October is when the colours of the season change. Leaves change colour, fall from trees that are ripe for collecting, and then by October 31st, orange meets with black. Orange represents the warmth of Autumn, with black symbolising the cold, dark, winter nights to come. The colours of Halloween.
Take advantage of seasonal photography with these Halloween photography tips
Visit a pumpkin farm
The UK harvests approximately 15 million pumpkins annually. Search online to find your nearest pumpkin farm. Many let you walk through the farm and pick your own. As you gander among the field of pumpkins, take a time out to use the scene as a backdrop for your photos.
For those with younger children, consider taking them to the pumpkin farm in costume. Make a day of it. Rarely do children need to be coaxed into playing dress up.
Use fallen leaves as free props
Gardeners refer to Autumn as the second Spring and that’s because the colours of leaves change so vibrantly that you can create a multi-variant display of leaves in different colours. No longer are they green. You will find brown, orange, red, and various shades of yellow that could be more closely described as golden leaves.
You can find these along rural pathways but for the best leaf-gathering experience, visit a park that has a multitude of trees. The more types, the better a mixture of leaf colours you will find.
Just remember that parks have byelaws. The main one is to only pick up leaves that are on the ground. Don’t pick the leaves from trees. That damages them (Not the leaves, the trees).
With a good selection, you will have the perfect props to sprinkle along the garden path, on the grass, or even set up a leaf patch to lay out a collection of pumpkins and other Halloween props. After you’re done with the leaves, if you know a gardener, they will take the leaves off your hands to make leafmould – a soil conditioner that helps plants grow.
Take the costume photos on a different day, or earlier
Trick-or-treating generally takes place between 4pm and 8pm. Sunlight is dimming by that time of the day, making it difficult to get good lighting for your photos. There’s also the weather factor. The rain’s going to ruin the chance of taking decent photos.
Any day that’s dry, and not too windy is a great time to get outdoors in the early afternoon. The additional benefit is you get to play around with as many Halloween props as you can get your hands on.
Have your props ready
You don’t need to go all out buying fancy props, but you can if you like. Like smoke bombs in multiple colours. As many colours as you see on fireworks night, you can get similar colours of smoke. These are handy for placing inside carved pumpkins, a cauldron or inside a skeleton head.
Smoke or fog, and lighting are the two main components that go into Halloween photography.
Get a good collection of photos this year, and then by next year, that collection can be used in a multi-aperture picture frame around September to welcome in the Autumn and get the children excited for the next Halloween adventure.