Ghosts in the Graveyard! Halloween Photo Shoot!

by doodlecraft

49K20849

Intro: Ghosts in the Graveyard! Halloween Photo Shoot!

This has been my favorite Halloween project this year!  And I love Halloween!
Ghosts in the Graveyard--a Halloween Photo Shoot!


STEP 1: Old-Timey Photoshoot!

The first thing we did was take 376 pictures.

Well, lets back up.  I told my kids what I wanted to do.  Surprisingly, they were all on board!  Even the 4 year old!  Yay!
So we dressed them up.  I picked church clothes that looked the most old-timey.  And the boys wore some bow ties that I hot glued together.   The boys had vests...the girl had an old school dress and dark gray tights.  Pretty plain.

Then we found some accessories.  Old keys, a vintage pocketwatch and a lacy parasol.  

Then we trekked around our neighborhood...with me in a hoodie and yoga pants...looking for great picturesque places...and the little cemetery a mile across the road from us.  (yes, we walked...we are a 1 car household)

Then I would take pictures with my kids in them...then they would come stand by me and I would take a few of just the background.
The best part about this photoshoot is that I didn't need all my kids to smile at the same time!  :)  I just told them to look kind of sad...and we got some great shots!

STEP 2: Pixlr Time!

I am a photoshop girl.  I've used it since high school...I think that's when the cavemen first invented photoshop for pc's.  Anyways.
I decided to try out pixlr...and I love it!
It's free...so super bonus there!  And it navigates basically the same as photoshop, so it didn't take me long to figure things out!
So, try it!

I loaded in 2 pictures.  One with my children in it...and one of the plain background!

STEP 3: Then the Simplistic Editing!

The edits here are super simple!  But that's perfect, anyone can do it!

Here's what I did. 

Open up both pictures in pixlr.

Then copy the picture with the people and paste it right over the top of the plain background picture.

You have 2 layers now.  Then on the top layer (the one with the people) select that tiny carrot: Toggle Layer Settings (see picture)
It will bring up the OPACITY bar.  This is the fun part.  Just use the slider to make the people appear ghost-like!
Every picture is different.  Some I took the opacity to 60% some only 73%...

Then you want to look at the layers and make sure they line up as good as they can.
Not always super perfect, but it gives it a vintage double exposed kind of feel!  

Then I Desaturated the images...
You can also do sepia tones or old photo effects.

STEP 4: Then OVER-DO It!

And if you're me, you will over-do it!  After all, we took over 300 pictures!

We altered tons of pictures!  We had them printed in 1 hour at Walmart, made cards for family and friends and wall decor for the entry way!

It helps if you have some ornate vintage frames...kind of spooky!

I realize this would be very disturbing if any of my children ever die...but for now, it's a great Halloween addition!

Thanks for viewing!  Let me know what you think...as long as it's nice! ;)
And please vote for me if you liked it!  :)

48 Comments

Wiredfey 11 years ago

Want to try this project but was wondering which you used.i went to the site and there was three options,editor,express,and o-matic.

was curious
have fun

SpencerH2 8 years ago

You would want to use the editor.

HollyMann 11 years ago

YES congratulations!!!!! :)

paqrat 11 years ago

Beautifully done. I may have to try this and I am a total klutz with a camera.

doodlecraft 11 years ago

Thanks! I used a tripod and the pictures weren't too complicated...might as well give it a try! :)

jfreeman3 11 years ago

Must say, I find this pretty awesome looking, and not that difficult to do. I've been looking for a nice tutorial/layout of what to do. I have been having the hardest time with Photoshop Elements. So, thanks for sharing this with us!

doodlecraft 11 years ago

Thanks for the nice comment! :) I've used Elements before too...with no success! Weird, seeing that I feel really competent with photoshop 7...and pixlr translates pretty similarly. Biggest thing is how much time you have to spend learning it! Hope you try it out, this tutorial is pretty basic, just takes time taking pictures! :) Thanks again!

doodlecraft 11 years ago

Thanks! Yes, simple is my middle name! Best part was the period clothing...that seals the deal! :)

The King of Random 11 years ago

Yeah I was thinking about how much time and effort you put into staging your instructables. They always look so professional! Nothing simple about that I'm sure!! :)

doodlecraft 11 years ago

Thanks Grant! I'm a blogger. I post tutorials on my blog every day! Then I can transfer pertinent ones to instructables...I just do it for the contests! :) What can I say...that's what we do!

The King of Random 11 years ago

I'm glad to see you got featured again. You really are so awesome!!

Avatar_I_Am 11 years ago

Very nice, good idea, nicely executed.
Beats the heck out of the way we did it with film, calculating double exposures
in the camera, or printing a double exposure with two negatives in the darkroom!
Might even be better than using the built in double exposure settings in most digital SLR cameras these days!
Well Done! Bravo!

doodlecraft 11 years ago

Thanks so much! Yes, I did some double exposure stuff in my photography class in high school...I am thankful for editing software...but you need GOOD pictures to start! :) Thanks for your kind comment!

inthegold 11 years ago

Hi
love the ghost like picture, in the graveyard! It looks real, how did you accomplish that! I love Halloween because I was born the day before Halloween. Great job!

inthegold!

doodlecraft 11 years ago

Glad you like it--and yay for another nearly Halloween baby! It's a simple technique...but my art teacher always said "crap in, crap out!"...so take some good pictures and you will get a good finished product! Thanks again! :)

pehughes 11 years ago

Doodlecraft! Very cool!.

But I am incredibly dense. I brought up both pictures OK. I tried to copy one to paste over the other and got strange boxes appearing. So exactly how do you do that? I could not rt click to do it, nor use the copy under the edit tab. I also could only get the layer(s) on the right side to toggle between the pictures. I'm goofing something real simple, I think. Any help? Thanks. Peter
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