For this Halloween scene portrait, we set out to photograph our young subject, Aidan, in his Buzz Lightyear costume on his front porch. In keeping with the dark theme of this holiday, we decided to wait until dusk before shooting.

Using Props to Set the Stage
Props are paramount to theme portraits like these, and a little preparation beforehand can go a long way toward making the shots contextually successful. Here, we bought a few different types of pumpkins, some potted flowers, a bunch of candles, and of course, some caramel apples and candies (figures 1 & 2).

With Aidan in costume, we used a small point-and-shoot digital camera (in AUTO mode) to take a quick snapshot of him (figure 3).

This type of shooting yields commonplace, deer-in-the-headlights results, particularly with the built-in flash overpowering the mood of the scene. Although there are candles lit all around, there is no evidence of their moody ambiance in this shot. The flash helps to document the scene and freeze any motion, but that's about it.

The Fine Line between ISO and Shutter Speed
We started with using a digital SLR with a telephoto lens without the built-in flash activated. We also positioned the camera across the street.

Even at the widest aperture setting, we knew that we would still need a slower shutter speed to adequately capture the candlelight and porch lights. We also knew that if the shutter speed was too slow, that we would also be risking motion blur if Aidan happened to move. As a compromise, we increased the ISO setting, as well as the shutter speed, and took a shot (figure 4).

NOTE: To see the specific camera settings used in this lesson, along with other behind-the-scene details, check out the Web Photo School extended version here.

The result shows that we did a decent job in capturing the candlelit scene without motion blur. However, our subject is nevertheless dimly lit and the noise generated from the high ISO is fairly evident in the darker areas, particularly at a 1:1 viewing ratio.



Creating Background/Rim Lights
To brighten up the scene a little, we decided to add two Photoflex First Studio Portrait lights on either side of the porch. These tungsten lights are simple and easy to work with because they are continuous (no flash), they're easy to set up, and they plug straight into the wall (figures 5 & 6).

Once the lights were set up and aimed toward Aidan, we saw that we had a lot more light than we did before. This allowed us to lower the ISO and keep the shutter speed and aperture settings where they were.

Once the camera settings were made, we asked Aidan to give us some poses, as though he were Buzz Lightyear. This ended up being our favorite of the bunch (figure 7).

Adding a Hard Light
While the two lights on the porch created a dramatic rim light for our little subject, we decided it might be nice if we added another First Studio light to illuminate his face a little better. Rather than attach the umbrella to this third light, we decided to just use the open head for a more dramatic, high contrast effect (figures 8 & 9).

While our action hero sampled a Halloween lollipop, we took another shot at the same camera settings (figure 10).

While this light helped to throw high-contrast light on our subject and the front of the porch, we thought the effect was a little too heavy-handed. The light on Aidan seemed too bright and the shadows cast from the porch railing and bushes were a little too distracting.

Creating the Dappled Lighting Look
Fortunately for us, there happened to be a rose bush just behind the light, so we decided to take advantage of this natural light modifier and position the light a few feet behind it (figure 11). As you'll soon see, this positioning helped to create a dappled lighting effect.

We also decided that we wanted to add a little more mood to the shot by minimizing the depth of field. Since our background and foreground were both in close proximity to our subject, this was difficult to achieve with the telephoto lens we were using, even at its widest aperture setting. So instead, we substituted the telephoto lens for a Lensbaby lens, which allows for selective focus with its adjustable bellows.

We had Aidan take a break from posing while switched out the lenses, repositioned the camera, and dialed in the focus and exposure settings of the shot. Once everything was set, we took another exposure (figure 12).

Notice the effect the dappled light has on the shot. The light coming through the rose bush is much less intense than it was before and does not overpower the other lights, including the candlelight. Also, notice the blurred effect of the limited depth of field, especially with the candles in the foreground. We also decided to adjust the White Balance setting in the camera for a more neutral result. (To see how this was done, check out the extended version of this lesson here.)

Once everything was set, we had Aidan come back onto the porch and give us a bunch of Buzz Lightyear poses. Here's one of our favorites (figure 13).

Fine-Tuning the Shot
The result was interesting, but we noticed that the dappled light was not reaching Aidan as much as we wanted it to. We also decided that we wanted to come in a little tighter to better make out his expression. When we came in tighter with the camera, we realized we would have to switch from a vertical crop to a horizontal crop if we wanted to keep the Halloween props in the shot.

After we repositioned the dapple light and reframed the shot, we took our final shots. Here's our favorite of the bunch (figure 14).

As you can see from the progression of shots in this lesson, coming up with a good themed portrait can take some experimentation. But once you've got a handle on how to create and modify light, as well as how to make custom camera settings, your results will invariably rise above those of the point-and-shoot crowd.

As always, remember to experiment and have fun!