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.