Happy Halloween!!

Halloween Photography Experiments, Part 3

For our final Halloween shoot we wanted to do something other than ghost.  We had a great location and our friend Charles volunteered to be a werewolf.  We used an off camera flash to light the scenes from different angles.

Sometimes the universe gives you a really great location at just the right moment and you have to take advantage.  For this shoot we were able to go out into the woods to an old, rundown house.  This shoot would have been a lot less interesting if we had gone somewhere else.

 

To create the werewolf look I used regular costume make up around the eyes, first applying a layer of black and then using white and yellow to fade the black outward away from the eyes.  Our model had a five o'clock shadow and a very short haircut, so I used gum spirit to apply fake hair to his face and head.  I first applied black hair at the jawline and the top of his head.  Then I used a red/brown color to add highlight and fill in the hair around his cheeks and forehead.

Here are a few of Sara's finished pictures.

This lighting effect was actually created by the spotlight being placed directly under the models face. 

If you would like to book a shoot with Sara or see more of her photography, please visit the Bellawillow website.

Halloween Photography Experiments, Part 2

We got a couple of friends to help us out for our second Halloween photo shoot.  The idea for this shoot was to create old-time ghost photographs in a cemetery.  We had found the dresses at thrift stores, and spent minimal time on hair and make-up.  Again, we were playing with long exposure and we ditched a regular flash and used a spotlight while shooting under the moonlight.  This time I actually ended up hiding the spotlight under the fabric of my shirt because it was to bright when it hit the models' faces directly. 

This was a very clear and vibrant photo before I got a hold of it in Photoshop.  Because they are suppose to be ghost I ended up burning a lot of the shadows onto the models.  Then I used the desaturate tool over various parts of their skin and dresses, but I left some of their color because I felt like they looked more creepy that way.

This is another photo that used a long exposure.  We left the spotlight on just slightly longer than a second each time we turned it on (about 5-7 flashes). 

If a model moves too fast or the shutter doesn't stay open very long, one ghost image is achieved rather than large blur.  For this image the spotlight hit the scene very hard, but a very scary ghost image was created.

For the next two images Sara had changed the lens to a 50 mm and we used the flash instead of the spotlight.  This created better portraits of the models.  However, these clearer images didn't make for very good ghost pictures so I used Photoshop to burn the images and give the models a faded appearance over sections of their bodies.

 

When editing pictures, there is never a right or wrong way to edit.  Everyone has there own taste and style.  The following pictures are some of Sara's finished images.

 

If you would like to book a shoot with Sara or see more of her photography, please visit the Bellawillow website.

Halloween Photography Experiments, Part 1

This year we really got into Halloween photography.  It all started because I really wanted to do some creepy make-up and I wanted to see if I could apply costume prosthetic wounds.  Since my mom is a HUGE Halloween lover, she gladly volunteered to be a creepy ghost so that Sara and I could practice some ghostly photography tricks.

For this series of pictures we were in a dark room, blocking as much light as we could.  We experimented with different shutter speeds and various types of lighting.  Instead of using a flash, we used an LED spotlight that we covered with either a sheet of printer paper, white tissue paper, or a iridescent/translucent wrapping paper.

It may be a little obvious, but this photo has been Photoshopped a lot.  Sara took a great portrait, but I used the burn and dodge tools to exaggerate the shadows and highlight the fake blood.

This was an interesting shot.  Instead of using a flash, we turned off all the lights and used a spotlight that was covered by an iridescent/translucent wrapping paper.  The colors were created by the wrapping paper and the dark shadows were a result of using the spotlight instead of a flash.

 

For this shot Sara used a very slow shutter speed.  We had our model stand still for a few seconds with the spotlight on (but pointed to the ground).  Then we turned off the light and had the model begin walking across the room while the shutter on the camera was still open.  Every couple of seconds we turned the spotlight back on for literally a second, which is what created the ghost images as the model walked across the room.

Try some ghost pictures for yourself and let us know how they turn out!

If you would like to book a shoot with Sara or see more of her photography, please visit the Bellawillow website.