Tips to Snapping Best Kids Halloween Pictures

mehobbies & me time

Taking pictures of your kids on Halloween, in their Halloween costumes and actually enjoying it AND liking the pictures later?? {GASP!}
Can it be true?

I'm here to tell you that yes, it can!
Over the past few years I've become increasingly attached to my camera(s) and obsessed interested in learning tips, tricks and techniques for taking better, more interesting pictures.
Halloween is one of those opportunities to REALLY have a great, FUN time with your kids and your pictures.
Now, while I'm by no means an expert, I do love photography and I've learned (through my own experiences) what NOT to do (ha ha).

For example, this cute picture of my little Raggedy Ann and Andy could have been a MUCH better picture if I had put them on a cute quilted blanket and shown my daughter 'reading' a Raggedy Ann and Andy book to my son. If they're characters from a childrens series, play with that!

Have fun with their costumes. My son is going to be a Ninja this year so I took him outside in his costume and told him to show me his Ninja moves... I spent 10 minutes laughing, got some fantastic shots and by the time we went inside, both of our cups were overflowing.

ninja monkey

My daughter is going to be a Candy Corn witch, she thought it would be fun to have me take some pictures of her with Candy Corn (she's brilliant, right?)

candy corn eating candy corn

Play around with actions and themes surrounding their costumes.. she wants me to find a broom and wrap it in candy corn colors and take pictures of her preparing to take off!!

Does your child LOVE a certain part of their costume more than the whole? The Spiderman Mask, The Fairy Wings, the Magic Wand, the shoes? Take a picture featuring that certain item. Once again, it's not typical, it might be a bit more artsy but, you're showing your child you're paying attention to them and it really will create a memorable and beautiful photograph that they (and you) will treasure.

candy corn witch high profile

STOP FORCING THE POSES

(AHEM)

Do I have your attention now? Good.

Virtually no one is going to be happy with those pictures and they don't convey any of the excitement or tell any sort of story. The best pictures, the ones that you'll treasure later are the ones where the picture tells the whole story or convey such strong emotion that you feel yourself pulled into that moment.

Quit over-thinking the pictures and capture the real moments of your very real lives and your very real children; I promise those pictures will be much more valuable than any posed portrait any day.

This picture, for example, we can't see their faces but, it tells a story and it screams Halloween.

Typically, Trick or Treating is done in the early evening, dusk, also known as one of the Golden Hours in photography -- see that gorgeous golden light in the picture above? LOVE IT!! Use it!

The golden dusk light is diffused and will give your pictures the most gorgeous soft glow, use that light. Turn off your flash and use the light, trust me.

(Did I emphasize that enough?)

Use the natural lighting!!!!!

Once night falls, use the glowing jack-o-lanterns to take some cool silhouette pictures of your kids!

Jack 'O

Let's re-cap:

  1. Have Fun
  2. Be Creative
  3. DO NOT FORCE IT
  4. Use the natural light, turn off your flash
  5. HAVE FUN!
Rachel Matthews is a 32 year old deep fried Southern Belle, who is married to her own Texas version of Prince charming clad in boots and jeans who rides a Harley instead the traditional  armor & a white horse.   She is the proud, but tired, mom to two rambunctious 8th generation Texans, a 6 year old firecracker of a daughter and a 4 year old son, who is affectionately known as Monkey.
 
She grew up cooking with butter, love and cast-iron at the side of her Southern Granny and that passion for cooking, creating recipes and dishing those recipes out with love has continued through into adulthood.
 
She's rarely without her camera (and its manual) and loves sharing the world she sees through her lens.
Between photography, food, PTA, coaching soccer and kickball and keeping her son off the ceiling fans and out of the ER, she sometime finds time to be the Food Editor for Blissfully Domestic and author her own blog about Food and Family, aptly called; A Southern Fairytale.

The following two tabs change content below.
Mental Clutter Expert | Mom of 2 boys | Wife to 1 Fireman | Horrible Cook | Loyal Friend | National Public Speaker who gives you permission to be imperfect

Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


Web Statistics