Photography Tip #4: Photos Of Jack-O-Lanterns

October 18th, 2007 | How-To, Photography

With Halloween around the corner I thought I would take this opportunity to discuss taking photos of Jack-O-Lanterns. Tomorrow I’ll actually be attending The Great Jack O’Lantern Blaze in New York and I’m planning on bringing my Nikon D50 to see what type of results I can get from the trip. Shooting Jack O’Lanterns is tricky due to a couple of factors. Both the lack of light and the glow within the pumpkin will compete against each other in your shot. Your best bet is to disable your flash. Using a flash will ultimately get you a clear shot of the pumpkin but will lose the effects from the light coming from within. Considering these things, you’re likely to either over or underexpose your shot. S,o when you go to shoot your Jack O’Lanterns this year be sure to try the following:

  1. If able, use a tripod. The lack of light will require the shutter to remain open longer meaning any hand movement will cause your photo to blur.
  2. Disable the flash! Ideally, try to take your photos at dusk vs. the night. I’ll be shooting at 9PM EST so these tips should assure I get a couple good shots.
  3. If you’re shooting your own pumpkins add an additional candle or two to increase the light within the pumpkin.
  4. Take multiple shots at different exposures often called bracketing to increase your chances of getting the shot just right.

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Picture by base10 on Flickr

Finally, a cool Jack O’Lantern cut-out can extremely enhance your photo! So let your creative side run wild when carving away! I wish you all the best of luck this Halloween and check back to see how my shots came out!

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This entry was posted on Thursday, October 18th, 2007 at 7:25 pm and is filed under How-To, Photography. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

2 Responses to “Photography Tip #4: Photos Of Jack-O-Lanterns”

  1. SpicePuppy Says:
    October 19th, 2007 at 8:48 pm

    Greg, I noticed that in that picture, the pumpkins with a lot of light in them look fantastic, while the ones with relatively little light just look OK. If you’re taking pictures of Jack O’Lanterns that don’t have much light coming through, would you still recommend not using a flash?

  2. greg hickman Says:
    October 20th, 2007 at 7:16 am

    Well, first I would say why not give it a shot but don’t let that be your only photo. You may want to try and diffuse your flash with a piece of colored cellophane or something of the like. If you use the flash alone you will most likely block out all of the light coming through from within the pumpkin.

    If you are not able to add light to these Jack O’Lanterns I would try getting closer and also experimenting with different angles that might reveal a little more of the light glowing through.

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