Sink your teeth into Halloween photography

Marcus Hawkins

Photographer and writer Marcus is a former editor of Digital Camera

The complete guide to modern photography

Using LED lights to paint parts of a pumpkin over a series of shots, which are then blended, gives a devilishly different look…

Give your photography a ghostly spin with these tips and techniques for sinister seasonal shots. Torches, flashguns and pumpkins at the ready…

Other than Christmas, few calendar events provide an opportunity for such distinctive seasonal photographs as Halloween.

From portraits of children in colourful costume to creepy silhouettes shot in fog, and from pumpkin-laced still-life to spooky moonlit landscapes, there are plenty of tricks and techniques to try out when it comes to creative and fun photography at this time of year.

Halloween photography is more about the ideas and execution than it is camera equipment. Technically, you can get great shots using a simple DSLR or mirrorless camera and a standard kit lens. But there are some additions that will make life a bit easier, particularly if you’re shooting in the low light of dusk, or at night. A fast 50mm or 85mm f/1.4 or f/1.8 lens will be handy for giving you beautiful blurred backgrounds for Halloween portraits, for example, as well as enabling you to achieve faster shutter speeds for sharper shots in low light without having to increase the ISO too far.

To extend your opportunities for handheld photography into the evening, consider getting a flashgun, plus a device to trigger it remotely. Although a camera’s built-in flash unit allows you to take photos in the dark, its small size and fixed position reduces the potential for creative photos. Flashguns aren’t only useful for adding light where there was none before: they can be used to fill in details in backlit shots at sunset, turn day into night, and create ghostly motion blur trails using slow-sync flash.

(Addams) Family portraits

Halloween is the perfect time to fill the family album with fang-tastic memories

Start your Halloween portraits days or weeks early. There’s often too much happening on the evening itself for everyone to take time out to pose. Plus, if you’re looking to shoot outdoor portraits, you’re at the mercy of the weather on that one day.

Getting eye-level with your subject is a good plan – although getting lower and angling the camera up will make them look more intimidating. For flattering shots, stand back and use a short telephoto lens, such as an 85mm or a 70-200m. If you want to create a more distorted look, where you’re able to exaggerate the size of noses, heads, hands or feet to creepy effect, choose a wide-angle lens and get close to that body part.

Take a few candid snaps, too. Capture the brief moments where people dressed up in costumes are doing domestic chores or checking their phones.

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Horror show Keep photo sessions with young kids brief and full of movement to prevent them losing interest – and have a reward ready, too!

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Ghoul power Go for a clean treatment against a dark background when you want the focus to be on fantastic make-up or costumes.

Shadows and silhouettes

You don’t have to splash out on expensive Halloween costumes –a white bedsheet with a couple of handdrawn eyes can give you that timeless, aesthetically pleasing Scooby-Doo look. It can also double up as a canvas for creepy silhouettes. Backlit by either the sun or a flash, the human form can take on a myriad of different forms – especially if you distort the sheet. Alternatively, shoot on the same side as the subject, and capture shadow forms instead.

Check the exposure whenever you shoot a bright white object such as a sheet, as the camera will probably try to underexposure it. Be prepared to increase the exposure so that the histogram is closer to the right side of the graph.

Loving the alien A boy, pressing his head against a backlit sheet pegged to a washing line, takes on the shape of an alien.