I can't imagine my toddler sitting still in a pumpkin this year, haha, or fitting in a pumpkin but the first year halloween is always so exciting and yet they can't go trick or treating. I wanted some way to remember all the fun.
Now those who have seen my blog and any of my photo editing projects probably know I am a big fan of picnik. It works well with the photos I needed edited. You can get a free version through flickr but if you want to use the better tools and fonts, it does cost a little money per year. If you don't want picnik, you can use any photo editing software and will be able to do most things. If you have adobe photoshop and know it well, you will be able to do everything definitely.
for the pumpkin pose!
you will need to carve out a big pumpkin. It's cold in a pumpkin so have a blanket in there that they will sit and not be too freezing. We chose our setting up the canyon on a saturday morning when it was warm. Pay attention to lighting, make sure their are no shadows in your baby's face and then you are ready. (My suggestion would be to find a fully shaded area to avoid shadows.
Next, stage the scene, We picked up lots of fall leaves and placed them around the pumpkin. Be sure everything's right before you even put your child in the pumpkin because once you do that, you only have a short amount of time before the crying starts, haha..so stage first.
Always bring someone with you. My husband comes with me to every big photo shoot because their is no way I could get the shot with out him. Even as a newborn, you only have a short amount of time before they need a bottle, pacifier, etc. and nowadays, toddlers like to run so you will need someone else.
once you have the shot, you will upload it into a photo editing program like picnik and click on the sepia tool. Once you click on that, their will be an individual paintbrush by the tool that you can click. This will make it so you can paint when you don't want sepia. Their also is a reverse tool on the paintbrush so you can do it the opposite and paint what you want sepia toned. I found it much easier to paint the pumpkin back orange and so the first option, painting what you don't want sepia. This takes time and focus. You have to zoom in and pay attention to little details but in the end, it's adorable. I painted out some of the leaves and faded it a lot to give the leaves a little color too.
Their are 3 of the pumpkin photographs, 1 in his hat (MY FAVORITE AND FINISHED), 1 where is smiling and looking at the camera (can you spot the mistakes? I never fixed them but their were quite a few editing mistakes I made), and the last 1 is one where I never finished painting the pumpkin so you can see the project partly done.
trick or treat pose.
first off, you will see a before and after photograph. haha, babies are not always cooperative. To
get this shot we had to calm him down, be patient and try try again. Out of most of the shots the above and finished photograph was the only good one.
Just like the last photograph, you need to first set up the scene and always bring someone with you to help. It will be impossible to get it done right without a partner to help. I used a large trick or treat bucket, some fake black cobwebs, some orange and black pumpkin tinsel, and then a pumpkin trick or treat small bag.
After you have set up the photograph, have your partner place your baby in the trick or treat bucket. We took this in the canyon but this shot could be taken anywhere, just beware of shadows if your face or too much sun which will not make your baby happy. Try to make your baby comfortable even though it's in a tight space. Have a blanket at the bottom, give and take a pacifier away if their is an upset, or even just entertain him with toys until the very last minute.
When you have gotten the shot, and uploaded it into picnik, you will first want to change the lighting/exposure. the shadows and highlights will need to be higher and the exposure will be about the same, possibly a little lower. If it looks really bright, make the exposure lower. If you took in dark shadows, make the exposure higher. Then play around in the effects. Their are lots of cool halloween and eery effects to make the picture a little brighter. I used the HDR effect but faded it a lot so it wasn't too strong.
I then went over to touch up and highlighted the eyes and made them brighter and more noticeable.
Last I added the sticker. You will find halloween stickers in your picnik choices. This is one of them but you can choose any. Situate it in a spot where you can see it and turn it gray or black. When you click on the sticker, it has a small box that pops up with options, you will want to fade it a little and then try out the drop down menu. Some of them fade it better for you and make it fit into the photograph like mine does.
spiderman pose
This pose was the easiest to get. You will want to take this photograph in a place with lots of lighting but still pay attention to shadows. Outside is best. I used a piece of orange carpet but my son's nursery (ikea round carpets). You could use any cool textured blanket, towel, etc. I laid him on the blanket/and covered him in the spider cobwebs. and then I stood directly over him to get the shot. This photo you might be able to do yourself if your baby is very cooperative but it would still be much easier with a partner to help.
After you have the photo, upload it into picnik. I added the gritty effect to make it more eery but I faded it down a lot.
Then I clicked on the stickers, and found some spider webs. I placed many all over the carpet and changed the color of them using the small box that appears when you click on the sticker. I faded them so they fit into the photograph and didn't stand out too much.
have you taken any halloween photos that you think are awesome? I'd love to see. send me a link. justkathryn143@gmail.com