Halloween Photo Tips & Ideas

Halloween is one of THE biggest holidays of the year for picture taking. In fact, is some households, Halloween is a bigger deal for the kids than Christmas. Creatively carved jack-o'-lanterns, Monster Bashes, houses and yards decked in ghostly decor, and lady bugs, princesses, Harry Potters, and scary vampires knocking at the door -- what better opportunity could you have for fun, colorful photos? Here are some ideas for making the most of your Halloween pictures:

Light Your Photos Carefully

Because most activity occurs after dark, Halloween photos can be a bit tricky to shoot. The best time to take your photos and get sharp, well-lit pictures is at dusk. You'll still have enough natural light to snap photos and capture creepy costumes without your flash. After the sun goes down, use an ISO setting of 400 or higher and hold your camera steady. If you have a tripod, now is a good time to use it. When photographing your trick-or-treaters after dark, you will likely need your flash. But since Halloween is supposed to be dark and ghoulish, work with it. Instead of turning on your flash, have someone shine a flashlight from off to the side for a properly scary shot.

Tip: Try to shoot your subject, be it jack-o'-lantern on ghostly ghoul, up close. Don't worry about getting your pirate from head-to-toe, and shoot from your child's height, not yours. Fill the frame with your subject for the best shot; avoid getting distracting stuff in the background of your picture.

Tip: If you're taking a picture of your perfectly carved pumpkin, put several lights in in, not just one, to get a really glowing globe.

Tip: If you're snapping pics of kids in masks, take a second photo without the masks so that in years to come you can identify every pirate and princess.

Now that you have all these great photos, here's what you can do with them:

Halloween Story Book

Create a unique Photo Story Book of Halloween parties, spooky decorations, family traditions, and trick or treating. You can get special Halloween photo books designs from online photo services like Shutterfly, Snapfish, PhotoWorks.com and Kodak EasyShare Gallery. Snapfish also offers inexpensive Flip Books that are just the right size for the occasion.

Halloween Greeting Cards

Make customized Halloween cards with your own photo on the front and your personal greeting inside. Use a fun scary design like Jack O'Lantern lights, a pirate skull or creey crawlies. Either use your own software like Adobe Photoshop Elements or you can create your card at one of the online services and get your cards in the mail a few days later.

Halloween Party Invitations

Send personalized invitations to your Halloween party. Shutterfly offers cool save-the-date invitations where you can put your child's picture on the faces of cute characters like a fairy princess, count Dracula, cute critter and bumble bee.

Collage Posters

Show off your favorite Halloween moments with a collage posters. You can select different sizes, backgrounds, and layouts to create the special story of you trick-or-treaters.

Scrapbook Pages

Add a colorful page of your Halloween memories to your scrapbook. Online services like Shutterfly and Snapfish offer easy scrapbook page templates. Select from dozens of backgrounds and difference layouts to tell the story of your scary celebration.

Create Your Own Postage Stamp

You can create your very own postage stamp using your favorite Halloween photo. Just upload your digital photo to a service like PhotoStamps , crop your image, add a fun border, and select the amount of postage you want. A few days later you'll get your own personalized postage stamps, which are approved by the USPS for mailing.