Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain checking his treasure map

Pirates of the Caribbean, Captain checking his treasure map

The Auctioneer from the Pirates of the Caribbean "It's gold I am after"

The Auctioneer from the Pirates of the Caribbean "It's gold I am after"

The Pirates of the Caribbean, setting sail for a Pirates life ride

The Pirates of the Caribbean, setting sail for a Pirates life ride

What be I offered for this winsome wench?

"Weigh anchor now, ya swabbies. What be I offered for this winsome wench? Stout 'arted and corn fed she be..."
"Hey, are you selling her by the pound?"
"Shift yer cargo, dearie, show 'em your larboard side."

Drunk Pirate with his cats on Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Drunk Pirate with his cats on Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride

Pirates of the Caribbean, waiting to be dunked after the Mayor, 1968

Pirates of the Caribbean, waiting to be dunked after the Mayor, 1968

Pirates of the Caribbean Pirate Ship & Captain 1968

The Captain aboard the ship that is attacking the town.  This was taken in 1968 and; of course, there was no Captain Barbossa or Jack Sparrow at that time.

Blue Bayou Lagoon

The Blue Bayou Lagoon

Skeleton Pirate on the beach from the Pirates of the Caribbean

Skeleton Pirate

With gun in hand and hat still on his head this poor guy has fallen all to bones.
Nikon D600, 1/160, f/1.4, ISO 1600, 85mm

The Redhead from the Pirates of the Caribbean

Bring on the Redhead!!!

Bring on the Redhead!!  She does not look to worried, I sure she can handle those pirates.
This picture was taken with a Nikon D800, 1/200, f/1.4, ISO 2000 using an 85mm lens

Parrot in Pirates of the Caribbean

From Pirates of the Caribbean

This little guy is in the entrance to the Pirates of the Caribbean.  Years ago when he was first added he would actual say things, but now he just moves up and down a little.  
This was taken a number of years ago using a Nikon D7000, 1/60, f/2.8, ISO 1250 at 150mm

Skeleton from Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean

This is a shot from the Pirates of the Caribbean at Disneyland.  The picture was taken with a Nikon D800, 1/100, f/2.8, ISO 3200, 200mm.

There was a fair amount of clean up in Lightroom due to the strong lights that flood the area.

Pirate in the first cell in the Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirate in the first cell in Pirates of the Caribbean

I wonder how many people miss seeing this guy?  As the boat in the Pirates of the Caribbean is getting towards the end of the ride it comes upon the pirates who are trying to get the key from the dog.  Maybe, the reason they are trying so hard is just another cell away, the skeleton of another pirate.
This was taken with a Nikon D800 at 1/80, f/2.8, ISO 4000, 200mm

Pirate after his new bride from the early days of the Pirates of the Caribbean

Pirate after his new bride 

This is from the early days of the Pirates of the Caribbean when the pirates were after the rum, gold and women.  Now of course they are after Jack Sparrow who has the treasure but back then it was a more normal pirate type of a day.

What is the right color for Disneyland Dark Rides?

Just increasing the Exposure

 These are both the same picture, the first one is right out of the camera with the only adjustment being an increase in the Exposure.  The shot was taken with the following settings: Nikon D800, 1/125, f/2.8 ISO 5000, 200mm  It came out very dark so I increased the exposure but it has a lot of unnatural light.  In the dark rides they flood each scene with hash lights.  In the POTC it is usually red (as they want to give you the idea that things are burning) and yellow.  In the Haunted Mansion it is green and blue.  It's A Small World changes from scene to scene and some areas actually change in color gradually over time.

After adjustments

Normally you do not notice these hash lights.  Your eyes and brain have a way of filtering them out.  Sadly a camera is not able to do that, so when we take a picture everything that is there is what we start off with.  People can take pictures and look at them and say "that is not how I remembered that scene".  Which is true because your eyes have an amazing way of allow you to see what you want to see.

On the second one I changed the orange Hue more to the yellow end, reduced the saturation of Orange, Yellow and green and lowered the Luminance of Orange to blend in with the yellow that was left.  I added some noise reduction but not a lot otherwise a lot of the detail would be gone.  I increased the blacks and shadows and lowered the highlights (the skull was getting blown out) and increased the contrast. (All adjustments were done in Lightroom). You can click on them to see a larger version, keep in mind that I did reduce the size and pixel count of these to upload them so you are not going to see what would be actually printed).

I have to say that I still do not like the shot very much.  I can adjust the amount of blue in the background and change the Luminance of it.  It also needs to have some color added back into it.  But the idea is to try and get to something that would look normal.  This is a start.  Another question is, what is the right color, what colors are we trying to get with the finished picture?  Do we want what would be there is there were no hash lights?  Maybe, but the lights also provide some additional "feeling" to the scene so we do not want to remove them completely.

I think it boils down to, what colors do you want to see.  When you look at a picture the question should really be, do you like it?  Does it appeal to you?  And if it hits those marks then it is a good picture no matter what the final colors are.

Pirates of the Caribbean, at the end of the ride, shooting it out.

Pirates of the Caribbean

At the end of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland you have the few remaining pirates who are shooting it out amongst themselves.  This scene has been here for as long as I can remember.  So many of the other areas throughout the ride have chanced a little here or there (some have changed a lot) but this is one that has remained about the same over the years.

If you ride this often enough you will see that from time to time one or more of the pirates is missing.  They do rotate through them and clean them up from time to time.
I have lighted this shot up a lot so you can see some f the detail.  Of course in order to get it a little lighter the picture also has a lot of "noise" in it.  Taking some of the "noise" out and some of the detail gets lost.  It is a balancing act as the picture gets developed.  The other issue with taking pictures on any of the dark rides is that they flood the area with hash lights.  In the POTC ride it is mostly orange and red (red for the fire) but it can change slightly from scene to scene.  If the hash flooded colors are removed then it is hard to determine what the "real color" should be.  Also, if you take all of the orange out of the picture then you also are taking some of the color out of the scene that should still be there.  Again, it is all matter of balancing it out.  The real goal is to get a picture that you are happy with.  Everyone has an idea as to what the "real" colors should be, but the real goal needs to be to have a picture that you really like.  If you like it, then it is a good picture.  And I hope you like this one!

Pirates of the Caribbean, trying to find his new bride, any help?

Daily Vintage Disneyland photos: Today's picture is from the 60's and it is how I remember the Pirates of the Caribbean.  The Pirates are after the gold, the rum and the wenches.  Just above him in this picture you would see the pirates as they are running after the newly acquired brides that they just purchased from the auction which was the last scene.  This was way before Jack Sparrow came along and it was all about the wenches.  He has her dress (slip?, something) and he just needs to find her, but as he says, he is willing to share.

Pirates of the Caribbean