Halloween is one of the best holidays to get some great pictures. It is a chance to get shots of people in a way that you will not be able to get at any other time of the year. There will also be some really cool backgrounds, and things to enhance your photos that you will not have the rest of the year. There are also many opportunities to take shots without people that can be great photos that you will enjoy for many year to come.

The origins of halloween come from the ancient Celtic holiday called Samhain. This was a festival celebrating the harvest, and to honor the people who have died in their village. It was also a Catholic holiday to honor the saints, called All Hallows Eve, I'm not sure how it got to be a day where kid dress up as a character that they like, and go and knock on peoples doors and ask for free candy. And a day for adults to dress in some way that they may fantasize about, and going to bars and parties. But it does make for a great day to get some cool photos.

The three most important things to remember when taking any photos are.  1.  Know what the subject of your photo is.  Don't just randomly take shots, make sure you are focusing on the a subject when you take the shot.  It can be a person, a building, a pumpkin, whatever you want the shot to be.  2.  Then think about how you can use other things to enhance that subject.  You can use anything available.  Be careful that the other things in the shot, do not take the viewers eyes from the subject.  You want them to draw the eye to the subject.  3.  Don't get anything else in the shot that does not enhance the subject.  Or anything that draws attention away from the subject.

An example.  If you take a shot that has a beautiful fall tree with bright colored leaves on it, and you have a picture of your son or daughter standing in front of the tree.  What is the subject?  Is the person to enhance the tree, or the tree to enhance the person?  If you want to use fall colors to enhance a person, get the person filling most of the shot, with a piece of the tree leaves behind them, or with them sitting in a pile of leaves.  If you want a picture of a beautiful tree, use the blue sky to enhance it.

If you have an SLR, you will be able to get better shots. If you don't have an SLR, you can still get some great shots, you just have to be more creative and may have to do some post processing. Use the fastest lens that you have. You don't want to use the flash most of the time. You want to take the shots using the available light. Many times in Halloween pictures, it's the light that is the best enhancement. If you don't have a fast enough lens, set the ISO higher so you need less light. With most SLR cameras, if you can set the ISO to 800 with a fast lens, you can get great shots without using the flash at all.

Use the setting sun for some great shots, use the last light of day for your shots. The low sun angle and the last light in the sky, can add some good enhancements to your shots. Try getting some candid shots of the kids getting ready to go out trick or treating. If their running around and excited, you may have to use the flash. Try using a mirror for some reflection shots.

This shot I took with a flash, and a point and shoot camera. To make the shot the best it could be, I had to crop the shot to take out distracting and unimportant things. The subject of my shot was my grand daughter. This was a candid shot, there was not anything else in the shot that make it better, so I took it out.

The shot at the top of the article, I took in daylight, there is no doubt what the subject of the photo is. If you like the photo or not, you know what it is about. I cropped out the unwanted things and focused on the subject.

This shot was taken in the middle of the yard, with the flash.  The flash can also be used to make sure that you don't have anything else in the shot to distract from the subject.  Experiment with different things and see what works good.  Keep in mind the 3 things for a good picture.

If you want to take pictures of jack o lanterns, don't use a flash. Have candles inside to show light through the carving. Then put a candle behind the pumpkin to create a sort of glow around the pumpkin to enhance the subject. There are many things like this that you can do to make some great shots. The most important thing to remember to get great shots, focus on the subject, enhance the subject, get rid of things that don't enhance the subject, or detract from it.

Halloween and trick or treating is fun for kids, it's fun for a lot of adults. It is also fun for photographers to get some great memories.

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