Disney Dream and a Lavender Sky
One of the nice side effects of the rain that we got during our 2017 Disney Cruise was that there were often some nice skies when there was not actually rain coming down, especially in the evenings. It is interesting what can happen when you mix in a little bit of setting sunlight with some clouds.
This scene almost looks like something out of a dream, with some amazing clouds above the funnel of the Disney Dream. This photo was taken on the same night that we took some group photos. And while in those group photos the setting sun behind us gave the sky an orange glow, when we turned around to look in the other direction the color of the sky changed to deep blue, almost lavender. Yes, I may have enhanced it just a bit for photographic purposes, but not all that much.
I really like how the lavender sky goes with the red, blue, and yellow of the ship’s funnel here, making for a very colorful scene. It is almost as if the ship’s designers chose that particular shade of red so that it would go with some interesting sky colors. Of course, they actually chose that color because of Mickey Mouse’s red shorts, but that’s okay, because it still does go nicely with so many different colors of the sky.
If you did not know, the whole ship’s color scheme was inspired by Mickey Mouse. The red is from Mickey’s shorts, the yellow is from Mickey’s shoes, the white is from his gloves, and the black is from his ears. Pretty cool that all of those colors work together and still look reminiscent of the colors of luxury ships from days long gone by.
I moved just to the left of the above photo, and I was looking down at the pool deck. You can see the FunnelVision screen at the far right here, which was at the far left side of the funnel in the previous photo, in case you need help getting your bearings. Anyway, a few people were enjoying the FunnelVision movie from the pool, while some others were enjoying it from the chairs behind the pool. After the rain from earlier in the day, this was a beautiful evening to be outside watching a movie.
But we did not linger here all that long, instead going inside to watch the evening’s stage show in the Walt Disney Theatre. However, it might have been just as good to sit outside and watch the natural show going on right above our heads, because that was pretty spectacular, too.
The whole earth is filled with awe at your wonders; where morning dawns, where evening fades, you call forth songs of joy. - Psalm 65:8
About the Photos
These photos continue to use some of the techniques that I have been working on to enhance the sky in photos. You might have read about that that in the previous post about the Nassau Public Library. These two photos vary from that technique slightly in that I did not use the Sunlight filter in the Google Nik Color Efex Pro 4 module. After all, there wasn’t much sense in adding sunlight to these photos when the sun had mostly set. Instead, I used a trick known as the Orton Effect, which gives photos a softer, almost dreamlike look. I believe the Sunlight filter has a bit of that built in, so the resulting look is somewhat the same, but obviously without the sunlight.
There are several Orton Effect tutorials out there, and several different techniques, although most of them give the same result. But be careful, because a little bit of Orton can go a long way, so try not to overdo it. Hopefully, these photos have it just about right.
Here is a before-and-after look at the pool deck photo, showing how much more dramatic the whole scene is with some color in the sky:
Photos: Each photo is 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: Rokinon 7.5mm f/3.5 Fisheye Lens
Date: June 8, 2017
Location: At Sea on the Disney Dream
