Ghosts

[cdonovan]

My son is a boyscout, and they hit me up for favors when it has anything to do with a camera. They are having a halloween part next week and asked if I could help them take ghost pictures of the cubs!

I'm not sure What to do!
They have a little thing set up with a tombstone, and then want me to take a picture so that the kiddies look transparent and ghost like. At first I was thinking that I'd just keep the shutter open for a long period of time, but I don't know if that is really the best way. I will/can use a tripod and I do have an flash that I can use....any suggestions????:wink

[EarthDog]

I'd be thinking layers. If you have any apps that can handle them, one layer for the tombstone background, a second layer for the kids, then dial down the opacity of the kids' layer until they achieve a ghostly look. Possibly some blurring with filters would be appropriate, too. Once you figure it out, most apps will let you record the steps as a macro so you can apply it to all the other shots in one step.

[pyry]

If you can put little bit of distance between the kids and the backround, this should be easy enough.

Set the camera up on a tripod, lock everything down. Shoot the kids with a bounced or off-camera flash and expose for the kids - allow the background to go dark or even black. Then turn the flash off, get the kids behind the camera and shoot the background.

Then in Photoshop (or whatever you like to use) open both pictures, then copy the one with the kids over the background, choose blending mode to Lighten and set the opacity to whatever looks good. Adjust curves, vignetting for effect, graininess, colour for taste and you're done!

Remember to post the result :D

[darkdragon]

I'm not sure What to do!
They have a little thing set up with a tombstone, and then want me to take a picture so that the kiddies look transparent and ghost like. At first I was thinking that I'd just keep the shutter open for a long period of time, but I don't know if that is really the best way. I will/can use a tripod and I do have an flash that I can use....any suggestions????:wink

The simplest and most impressive, is to do it with the long shutter. That's what I'd do. You'll want to practice at home first and get the timing/flash right. If you can't quite get the hang of it, there's always the Photoshop methods described above.

Here's an in-camera example:
http://darkdragon.smugmug.com/photos/401524903_XkaV6-L.jpg

EXIF:
Camera: Canon EOS 40D
Exposure Time: 6s (6/1)
Aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 100
Focal Length: 28mm (44.8mm in 35mm)
Flash: flash fired, compulsory flash mode
Exposure Program: shutter priority
Exposure Bias: 0 EV

[JMP]

ChromaKeying, thats another option, if you have a Green screen or Green construction paper, then scotch-tape it together and make a screen, then
in photoshop use 2 layers one with the Tombstone, the other with the image of the kid, (the fun part is that you can put Any background, like a haunted house up in the hill, cemetery, flying over the city, etc...) Select with the magic wand tool, then delete the green parts, super impose, and add layer transparency, make sure the green screen is evenly lit and like 4 feet away from the models, so you dont have green reflection borders...
it seems complicated but actually is really easy, and you can shoot faster than any other method as i think its a lot of kids!!! :D

cheers!

[pathfinder]

Long shutter speed works with a moving ( slightly ) child....

http://pathfinder.smugmug.com/photos/74318998_yYjmd-L.jpg

[cdonovan]

thanks Everyone...Tonight is the night! I'll be sure to share my results! :D