A Postcard from Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World
A postcard view invites you to catch a wave at Typhoon Lagoon at Walt Disney World in Florida.
Okay, so this isn’t actually a real Typhoon Lagoon postcard. But when I added this color scheme to the photo, it looked just like I would picture an old postcard would look, complete with Mount Mayday and the Miss Tilly boat off in the distance, some guys pointing at something random in the lower left, and a bunch of people just out enjoying themselves at the water park. So I threw on some words with a cheesy wave pattern, and that was that. Pretty cool, don’t you think?
I remember the fun of buying postcards and sending them back to people at home. Yes, in some ways it was bragging to say, “I’m on vacation and you’re not!” But the people back home took it well, right? And you had to mail it right when you started your vacation, or there was a chance you might beat your postcard back home. I could have saved a stamp and brought it myself!
I even bought lots of postcards just to save for myself, because I thought the photos on them were so cool. I have lots of old Walt Disney World postcards in a photo album. Not quite the same as the photos that I took, but usually much better than what I knew how to take back then.
These days with all the instantaneousness of all the different social media sites and cell phones, postcards have somewhat become a thing of the past. Want to brag about being on vacation? Just snap a pic with your phone and text it to your friend back home. Or even better, Facetime him to show all the sights and sounds. But put something in the mail that may take a week to get there? That’s so old-fashioned, dude!
I know they do still sell postcards at Walt Disney World. And the post office still sells stamps and delivers letters, so postcards are still an option if you are interested. Good old-fashioned fun!
By the way, if you want to see how the photo above looks without those words in the way, here you go:
Looks pretty nice either way, right? I think so.
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. - Psalm 121:1-2
About the Photo
Maybe one of the first things about this photo that reminded me of a postcard, even before the postcard color scheme, was the framing with all of the leaves. I found an overlook that provided lots of greenery for a nice frame, which to me adds a lot to the view. And makes a nice place to put some postcard words, too. Plus, it also has many of the main elements of Typhoon Lagoon in the one shot: Mount Mayday, the wave pool, lots of swimmers, a nice sunny day. It is a pretty good overview of the park, even if it doesn’t include any of the popular water slides and other thrills.
And these new colors are much more interesting than the original colors. This was achieved with a combination of the Nik Color Efex Pro filter and the selective color adjustment layer in Photoshop.
Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Photoshop. Read more about photography tips, photo software, camera gear, and more at Steve’s Photography Tips.
Camera: Olympus OM-D E-M10
Lens: Olympus M.Zukio 25mm f1.8
Date: June 8, 2015
Location: Typhoon Lagoon, Walt Disney World, Florida
