Disney was caught off guard by the popularity of the animated musical, Frozen. It took time to develop something quickly for the parks but still of high quality. Last summer, the stage show For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-along Celebration debuted at Disney’s Hollywood Studios as part of Frozen Summer Fun. This was going to be a two month run. Like everything else about Frozen, this show became too popular to shut down. As of this writing, there is no plans to stop the show and after attending one, myself, I have to agree.

Elsa and Anna performing in the For the First Time in Forever: A Frozen Sing-along Celebration.
Nikon D700/28-300VR, 1/250s, f/5.6, ISO 1800, EV 0, 210mm focal length.

Here are a couple of tips for photographing a lighted stage show at Walt Disney World:

1. Take your exposures directly from a performer’s face. I use spot metering to do so and adjust the exposure using the Exposure Compensation or EV button.

2. Wait for the performers to stop on stage to photograph them. This can happen at the end of songs or an act.

Click this link for a blog post I wrote about photographing stage shows at Disney themeparks: Photographing a Live Stage Show at Disney