I really love to take pictures of people in their Halloween costumes. Especially kids! In the past I’ve done small photo sessions of family on Halloween (such as this one: Halloween 2008). This year I decided to expand on that and do a photo shoot at my house and invite as many people as I could. I shot from noon to 2pm and charged a small fee which included an 8×10 print.
We had a TON of fun just chatting, taking pictures, and trying to keep track of all the kids. All of which were already wired from eating too much candy.
I’m going to show off some pictures first, then at the bottom of this describe how I did this.
This may be the first picture of me I’ve posted on the blog. I am very proud to say this was taken by my three year old (yes, she had a small amount of help from a tripod). My costume is subtly nefarious. I am the thin chef you shouldn’t trust.
So here’s the scoop on the shoot. I wanted to shoot outside and I wanted this to be low-key (super dark background). As I mentioned above, I shot from noon to 2pm. Which is only the brightest part of the day. And to keep it interesting I only own three on-camera style strobes. I decided to shoot under my carport, which was still too bright. To get around that I bought more black broadcloth than I’d ever seen in my life and the awesomest wife ever helped me sew up some big panels of fabric (thanks Marie!). With those panels, I blocked the left side of the carport, created the background, and draped some off the front of the carport to keep the noon sun from spilling in. The right side was left open. With that setup, at 1/250, iso100, f5.6 I got a completely black image.
Now that I had my low key base dialed in, I added light. Behind the subject is a single bare strobe, triggered optically and set to about 1/4 power. In front and to the right of the subject was a 50 inch Apollo softbox with two strobes. Both were set to full power. One triggered optically, the other triggered via pocketwizard.
I did a few test shots (for example, the shot of myself above) to figure out where the subject should stand and to make sure the lighting looked okay. I put down a small piece of gaffers tape to mark where they should stand. Voila! Picture time!
Halloween was a warm day here in Pasadena. It was in the low to mid 80′s during the session. Due to that, and shooting the strobes at full power in a softbox, they overheated a few times. Forcing me to pause so that they can cool off. Batteries had to be replaced a few times too. Not so pro in my opinion. Next time I do something like this, I need a grown-up strobe of some kind.
There you have it! Ghetto low-key photo shoot outside at noon!
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Although, I don’t care for halloween, I do admire your work! I cannot believe that this was done in a carport, crazy! You did a fantastic job!
Jon,the results look great! As you are working/playing just keep on enjoying your self. Most people do not know anything about photography. Getting the shot. You know what they say “you must be doing something right”. Keep up the great ambition. Photography does not just happen overnight. You manage to show some pretty good shots.Had you never stepped out you would have never enjoyed , or acquired some new talent. Keep up the great work. Also thanks for having the spine to share your art and comments with us all. I’m sure I can speak for most , we enjoy your talent.
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