your digital camera to capture some of the fun.

Strapped in
There are many ways to protect your camera while you are enjoying yourself on all the thrill rides. If you’re going to document your day at the amusement park, you’re going to need to have your camera with you, but it won’t do you
any good if you lose it or if it gets smashed while you’re on a ride. Consider these options to protect your camera while you enjoy yourself:

• Lockers — Most theme parks offer lockers, where, for a small fee, you can store the things you may want to access later but don’t want to carry around all day.
• Padded bags— You can keep your camera in a padded camera bag with a strap to wear it around your neck … just be sure to hold onto it during the rides.
• Holding areas— Most large rides have staff people willing to hold your belongings while you ride the ride, but use this option as a last resort because the theme park is not responsible for lost or stolen items.
• Buddy system— Bring a friend with you to the park and take turns on the rides. They can hold your camera while you’re on Super Thunder Mountain, and you can take pictures of them getting sick!

Location, location, location
The best pictures you take at an amusement park will be the ones where you scouted out an excellent location before snapping the photos. Look around and see if there are any locations that allow you to capture multiple rides in one shot. See if there’s a way to get close enough to that huge roller coaster that allows you to actually get some people in your photograph. Their expressions will be priceless! Don’t spend your entire day looking for photograph opportunities, but spend at least a little time planning out a few shots. You’ll be happy you did when you see the great shots you get.

Don’t try this at home! A professional photographer shot this roller coaster while on it, safely and with the proper gear. But you can still take pictures like this safely on the ground, as the great rides thunder past

Detail oriented

Because most things at theme parks are really big and oversized, it’s easy to forget about all the little things. The prizes, food stands, games, and murals are all excellent subjects for your photographs. They also make excellent filler items as you piece your photographs together trying to re-tell the story of your day at the park. The little detailed areas of the parks are also excellent places to take photos of your friends and family. Since you’llprobably be riding the rides with them, you won’t be able to get photos of them easily, so this is the perfect way to include them in your pictures. Don’t forget to take a photo of the group first, then ask someone to switch places with you so that you’re in some of the photos as well.
Nightlife
If you decided to stay at the park into the evening, a whole new world of potential photographs opens up to you. When the sun goes down, all the colorful neon lights turn on, creating a ton of cool photo opportunities for you. This is a great way for you to experiment with the way motion and light work together in photography. And remember, because it’s digital, you can take a series of pictures of the same thing to see which one turns out best. And don’t forget the amazing light shows at the end of the night. Many theme parks have special fireworks displays just before they close up for the night, and this is a great way to enhance your photo collection from the day. After all, who expects to see fireworks anytime other than July?

To zoom or not to zoom

As cool as your digital or optical zoom can be, try to resist the urge to zoom in too much during your trip to the amusement park. There are so many visually stimulating things to see, so why limit your options by zooming into something really closely? Zoom works for really detailed small things, but don’t forget to try to capture the big picture sometimes, too. This ferris wheel is interesting because the subject is so far away, and because of the reflections in the water.
The best part about taking photos at amusement parks is that no matter what, every picture is going to be proof of the fun and excitement you had that day. You’ll know your day was a success if your pictures accurately tell the story of your day at the park and the thrills you had.

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