364 Days 'til Halloween & A Winner!

The magician international super spy vampire is sleeping after a fun weekend of activity.

We've officially entered my Jubilee which also means the Holiday season! This time of year is loved in our house.

Thanks everyone for taking part in the 13 Days 'Til Halloween. I loved posting and loved seeing what you did with the challenges.

Using random.org our winner (with the most entries, so her odds were good!) is Sarah. Check out her fun Halloween photos! I loved the Jabba the Hutt photo!

Class starts tomorrow and registration is still open! I hope you will join me for six weeks of Capturing Your Life Through The Lens! Trying to decide if you want to join in class? I'm taking questions today about class, format, anything at all! Let me know!

1 Day 'til Halloween - Checking It Twice

Oops! I forgot to post 1 Day 'Til yesterday!

Isn't it typical of this crazy time of year, packed with activities, places to go and things to take care of? My intention was to post a pumpkin photo or two, but we didn't carve it yet. We didn't last year either. In fact, last year's pumpkin didn't get carved until Thanksgiving when I made it into pie!

Today's tip takes shape in list form so you can make the magic happen!

A few things to remember before the evening festivities begin.

1. Charge your camera's battery
2. Clear your memory cards, then Format them in your camera's menu to get the most space.
3. Place your camera or bag next to the battery so you don't leave the battery behind (or am I the only one who does this?)
4. Decide what lens you are going to use and if you are going to use flash. Make these decisions before you walk out the door, and stick to them so you can focus on the fun.
5. Place your camera's drive mode on Continuous shooting so you can snap several frames at a time, it gives you the best chance of one being right!
6. Watch your SHUTTER SPEED.  In my opinion this is often the biggest mistake I make when shooting in low light situations, heck, maybe in most situations. I forget to look at it or talk myself into believing I really can hand hold my camera for 1/20th of a second. (I can't)
7. Have fun!

Post a link to your favorite photo in the comments below! 

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Don't forget to link me up to your photo or leave a comment and you'll go in a drawing on November 1st for a spot in Your Life: Captured Through The Lens, my most popular photography class. That means you get up to 13 chances to win! Comments close at midnight pacific time tonight.

Your Life: Captured Through The Lens is a 6 week online, interactive photography course. We start class in aperture priority mode (the A or AV on your dial) and work our way to manual mode. Each class includes a composition method as well as technical shooting information.  You'll receive 6 pdf lessons and access to 6 videos in addition to two live online chats and have access to the online forum and gallery. See what Tracy Muilenberg, Debbie West, and Amy LeJeune have to say about class.

2 Days 'til Halloween - Halloween Scavenger Hunt

The excitement is boiling over in our house this morning! Ian's first school party and costume parade. He's changed his mind about his costume a few times, but I think we've settled on one for today and one for tomorrow. We'll see what Halloween brings! He's a boy of many costumes with a Grandma who likes to sew, so he's got a good stash to select from!

*TP Mummy not sewn by Grandma aka Mumzy

Today's challenge is one of my favorites! Head out with your camera for a scavenger hunt. You might find these today or throughout the entire weekend. I love the challenge of finding specific things and grabbing them in creative ways.

Here you go! 13 just for fun. Find as many (or as few) as you'd like. Link me to them when you've got some! BigHugeLabs has a fun mosaic maker, to quickly put them together.

1. A black cat
2. Teeth
3. Red - fun chance to follow The Red Rule
4. Stuffed
5. Striped
6. Spooky - maybe Shoot The Moon
7. Pointy
8. Brew
9. Orange
10. A treat - a great opportunity to Fill the Frame
11. Bones
12. Ghostly - try to Ghost Someone
13. Cute

Have fun! Happy Shooting! Be safe :)

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Link me up to your photo or leave a comment and you'll go in a drawing on November 1st for a spot in Your Life: Captured Through The Lens, my most popular photography class. That means you can get up to 13 chances to win!

Your Life: Captured Through The Lens is a 6 week online, interactive photography course. We start class in aperture priority mode (the A or AV on your dial) and work our way to manual mode. Each class includes a composition method as well as technical shooting information.  You'll receive 6 pdf lessons and access to 6 videos in addition to two live online chats and a class forum for posting questions. See what Tracy Muilenberg, Debbie West, and Amy LeJeune have to say about class.

3 Days 'til Halloween - How To Shoot The Moon

Shea's favorite

When the full moon is out on Halloween, the creep factor rises.  This year it isn't full, but there is still a moon! Give it a try. Frame it.  Leave it lonely in the sky. If you get really lucky take advantage of clouds.

You might recall my steps for shooting the moon.

1. Grab your lens with the longest focal length.
2. Take off your UV filter, if you have one on.
3. Set your ISO to 100.
4. Set your aperture to f/8.0 (this is not the only option).
5. Set your shutter speed to 1/125 (this is not the only option).
6. Zoom out to your longest focal length
7. Focus on the moon, ignoring your light meter (it's going to freak out, indicating you are overexposed)
8. Recompose if you'd like.
9. Shoot!


Okay, that's one way :)


Here are my steps for these.


1. Grab your lens with the longest focal length. (I used 200mm)
2. Take off your UV filter, if you have one on.
3. Set your ISO to 1250.
4. Set your aperture to f/2.8 (the moon is a LONG way out, you'll get the entire thing in focus).
5. Set your shutter speed to 1/400 (this is not the only option).
6. Zoom out to your longest focal length
7. Focus on the moon, ignoring your light meter (it's going to freak out, indicating you are overexposed)
8. Recompose if you'd like.
9. Shoot!

10. Shoot again.

Now, take a look at the #'s in steps #3, #4 and #5. Noticed how they changed? THAT is the exposure triangle - ISO, aperture and shutter speed. THAT is how photos are made! There are always multiple combinations. 

Ian's "spooky" favorite

My favorite

Any questions? I'd love to see what spooky photos you can come up with!

4 Days 'til Halloween - Step To The Other Side

Its a good practice to capture photos from many different angles. Sometimes you discover unexpected treasures.

When Ian was two and a half, he loved waiting at the door for tricker treaters. He hadn't really grasped the idea that HE could go get candy at other doors!

This Halloween prepare to grab a photo from behind. Whether it is at the door as your pirate opens it for others or as your goblin rings the doorbell at your neighbors house. Simply watching them walk away is a classic perspective too. You'll get the best cooperation when they can't see what you are doing!

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Don't forget to link me up to your photo or leave a comment and you'll go in a drawing on November 1st for a spot in Your Life: Captured Through The Lens, my most popular photography class. That means you can get up to 13 chances to win!

Your Life: Captured Through The Lens is a 6 week online, interactive photography course. We start class in aperture priority mode (the A or AV on your dial) and work our way to manual mode. Each class includes a composition method as well as technical shooting information.  You'll receive 6 pdf lessons and access to 6 videos in addition to two live online chats. See what Tracy Muilenberg, Debbie West, and Amy LeJeune have to say about class.

5 Days 'til Halloween - Diggin' Up Good Stuff

Only five days left! Are your pumpkins carved? Costumes in order? Camera batteries charged?

Today I'm taking a different approach and sending you around the web for great Halloween photography ideas.

Rebecca Cooper has a great new book at Ella Publishing and great Halloween tips post on the 1825 blog.

Digital Photography School has some great tips from last year.

More great Halloween Photography Tips at the New York Institute of Photography.

For a little low light step by step, check the Daily Digi.

PhotoTuts has a GREAT post about Mesmerising Moon Photography.

A search or two at flickr can give you TONS of ideas and inspiration!

1. halloween, 2. That's a lot of Pumpkin Pie!, 3. Advanced Happy Halloween (^ ^), 4. Web of Lights, 5. Halloween: My [second] Favorite Holiday, 6. Happy October !, 7. Pumpkin Pile, 8. bokeh pumpkins, 9. :: fairy of dreams ::

Do you have any favorite Halloween photography tips?

6 Days 'til Halloween - Fill The Frame

Six more days to photography the sights and sounds of Halloween!

Today, get in close. Fill the frame with your subject to leave the view NO DOUBT what your subject is. Whether your photo is a bit scary or super cute, step up closer and leave nothing but the subject in the frame. If you need to crop to do that...no problem, we won't even notice!

Check out my focus post at the DailyDigi if you are curious about just how close you can get!

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Don't forget to link me up to your photo or leave a comment and you'll go in a drawing on November 1st for a spot in Your Life: Captured Through The Lens, my most popular photography class. That means you can get up to 13 chances to win!

Your Life: Captured Through The Lens is a 6 week online, interactive photography course. We start class in aperture priority mode (the A or AV on your dial) and work our way to manual mode. Each class includes a composition method as well as technical shooting information.  You'll receive 6 pdf lessons and access to 6 videos in addition to two live online chats. See what Tracy Muilenberg, Debbie West, and Amy LeJeune have to say about class.

7 Days 'til Halloween - Not For Vampires

Holidays and events find us behind the camera taking photos of everything and everyone. But what about you? Are you in any photos or is that just too frightening?

Mirrors are the easiest classic way to get yourself in the photo. Try a little something different this time though. Don't cover your spooky self with the camera. Place the camera low and shoot into a mirror. It may take a few tries to get it right. Have fun with it, see what else you can get in the picture. Think Halloween. And you know what? You don't have to be in focus, just be in the photo!

50mm | ISO 4000 | f/1.4 | ss 1/100 

I'll assume you're a vampire if you don't take part in this challenge!

8 Days 'til Halloween - Dig Deep

Have a little fun with perspective with your Halloween photos. Make people look bigger by shooting low and wide. The lower you go, the larger they will appear. If you shoot super wide (the smallest mm number on your lens) you can exaggerate their height even more. This is one spot where point and shoot cameras can have a great advantage over dSLRs!

So, dig deep for your Halloween shot and show us your results!

ISO 4000, f/4.0, ss 1/40

I used Matt K's Ultimate Fighter preset in Lightroom because I'm in love with Lightroom and Matt K!

Show us what you dig up!

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Don't forget to link me up to your photo or leave a comment and you'll go in a drawing on November 1st for a spot in Your Life: Captured Through The Lens, my most popular photography class. That means you can get up to 13 chances to win!

Your Life: Captured Through The Lens is a 6 week online, interactive photography course. We start class in aperture priority mode (the A or AV on your dial) and work our way to manual mode. Each class includes a composition method as well as technical shooting information.  You'll receive 6 pdf lessons and access to 6 videos in addition to two live online chats. See what Tracy Muilenberg, Debbie West, and Amy LeJeune have to say about class.

9 Days 'til Halloween - On Location

The excitement is building in our house! With a weekend in the mix before the big event, it makes it perfect time for a location shoot!

Taking Ian out for a little fun somewhere that matches his costume makes him more cooperative and I'm always happiest with the background. So dress up the little one (or the dog or the big ones, whoever is cooperative), grab your camera, and head out!

Bats love hanging out at the cemetery.

A cemetery would be perfect for little ghosts, witches, vampires and other scary things. Find the oldest section of the cemetery for the best headstones. For our shoot we went to a historic cemetery from the Gold Rush Era about an hour before sunset. After a discussion about respecting the space, "mom what is respect," "why mom," "are they going to wake up," I let him explore. I tried to catch him at his natural moments with all of the costume on or just parts. Make it fun and you'll get the best photos.

Other fun spots might be:

Cleopatra  next to a river.

A little cheer leader or football player on the 50 yard line.

A little firefighter at the fire department.

Mario and Luigi in front of a pizza place.

Little bugs flying through a field of flowers or garden.

A little pumpkin at the pumpkin patch. I'd love to shoot a little pumpkin lined up with all of the pumpkins at the grocery store!

Harry Potter would be amazing atop a hill at dusk with just the blueish twilight glow behind him.

I can see Spider Man walking up the side of a wall. Position Spider Man below a window in your house, have him "cling" to the wall, shoot out the window as close as you can get to him at your widest angle. Oooh, this would be a fun shot!

Woody, Buzz or Jessie at the playground or near a train or stacked in a box with lots of other toys.

A little princess in front of a castle (I'm imagining our local Fairy Tale Town). 

I'm looking for a red velvet curtain and stage for  this year's photo of Ian!

What's your favorite Halloween location spot?

10 Days 'til Halloween - Cut Off Parts

Focus on the unexpected today to create a bit of visual interest in your subject. The viewer doesn't need to see the entire costume to know exactly what he is dressed as!

In addition, you can see a visual triangle in this photo - from tip of his cape to his eye to the tie below his chin. Whether you have a triangle or simply emphasize a part of your subject, try a Halloween twist by only capturing a portion of your subject!

Avoid chopping at joints, it just isn't as pretty!

Happy Haunting!

11 Days 'til Halloween

Lightroom can help you make any photo spooky in three easy steps!

Grab a well exposed photo.

So let's Halloween this up now!

1. In the Develop Mode/Basics panel, slide Blacks to the right to make it slightly darker. It gives your photo that spooky edge.
2. Now add Matt K's Nostalgic Preset. (what? You don't have that?! It is my go to spooky preset! A Halloween must)
3. You can fiddle with your Blacks again to get it just right or go with what you've got!

It works with people as well!

Enjoy creating some frightening photos! I'd love to know if you have a favorite spooky preset too.

12 Days 'til Halloween

Today we are going to dig into our photos.

How many old Halloween photos do you have buried in boxes or  deep in the digital cobwebs of external hard drives? Once you find them, the challenge is to print them, scrap them, display them. Get them out of their purgatory for a few weeks to help add to your decor!

They might be four years old or so.

Or three years old

Or REALLY old. The choice is up to you! Yep, that's me with my little sister and brother. Seems we have a long line of pirate blood in our family!

Show us or tell us what you dig up and how you display it!

13 Days 'til Halloween

'Tis the season to be scary!

Halloween is a big event in our house with a little boy who loves to dress up and partake of all things scary. Of course, the candy is a bonus too!

For the next 13 days I'm going to count down to the big event with a photo prompt. It might be a tip, maybe an idea, but each will prompt you to get out your camera and shoot! Then link me up to your take or leave a comment and you'll go in a drawing on November 1st for a spot in Your Life: Captured Through The Lens, my most popular photography class. That means you can get up to 13 chances to win!

Today's idea - Capture the Decor

ISO 400, f/2.5, ss 1/250

Decorations are such an important part of an occasion. We have ghosts, spiders, rats, and ravens around our house. Something new seems to appear every day. Go grab a shot of them, whether they are home made, purchased in the clearance bin,  or heirlooms passed down (do people have Halloween heirlooms...hmmm). We're keeping it simple too...just shoot. No worries. I shot fairly wide to leave the focus on just one frank, and leave you guessing what the rest of the stuff on my mantle is!

Ian and I made these fun Frankensteins, he likes to point out the bolts. The all important part of an Frankenstein!

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Your Life: Captured Through The Lens is a 6 week online, interactive photography course. We start class in aperture priority mode (the A or AV on your dial) and work our way to manual mode. Each class includes a composition method as well as technical shooting information.  You'll receive 6 pdf lessons and access to 6 videos in addition to two live online chats. See what Tracy Muilenberg, Debbie West, and Amy LeJeune have to say about class.