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Capturing all of your favorite memories at Disney is so important, and these Disney photography tips make it easier to do with the phone already in your pocket.
Stacy Canzonieri is a talented family photographer, and she put together her best advice for taking great Disney photos with your smartphone on your next vacation, from planning your must-have shots to editing them before you even get home.
The good news is you don’t have to pack a camera anymore, because you’ve got one in your back pocket at all times. Smartphones have made it so much easier to capture the moments you want to remember. Disney can be overwhelming though, and there are a ton of photo ops. How the heck are you supposed to manage it all and still be present with your family? The answer is a mix of a few smart habits, a handful of phone settings, and permission to put the camera down when the moment matters more than the picture.
Disney Photography Tips to Use Before You Get to the Parks
Some of the most helpful Disney photography tips start before you ever leave home. A few minutes of thinking ahead means you aren’t scrambling for shots in the moment, and it frees you up to enjoy the day once you’re there.
Make a Shot List
Before you even set foot in a Disney park, it helps to know what you want to remember. Knowing where you want to go and what you want to photograph can save you time and help you get the best shots. A shot list gives you the chance to think about the moments you really want to capture.
Start with what you’re looking forward to most about your trip. Maybe your kids have a favorite character or are all about the rides, maybe you’re celebrating a birthday or a girls’ trip, or maybe you’ll be meeting up with family or friends. Think about what images will be most important to you and your family after the vacation is over. Keep the list to about five to ten shots and save it in the notes app on your phone, so it’s easy to pull up while you wait in line.
Tell Someone What’s Important to You
Once you’ve got your list of must-have shots, tell someone about it. Let your spouse, a friend, or a family member know what photos are important to you and that you might need some help wrangling the kids. If your kids are old enough to understand, tell them too! Tell them how special it will be to have these memories to look back on when they’re grown.
Those are the memories that show who was there, what their hotel room looked like, the rides they went on, and all the Mickey-shaped food they ate!
Pack a Few Small Photo Essentials
You don’t need a fancy camera bag to take great Disney vacation photos, but a few small extras make a big difference. A portable charger is the most important one, since snapping photos, checking wait times, and booking Lightning Lanes in the My Disney Experience app all day will drain your battery fast. If you’d rather not keep track of your own, FuelRod kiosks around the parks let you swap a dead charger for a fully charged one.
A small phone tripod or grip comes in handy for group shots, and a phone lanyard or crossbody phone case keeps your camera ready without the worry of dropping it on a ride or in a crowded walkway. All of it fits easily in your park bag without weighing you down.
Smartphone Camera Settings for Better Disney Vacation Photos
Your phone can do a lot more than point and shoot, and plenty of Disney photography tips come down to knowing which setting to use. Spend ten minutes with your camera settings before the trip, and you’ll know exactly what to reach for when the castle lights up or a character walks over to say hello.
Master Your Smartphone Camera Settings
Knowing what your phone can do makes a big difference in your photos. Take some time to learn the different modes and features available on your device before you go. HDR, short for high dynamic range, balances the light and dark areas of a photo, resulting in more detail and vibrant colors. This is especially useful for high-contrast scenes like Cinderella Castle against a bright sky or a character in a shaded area. Most newer phones apply HDR automatically, so check your settings to make sure it’s still turned on.
Enabling grid lines will help you compose your shots using the rule of thirds, which can make your photos more visually appealing. Most smartphones have an option to enable grid lines in the camera settings, and on an iPhone you’ll find it under Settings, then Camera, then Grid.
Turn On Live Photos
When Live Photos is turned on, your iPhone records 1.5 seconds of video before and after you take a picture. At the end of your trip you can put some of your favorites together and create a video. All you have to do is select your favorite Live Photos, tap the three-dot menu, and choose Save as Video. Voila! Your own Disney movie clip.
This way you’ll have both photos and videos of your Disney vacation memories without going through the trouble of trying to shoot both at the same time. Android phones have a similar feature, usually called Motion Photos, in the camera settings. This is one of my favorite Disney World photography tips.
Try Portrait Mode, Burst Mode, and the Ultra-Wide Lens
Portrait mode softly blurs the background, which makes it a good fit for character meet and greets and family photos where the crowd behind you isn’t part of the memory. Stand a few steps back from your subject so the effect has room to work, and tap on their face to set the focus.
Burst mode takes a quick series of shots in a row, so you can catch the one frame where everyone’s eyes are open. Use it for kids running down Main Street, U.S.A., a splash on Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, or a hug with Mickey that only lasts a second. On most iPhones, you can slide the shutter button to the left to start a burst. When you’re standing close to something big, switch to the ultra-wide 0.5x lens to fit all of Cinderella Castle or Spaceship Earth at EPCOT into the frame.
Disney World Photography Tips for Light, Crowds, and Angles
Lighting and crowds affect your photos more than any setting on your phone. These Disney World photography tips help you work with both, so you can still come home with bright, clean photos on a busy park day.
Find the Shade
If you’ve got an early morning planned at Magic Kingdom or any of the other parks, that might be the best time for some posed photos. The sun is still pretty low in the sky and the crowds aren’t as big. Plus, it’s not as hot so there’s less chance for cranky kids. One of my best Disney vacation photo tips is to find shade when you can for even lighting in your pictures. You won’t always be able to, but it’ll make a huge difference when you can.
The hour before sunset brings that same soft, golden light back. It’s a gorgeous time for photos around World Showcase at EPCOT or along the water at your resort, and the parks start to glow once the lights come on.
Know How to Avoid Crowds in Your Photos
Crowds can be a challenge when trying to get a clean shot. Visit popular locations early in the morning or late in the evening when the parks are less crowded. You can also use angles and framing to keep other guests out of the shot.
One way to make it look like there are fewer people in your photos is to crouch down and shoot from a lower angle. In fact, trying a bunch of different angles will instantly create more interesting photos. You don’t want all of your Disney photos to look the same. You can also look for empty corners or pockets of space that have no crowds. They’re out there, I promise!
Clean Your Camera Lens
One of the simplest yet most effective Disney photography tips is to clean your lens regularly. Your smartphone spends a lot of time in your pocket or bag, which can cause the lens to get smudged. Keeping a small microfiber cloth in your park bag makes it easy to keep your camera lens clean throughout the day.
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Take Better Fireworks and Nighttime Photos at Disney
Fireworks and nighttime shows are where phone photos struggle the most, but a few tweaks help a lot. Turn off your flash, since it can’t reach the sky and only lights up the back of someone’s head. Hold your phone with both hands and tuck your elbows in, or brace it against a railing, and let Night mode do its work when it pops up. Tapping the screen and sliding your finger down to lower the brightness keeps bright bursts from turning into white blobs.
Live Photos come in handy here too. In the Photos app, you can switch a Live Photo to the Long Exposure effect, which turns the fireworks into dreamy streaks of light. Once you have a few shots you like, give yourself permission to put the phone away and watch the rest of the show with your own eyes.
Disney Photography Tips for Capturing the Moments You’ll Remember
Posed photos in front of the castle are great, but the photos you’ll love most years from now are usually the small, unplanned ones. These Disney photography tips help you notice them while they’re happening.
Don’t Forget the Disney Details
The little Disney details are easy to overlook. We get so caught up in the character moments and posed shots that it’s easy to forget about the little things. Disney parks are filled with intricate details and clever touches around every corner. Don’t just focus on the big picture. Take the time to capture the small elements that make Disney so special. Take photos of the buildings, the food, new souvenirs…all of it.
For food photos, snap your treat right away before it melts in the Florida heat. Natural light near a window or outside in the shade will always look better than your flash.
Capture Candid Moments
Document how it feels to be at Disney. The excitement and wonder, along with the meltdowns, because that’s part of it too. These unplanned shots often tell the best stories and capture real emotions. Photograph interactions between family members, friends, and characters. These moments are usually full of big smiles and laughter, and they turn into the photos everyone asks you to send them.
Get Everyone in the Photos
Of all the Disney photography tips here, this is the one people forget most often.
While it’s important to capture all the moments around you, don’t forget to include yourself in the photos. Make sure you’re showing up in the memories you’re working so hard to create. Even if you just turn the camera around and take a selfie, you deserve to be in photos too.
Most smartphones have a timer feature that allows you to set a delay before the photo is taken. Set your phone on a stable surface, activate the timer, and join in the shot. You could also use your Apple Watch or a Bluetooth remote to control the shutter from a distance. Don’t hesitate to ask someone to take a photo of you and your group in a place that doesn’t easily allow you to prop up your phone. People are usually happy to help, and this way, you can get everyone in the picture.
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Use Disney PhotoPass and Memory Maker Alongside Your Own Photos
Disney Memory Maker is a paid service that gives you unlimited downloads of your Disney PhotoPass photos, and it pairs well with the photos you take yourself. PhotoPass photographers are stationed throughout the parks and resorts to take group shots and capture the big moments, including fun Magic Shots with characters added in. Many of them will happily snap a few shots on your phone too. Keep taking your own photos too, so you come home with a mix of professional and candid photos from your trip.
Memory Maker currently costs $185 when you buy it at least three days before your trip and $210 after that, and it also includes your ride photos and videos. If ride photos are the main thing you want, Lightning Lane Multi Pass and Premier Pass both include the attraction photos and videos from that park day. After your trip, you can download your images and share them along with your own photos.
Disney Photography Tips for Editing and Saving Your Photos
More than likely you’ll come away with a ton of photos from your Disney vacation. These Disney photography tips keep your camera roll under control so you don’t feel so overwhelmed, and a few quick edits help your favorites look their best.
Don’t Wait Until You’re Home
Do yourself a favor and curate your photos on your smartphone before you get home. At the end of each day, take some time to go through the photos you’ve taken. Ten minutes on the bus back to your resort or before bed is plenty. This will help prevent the overwhelming task of sorting through hundreds of photos after your vacation when you’re back to your real life.
Delete Duplicates and Blurry Photos
Go through your photos and delete any that are duplicates or blurry. This will make it easier to find the best shots and keep your photo library organized. Keeping only the best photos will also save storage space on your device. If there are several photos taken of the same thing, just select one or two favorites. On an iPhone, the Duplicates album in the Photos app finds exact copies and lets you merge them in a tap. This is the easiest place to start editing your Disney vacation photos on your smartphone.
Edit Your Photos
When it comes to editing, keep it simple. Most smartphones come with built-in editing tools that are easy to use. Start with basic edits such as cropping, straightening, and adjusting brightness and contrast. These simple tweaks can make a big difference in the quality of your photos. For more advanced editing, consider using the Lightroom mobile app, which offers a range of editing tools and allows you to make precise adjustments to your photos.
You can also purchase presets online that already have the editing features set. Simply apply the preset to your photos in the Lightroom app. You may still have to make a few adjustments, but it’s really helpful and saves a lot of time. Plus, it will help your photos look cohesive if you’re using similar editing styles.
Create an Album
Organize your edited photos into an album on your phone. This makes it easy to find and share your favorite shots, and creating albums for each trip or celebration will help keep your camera roll more organized. A shared album is an easy way to collect everyone’s photos in one place too, especially if you traveled with grandparents or friends who took their own.
Print Photos or Create a Photo Book
Printing your photos or creating a photo book is a great way to preserve your Disney memories. There are many online services that make it easy to design and order prints or photo books. Prints and photo books are easy to share with family and friends, and they give you a keepsake to look back on. Flipping through an album brings the whole trip back, and it gives your kids something they can hold in their hands.
Common Questions About Disney Photography
- Do I need a real camera to get good Disney photos?
- Not at all. A newer smartphone handles almost everything you’ll want to shoot in the parks, and PhotoPass photographers can fill in the group shots. A dedicated camera helps most with zoomed-in parade photos and fireworks.
- What time of day is best for photos at Disney World?
- Early morning and the hour before sunset give you the softest light and the smallest crowds. Midday sun is the harshest, so look for shade or save that time for candid shots and details.
- Do I need Memory Maker if I take my own photos?
- It depends on how often you plan to stop for PhotoPass photographers. It makes sense if you want professional group photos during your vacation.
- How do I take fireworks photos with my phone?
- Turn off your flash, keep your phone steady with both hands or against a railing, and lower the brightness by sliding down on the screen. The Long Exposure effect on a Live Photo turns fireworks into streaks of light.
Stacy Canzonieri is a New Jersey family photographer, mom of 3 girls, and creator of The Memory Keepers Club. She loves teaching other moms simple and fun ways to get in more photos with their kids and capture their everyday life with creativity and intention. She’s also Disney-obsessed and can’t wait for the next trip to the Happiest Place on Earth!
Bring Home Disney Vacation Photos That Tell Your Story
With these Disney photography tips, you’ll be ready to capture your Disney vacation with your smartphone and still enjoy every minute of it. Plan your must-have shots, learn a few camera settings before you go, and leave room for the candid moments you can’t schedule. Most importantly, have fun, because the trip itself matters more than any photo of it.
The photos you treasure most won’t all be perfect. The blurry hug, the ice cream dripping down a little arm, and the group shot where someone is mid-blink will make you smile for years. When you’re ready to map out the rest of the trip, I’d love to help you plan a Disney vacation with plenty of room for moments like these.
