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 today. It's become a night of fantasy for children of all ages, and with its pumpkins, 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."
"The most important guideline," says DeLaney, "is to know exactly what you want to be the subject of your photography. 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."
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.
Photo Tip 1: To make this picture even more interesting, try to include the faces of the kids or Dad or Mom hovering over it in or out of costume. Get down low so that you can see their faces looming over the top of the pumpkin. Careful now, you don't want to cut any heads off, even on Halloween.
Photo Tip 2: 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.
Now the second guideline: To capture the eerie "feeling" of Halloween, shoot at night using "ghoul" lighting. Rule One is to turn off your strobe. You don't want pictures with its cold, clear light. Rather, you're looking for eerie lighting that captures the "spirit" of Halloween.
Photo Tip 3: 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 eye-level.
Photo Tip 4: If your kid wears 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 Xmas card).
"The key to good Halloween pictures," notes DeLaney, "is to capture the spirit - the feeling - 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."
For lots more ideas on how to take great Halloween pictures, visit the New York Institute of Photography Web site at http://www.nyip.com/tips/topic_halloween02.php Reprinted with permission from the New York Institute of Photography Web site at http://www.nyip.com
