With Just a Little Imagination, and A Lot of Photoshop
So you have a cool Halloween costume idea and you want to take a photo of it. Ok, cool. Are you the type to just go outside, take a quick photo and be done? Are you someone who sets up a fun location spot with props and other details to create a full-on atmosphere? Do you go over the top and hire in a full production team to execute all the details needed to show off that costume? (don’t laugh, it happens) Or are you like me, a person who does a little of all three?
How do you incorporate all three into one image? In my world, it’s all about Photoshop.
You can start out simple. This image I only did a few color corrections, added a couple of texture overlays and gave her a pair of wings. Compared to the normal amount of editing I do, this is very simple. I know it may not seem that simple to someone who has never done any of these things. I recommend checking out Kelby One for tips, tutorials, and downloadables.
You can take that simple image, and step it up with details and atmosphere in Photoshop. Try adding in fog, or dropping it into darkness. I’ve added in fireflies, more skirt, wings, darkness, a staff and hanging light. Not too much… But those changes, change the entire feel of the image and puts it into a different story.
Unlike the two examples before this one, this girl in her Halloween costume was moved into an entirely different setting. We needed her to look like she was jumping off a building, with out actually doing that in a shoot. The backyard trampoline worked perfectly to get this effect. All I did was….well a lot. I moved her into a new setting, added a bunch of details, and wa-la!
I didn’t even have to add in wings to this image, her costume already had them! I just had to find a prettier place for her to be flying in.
If you can think of an over-the-top image idea, it’s normally possible to do in Photoshop. I’m not one to dress someone up in a mermaid costume, go out into the ocean, pretend to drown some poor sailor and take a photo. Seems like a lot of work. Instead, I keep that image in my head, and find a way to piece it together in Photoshop.
Things like snakes and creepy crawly critters are not my jam. I will take a photo of them from behind a glass window at the zoo or in someones house, them composite them into a piece.
So, the lesson of this story is, it’s possible to have that amazing, elaborate photo of you in your Halloween costume, doing something epic. You just have to either learn how to use Photoshop really, really well, or send me a message and hire me to take over the project.
