Inspiration, Tips from the Pros, Your Studio

Spooky Tips for Frightful Halloween Photos

With the changing weather and Halloween right around the corner, now is the perfect time to create some spooky photography. There are so many things you can do with a camera that will really make people jump. All it takes is a little practice mixed with some patience and a drop of toads blood to make your photography concoctions come to life.

Fierce Felines

Cats are synonymous with Halloween and are a great subject to create a scary scene. To create a chilling look, snap a close-up of your feline friend, add a shallow depth of field and focus the light on the bridge of their nose. Add a slight vignette and brightening effect post production to transform your friendly feline into a crazed cat. 

ScaryCat

Eerie Woods

Imagine yourself taking a late-night stroll through the woods, with nothing but the moon and the wind to keep you company. You hear a crack, then a second noise, and you’re immediately overwhelmed with fright. Capturing this scene will bring anyone back to this moment of fright. Image Requirements: remote wooded area, tripod. Using a high ISO and slow shutter speed, you can capture the bone-chilling darkness with the scary-silhouette of the woods. Add a green tint and darkening effect post production to pull the viewer deeper into despair. Spooky Tip: Try this effect on other creepy subjects, like lurking castles, abandoned buildings, and rusted playgrounds.

Foggy woods

Ghostly Long Exposure

Shooting a long exposure image is an easy way to conjure up some spirits in any photo, no Photoshop required. Image Requirements: low light environment or a ND (neutral density) filter, a tripod, willing participant. 

  1. Set the camera up on a tripod and adjust your shutter speed to 30 seconds or longer
  2. Anything within the frame that stays still will look like a normal image, anything that moves will appear transparent or opaque (very ghost-like). 
  3. Experiment with props, timing and subjects to create a ghostly scene. people standing on a mountain

Haunted Houses

A house does not need to be haunted to be creepy. Every town in America has at least one abandoned house rumored to be haunted. Most of the time these houses are older, dilapidated, and being reclaimed by nature. They make for the perfect subject.

Find your subject and wait for a cloudy day. The lack of natural sunlight will cast an even more grim façade over the house. If you can manage to get inside the house, without breaking any laws, creepy opportunities are sure to be plentiful.

Create Suspense

Sometimes the scariest thing is not the thing itself, but what leads up to its reveal. What is that tapping on the window? Who is out there? Is there something or someone behind the curtain? These are all questions you can get people asking with a strong suspenseful image. Feel free to play around with this idea as there are many ways to instill suspense. Blurring your photos or shooting in black and white will serve to enhance the spooky feeling.

man at door

Remove Color for Contrast

Quickly transform any scene by adjusting the color and lighting of your surroundings. What was once a c0lorful, smile-filled play ground will transform into an abandoned tale from children yonder.

 

Have any other spooky photos you want to share or ideas on how to photograph a frightful night? Share your ideas with us at marketing@artsycouture.com.

 


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