Halloween Photography Techniques

Photography Tips

In the spirit of Halloween, Joe McNally creates an eerie photo shoot in the middle of the forest with two spooked kids and a couple of funky tree-people:

The idea came from McNally’s appreciation of pop culture—specifically, the final scene of To Kill a Mockingbird:

“I always remember the final scene of To Kill a Mockingbird, when Jem and Scout are coming home through a spooky forest. And I started thinking about a spooky forest and a couple of kids in Halloween outfits, and they’re a little bit scared, it’s kinda dark, it’s kinda, like, weird out here. And it’s in the trees—you can see all the trees and everything like that—but one tree is alive.”

McNally made the idea a reality, shooting primarily with a Nikon D810. He notes how useful its responsive and powerful its ISO range is; being able to raise that allows for some flexibility when shooting nighttime images during the day, while not sacrificing image quality or suffering grain. Here’s the final result:

Happy Halloween, kids. And remember—never go wandering into strange forests rigged with smoke machines.