4 Tips For Photographing Halloween
With Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd pop in to give you some tips for getting the best pictures you can during this fun holiday!
This is one time where I think I have as much fun capturing the event as other people have in taking part :)
1) Don't just focus on the costumes!
There are SO many other things to capture during Halloween, so don't be tempted just to focus on the costumes and leave it there. Sometimes I feel like the REAL story is in everything else, and the costumes are just one small part of it (albeit a cute part!)
Here are just a few suggestions for other things you can capture:
Pumpkin carving
Pets
Decorations
Cookies
Costume details
Jack O Lanterns
2) Consider Converting To Black and White
Converting images to black and white can help even the most ordinary of scenes look a little creepier (which of course is fun for Halloween photos!).
So try turning your images of things like getting your kids into their costumes, carving out the pumpkin, or out trick or treating, into black and white and you can’t instantly turn them into something a little spookier!
(Read this step by step tutorial about converting to black and white in Lightroom here so you can be sure to get the best darn black and white ever)
3) Find Pockets of Light
One thing many people complain of when photographing Halloween is having to work in low light situations. Depending on your part of the world, it could even be pitch black outside when you go trick or treating, which makes taking photos a challenge to say the least :)
My advice here is to find pockets of light.
Pockets of light is just as it sounds: find small areas where there is at least some light, and place your subjects in it. Some examples of pocket of light would be open doors, under a street light, headlamps, in the beam of a torch, in the light emitted by candles or a jack o lantern - anything that has light and where you can put your subject within it the “pool” of light it creates.
You can read this post on how to take photos in low light for further information on shooting when the light is low.
4. Consider a Silhouette
Creating a silhouette is another way you can add a spooky feel to you Halloween images!
A silhouette is simply when you take an image where the background is perfectly exposed, and the subject is black (just like the image below)
This means the focus is really on the outline of the subject rather than the subject itself, so it can be great fun to play with, especially at Halloween!
Rather than tell you how to create a silhouette here, I'm going to direct you to this blog post where you can get a step by step guide on how to do it. Read it here: 8 Simple Steps to An Awesome Silhouette
