Evening at the Grand Floridian at Walt Disney World
A Nice Night in Blue
During our June 2018 Florida trip, we ended up at the Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World one evening, just after the sun had set for the day. This was actually our second visit to the Grand Floridian on this trip, and it occurred on a different day than when we saw the classic Cadillac at the entrance. If you are wondering.
As with that previous visit, we were walking along the shore of Seven Seas Lagoon from the Polynesian Village Resort and past the Wedding Pavilion. The view of the Grand Floridian buildings across the water is always a good one, no matter the time of day.
As you can see, the rain clouds were moving out, and it was a lovely evening to be outside. At this time of the evening, everything took on interesting shades of blue and purple as the sun went down. Or almost everything. I like the yellow touches here and there of the lights coming from inside the buildings and how they add some different color tones to the view here.
The world is such a colorful place during the daytime, under “normal” lighting conditions. And then, everything changes to a different set of colors at night. It really is fascinating if you take a little time to notice it.
It’s the Little Things
I will be the first to admit that I did not notice things like that as much when I was younger. I was concerned only about what next big thing was coming up. I did not take time to notice the smaller details, such as the way the gentle wind blows the leaves of a tree. Or the way the air smells right as a rain shower starts (that is known as petrichor, by the way). Or how the colors change from daytime to night.
I notice those things more now. I don’t know if that is because I have done so many of the big things already and don’t crave those experiences as much. Or perhaps I am slowing down in general as I get older and my mind is not always racing.
On the other hand, it seems like we have even more to do these days than back in our younger, child-free days. So maybe noticing the small details is an attempt to try to slow down instead of just speeding up. Sort of like how when you were a child you hated to be bored, but now as an adult, I would love to be bored sometime.
So for whatever reason, interesting things like nighttime colors interest me. And hopefully you have found this photo to be interesting, too.
Bible Verse
God made the two great lights—the greater light to have dominion over the day and the lesser light to have dominion over the night—as well as the stars. - Genesis 1:16
About the Photo
Because it was only the early evening, this did not require a tripod and a long exposure, as there was still a good bit of light around. I used an ISO setting of 640, and I did have the aperture on the 25mm lens open wide at a setting of f/1.8. That helped with the slightly low light levels. With those settings, the shutter speed was 1/100 second, which works quite well for a handheld photo.
As usual, I worked on this one a bit in Photoshop to bring out the nighttime colors just a bit more, and also to bring up some of the shadow detail. The details of the building were a good bit dark before that, so having the Raw file helped out greatly there.
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 15, 2018
Location:Grand Floridian Resort, Walt Disney World, Florida
