DIY Kid Halloween Photos

Do you love taking pictures of your kids, and have visions for fun photo shoots, but not sure how to really use your DSLR or Mirrorless camera? You’re in the right place!

Hi, I’m Kyla, a homeschool mom to 5 kids, a photographer and a photography educator, where I teach moms how to take amazing pictures of your own kids! And today I’m going to be sharing my settings for this fun photos we took at an old cemetery.

First up is the first picture I shared of all 5 kids (aka ghosts). These pictures were taken at an f stop of 2.0, ISO of 500 and shutter speed of 1/800. The challenge of this photo was getting my cranky 1 year old to hang out under a sheet for long enough for me to capture 1 picture of all the kids. A sucker and a game of peek a boo won her over and we got this fun shot!

Next up I took individual photos of the kids. I tried really hard to hide their feet as best as I could behind the sheet so they looked like they were floating. Mission accomplished with this photo! I think it looks so cool! Settings: F2.0, ISO 500, 1/800 shutter speed.

A goal I had was to make sure not all the images looked the same. I mean, how many ways can you really pose a ghost? I made sure to get different angles and perspectives. And for this one, I made the headstone in focus and the ghost out of focus. Settings: f2.0, ISO 500, 1/800 shutter speed.

Here’s another with a different perspective. 2 kids and holding hand to create some additional interest. Settings: f2.0, ISO 500, 1/800 shutter speed.

I made sure to take some fun photos of the headstones. Settings: f2.0, ISO 500, 1/200 shutter speed.

Aren’t these old head stones gorgeous!? Settings: f2.0, ISO 500, 1/250 shutter speed

And then threw some leaning shots to, once again, add variety. Settings: f2.0, ISO 500, 1/320 shutter speed

If you’ve ever thought of doing a fun session like this, hopefully these settings will help you get to a good starting point. It was a clear sunny day, an hour before sunset. If you want to see more details from this photo shoot, you can check out this YouTube video I made filming some behind the scenes for you.

Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

Kyla