How to Make the Most of Your Halloween Pictures

Is there anything more picture worthy than the little ones you love dressed up in costume?

Last year I was totally unprepared for Halloween. Buzzy ended up with a $3.00 thrift store costume that had him looking more like an orphan child than a clown.

This year, I bought the costume early. And since I paid for the real deal brand new costume this year I was determined that he would wear it more than 2 hours on Halloween Day. We’ve had a lot of fun so far pretending to be a Tiger!

Tip #1: Take pictures on a day other than Halloween!

I think this would be my tip for any holiday, birthdays, or milestone event. There is often a lot of things associated with celebrations that can sometimes cause stress. Packed schedules, long to-do lists, sometimes crazy weather, and on and on. Taking time out on an average day to take photos for a celebration can be a fun perk in the day, and can allow you to photograph when kids are happy, rested, and you have some control over day light and other environmental factors.

AND… if you take them early enough, as we did, you can order prints before the holiday and send them off to distant relatives or just put them up on display to add to the anticipation of the upcoming event.

Tip #2: Decorate with a chronology of prints from Halloweens of the past.

I credit this idea to Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project. The moment I read it I LOVED IT. She shared a simple family tradition they have with Halloween, where she has a collage frame in which she inserts photos from all the Halloween pictures they have enjoyed so far as a family and she displays it the entire month of October. This brings back many happy memories of all the past costumes, and you have a great piece of festive decor to enjoy all month long. Really, you could do this with any holiday. I’ve already got my “holiday” collage frame picked out and we’ll be enjoying memories from the past with each holiday as they come around!

Any tips you would add?  I’d love to hear!

Happy Halloween… a little early…

Brooke Snow is a Lifestyle photographer in Cache Valley, Utah.  Her best costume yet for Halloween?  Rainbow Bright in 1985.  Correction, Lady Godiva in 1996–for obvious reasons she never left home.

Brooke teaches inspiring online photography classes that bring you confidence in your skills and creativity.

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