Pope Gregory III started it all in 739
A.D. when he officially designated All Saints Day, but he wouldn't recognize
Halloween as we celebrate it today. It's become a night of fantasy for children
of all ages, and with its glowing Jack-O-Lanterns, costumes, and
trick-or-treating it's also a great opportunity for you to capture the spirit(s)
with your camera.
"It's easy to turn this night of fantasy into permanent picture memories,"
says Chuck DeLaney, Dean of the New York Institute of Photography, "but you
have to follow two simple guidelines or, excuse the pun, you won't have a
ghost of a chance."
Capture Your Subject
"The most important guideline," says DeLaney, "is to know exactly what you
want to be the subject of your picture. Then, when you look through the
viewfinder of your camera, make your subject the most important thing in
the frame and try not to show anything that distracts from it. The second
guideline is to try to capture the 'feeling' of the occasion too."
Framing is Key
For example, if you are shooting a Jack-O-Lantern, it's your subject. Make
that clear by moving in close and almost filling the frame with the pumpkin.
Keep the background simple so it doesn't distract from your subject. Hint:
To make this picture even more interesting, include the faces of the kids
or Dad or Mom hovering over it. Get down low so that you see their faces
looming over the top of the pumpkin. Careful now, you don't want to cut any
heads off, even on Halloween.
Eerie Effects
Now the second guideline. To capture the eerie "feeling" of Halloween, shoot
at night using "ghoul" lighting. Rule One is to turn off your flash! You
don't want pictures with its cold, clear light. Rather, you're looking for
eerie lighting that captures the "spirit" of Halloween.
Hint: To capture the glow of a jack-o-lantern, don't light just one
candle inside the pumpkin. Two or three lit candles will produce a far better
picture.
Shooting in Costume
When you take a picture of your favorite goblin in costume, have a helper
shine a flashlight from off to one side or from below, the way we all did
as kids. This is "ghoul" lighting and it will produce wonderfully scary lighting
in your pictures. The biggest mistake amateurs make is to shoot from too
far back. So get in close and fill the frame. You don't have to shoot from
head-to-toe. Rather, you're usually better off if you fill the
frame with just the head and shoulders. And bend down low to kid's-eye level.
Don't shoot from adult-level.
Hint: If your kids wear a mask, take two shots - one with the mask
on and one without so that in future years you'll be able to identify the
little devil behind the mask and you may be able to use the picture for your
Christmas card.
"The key to good Halloween pictures," concludes DeLaney, "is to capture the
spirit - the feeling - of the occasion. The spirit of Halloween is ghoulish
fun and silliness. So for great Halloween pictures, know what you want the
subject of each of your pictures to be, and make it important in the frame.
Then add 'mood' that captures the spirit of Halloween by the ghoulish way
you light your pictures or the silly way you pose your subjects."
About the Author:
Reprinted with permission from the New York Institute of Photography website
at http://www.nyip.com
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