Halloween Horror Portraits

As the stores load up on Halloween decorations, Halloween horror portraits are popular. You have seen them. These are the portraits that have a very proper looking Victorian gentleman or lady when you stare directly at them, but when you view them from the side you will see a ghoul, vampire, zombie, etc. These are a lot of fun to view, but can add extra costs to your Halloween party budget. This "Instructable" will teach you how to make the creepy part of the portraits for your party instead, saving you some money for extra candy corn or other ghostly treats. These can be framed or used as Halloween cards and invites.

The photo editor I used is ADOBE Photoshop CS4, but other graphic editors can be used with similar tools and steps.

Step 1 Getting started

For this Instructable I will be using a Victorian image, but the same steps can be used on any photo. Whether they are old pictures of distant family members such as that great grand uncle that you felt was a little creepy to begin with, or of your present day brother. You can make him look like the bug that you feel he is anyways! When finished you can print theses images yourself, or have them printed at a copy center on a heavy duty card stock. Once printed you can either place them in frames, or cut and lay them on top of photos already framed. A little tape on the back will hold them. They also make great Halloween party invites.

The FIRST STEP is to find two images/photos.

Photo 1: Is the image that you will wish to manipulate

Photo 2: Will be a creepy face image that you will overlay on top of the first one to create your Halloween portrait.

For Photo 2, I usually type into a search engine "Halloween masks." More then enough will come up. Select one that fits the theme you wish to create, and is the same size or larger than the face you will be altering. To make editing easier, select one that has a background that you can easily separate from the main image. Select one where the angle orientation matches up with the angle of the original face. EXAMPLE: If someone is looking straight ahead, to the left, or to the right... then make sure your "creepy overlay" is oriented the same way.

For demonstration I chose a Victorian era butcher, who is outfitted with his saw, cleaver and large knife. I also selected a ghoulish old man's mask for the creepy overlay. Vintage photos like this make excellent choices for your Halloween Horror Portrait.

Comments

[cmoore12]

How can we do this if we dont have photoshop? Is is right that cs4 cost more than four hundred dollars? I sure wish I could afford it! Great tutorial though. I voted for you. I am also a member of halloweenforum. that is where I found your link to vote.

[freeindividual]

Nicely done! This is a great technique to know, even without the oh so cool creepy subject matter. Thanks!

[bwilliams-1]

Thank you, glad you liked it!

[Penolopy Bulnick]

That photo was creepy in the first place and you did a great job making it creepier! Love the sepia tone, also.

[bwilliams-1]

Penelopy, Thanks! I agree, it was a creepy photo to begin with. Him standing there with his implements of destruction among the painted background. It was begging to become a Halloween image. :-)