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 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.