Spooky in the Morning

On October 5^th, I did an on-location spooky session with Rebecca at Claude Moore Park.  The theme was Victorian ghost; however, it is hard to be a ghost at 9:30 in the morning on a bright sunny day.  I did my best to get a spooky look.

For these sessions, I used:

Photography Equipment	Other Equipment
Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Cannon Speed lights 1 30-inch umbrella Light stand Assistant	Smoke Genie

The setup

The set up was relatively easy.  I mounted a Canon speed light on a light stand with an umbrella.  My assistant then held the light in the appropriate spots as we made our way around the park to different locations.

Camera Settings

This session was held outdoors in bright morning sun and was intended to look spooky, so I tried to keep the images dark.  Thus, I used ISO 100, which is great for sunny conditions.  I wanted to maintain a soft background as much as possible, so my main aperture was F5.  However, I did go up to F22 for a few images to attempt some creative capture techniques.  My shutter speed ranged from 0.5s to 1/250s, with the most common being 1/125, which allowed me to balance ambient light with the flash.  I was down at 0.5s for a few creative shots to allow for motion blur to get that ghost effect.  Finally, my focal length ranged from 24mm to 99mm, with the most common being 24mm.

The Photos

The goal of the shoot was to create some spooky images, but that is difficult in bright morning sun, as ghosts really aren’t morning people.  Thus, I relied heavily on camera settings, shutter drag, and editing to capture spooky images, as well as a few pretty ones.

My favorite image from the session, which I think captures the haunting Victorian ghost vibe, is below.  This image was shot near the end of the session in the open field area of the park.  I specifically framed the image so that the model was centered on the white building in the background.  To achieve this image, the model covered herself in a long veil she had brought, then I had her hold it out with her arms.  At the count of three, I instructed her to drop her arms, so the veil appeared to be floating.  In post processing, I adjusted the exposure slightly, used a medium contrast, and reduced the clarity.  I then added a purple (shadow) / yellow (highlights) color grade to the image, which gives it a more antique look.  The color grade also muted the greens in the image, making it feel a little more like autumn, as many of the trees were still very green at the time this photo was taken.  I finished with a heavy vignette.

ISO 100, Aperture F20, Shutter 1/50s, Focal Length 96mm

This next one is a very pretty image, by the pond.  This image didn’t use flash; it is all natural light.  In post-processing, I adjusted the white balance to account for the green, then lowered the exposure, applied medium contrast, and increased the clarity slightly.  I also brought down the saturation in the image.  I then applied a purple (shadow) / yellow (highlight) color grade to give the image a more autumn and antique feel.  I then applied a heavy vignette to the image.  In Photoshop, I removed distractions and some gnats flying around the model’s face and did some dodging and burning work.  

ISO 100, Aperture F5, Shutter 1/640s, Focal Length 77mm

This next image is a spooky image, where I employed the model’s handler to manage the smoke machine.  To get this image, I had the model stand in a dry creek bed in the woods where it was relatively shady.  I then had my assistant remove the umbrella from the flash and employ “horror” lighting, which involves lighting the model from below.  I then had the model’s handler stand to the side and press the button on the smoke machine to create some smoke.  In post-production, I applied the usual adjustments of white balance, exposure, and contrast.  Then I plied with the dehaze slider to add a spectral haze to the image.  I also applied a blue/blue color grade to make the image appear more like it was shot at night than in the middle of the morning.  Finally, I added a heavy vignette to the image.

ISO 100, Aperture F6.3, Shutter 1/125s, Focal Length 25mm

The hardest part of this shoot was remembering to intentionally create blurry images that appear to have been captured by ghost hunters.  Typically, this would be done using a long exposure and a flash set to rear curtain sync; however, sunny conditions did not lend to long exposures, and my flashes don’t do rear curtain sync with the trigger.  Thus, I had to rely on some other methods.  To get the spectral image below, I used shutter drag with a rapid focus change.  To achieve the shutter drag effect, I set the shutter speed to 1/10s and the aperture to F22.  Normally, this image would be fairly dark and very blurry.  I addressed this issue slightly by adding a low-power flash, which added light and froze a part of the image, allowing you to still discern the model’s face while capturing motion blur.  The motion blur is really the key to this image.  I did the basic adjustments, then increased the clarity so that the model’s face would have some detail.  Then I used the color mixer to reduce the orange tones from the image and finished with a heavy vignette.

ISO 100, Aperture F22, Shutter 1/10s, Focal Length 32mm

Wrap Up

This was a fun yet challenging shoot, as it is hard to capture a spooky atmosphere at 9:30 in the morning.  Though I would say we succeeded, due to use of shaded areas, in-camera tricks, and creative editing.  The hardest part of this shoot for me was creating and not deleting blurry images to capture that spectral look.  (I really hate blurry images and can’t get behind the blurry image trend.)  Overall, I’m happy with how the session turned out.

Credits:

Model: Rebecca (IG: @faeofthehearts)