Halloween Images Take Experimentation.

By Michele Wambaugh

26 Oct 2012

For many of us, Halloween is a peak time to shoot children, parties and decorations. This year, mainly because of JPG's themes, I got into the spirit early and sought out every Halloween themed place I could think of. I grabbed Halloween images everywhere I went and it was a lot of fun! This included visits to party and hardware stores and extensive canvassing of nearby neighborhoods, which yielded some extraordinary exterior home decorations.

After gathering a small file of favorite ghoulish photos, I decided to play with them in PhotoShop to see if I could push the scariness much further. Being unfamiliar with every single special effect, I ended up spending hours trying new ones I liked on each image. Besides using my usual "solarized" effect, I found "glowing edges" especially wonderful for Halloween. I also added one effect on top of another, such as glowing edges + solar + more contrast. Watching the scariness get amped up was exciting! But in the end, the main thing I really appreciated from these Halloween themes was both an impetus to experiment and the actual FUN of experimentation. And it feels wonderful to push your personal envelope and know you are adding new tools to your photography repertoire. In the future this is a lesson I will remember and apply again.

The Ultimate Hoodie

Fang!

Halloween is on the Horizon IV

Halloween Display

Pirate Spook

Halloween Howl

Pirates of The Caribbean II

Pretty Witch

Monstrosity

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thought you might like this story!

http://jpgmag.com/stories/19052

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—The JPG team

21 responses

rekha nag said (26 Oct 2012):
my vote..excellent!
Steve Baker gave props (26 Oct 2012):
Sweet! GMV!
Deborah Downes gave props (26 Oct 2012):
Fun and so creative. Sure gets my vote.
Krishna Dronamraju gave props (26 Oct 2012):
Timely and excellent photography!
Prashant Gupta gave props (26 Oct 2012):
Fab. Voted :)
MARCO MEYO gave props (26 Oct 2012):
Love the Story and the Series of Images!!...well done!! :-)
John Linton gave props (27 Oct 2012):
Hell YEAH! Rad!
Andrew Dutton gave props (27 Oct 2012):
Great Story and the photos are really well done!
Massimo Bardelli gave props (28 Oct 2012):
Very beautiful work Michele I love the ways you edit your images, brava!!
Thad Zajdowicz gave props (28 Oct 2012):
My vote!!
je suis moi gave props (28 Oct 2012):
Voted well done....
Lynn E. Harvey gave props (28 Oct 2012):
Voted..your work is so creative and great dedication!
Linda Houghton gave props (28 Oct 2012):
Sweeeeeeeeeet Essay!
Saroj Swain gave props (29 Oct 2012):
lovely shots and story...my vote for you !!!
Cheryl Andrews said (30 Oct 2012):
My vote. "Pretty Witch" is my personal favourite!
Lisa Kanemoto gave props (31 Oct 2012):
my vote, excellent work
Deborah Downes gave props (1 Nov 2012):
Back to vote again:-)
Andrea Petersen gave props (1 Nov 2012):
Great narrative and your hard work paid off...You have my vote.
Rob Linsalata gave props (2 Nov 2012):
Love the experimentation – and the results are a treat! "Pretty Witch" is my fave! And the story definitelt gets my vote! Wonderful!
Donald Garrett gave props (14 Nov 2012):
Voted. Well done
Katherine Nak gave props (16 Nov 2012):
Talk about inspired, I love it! Fab work!