Pumpkin Photography

We're nearing Halloween, which means that many people will or already have carved into their precious orange pumpkins in hopes of harvesting some seeds for baking and also creating a ghoulish (or sweet) design on the best side of said pumpkin. While I won't offer any tips on pumpkin carving, I want to pass on some hints for taking shots of those beauties. Well, ok, just one tip - carve slowly and carefully and deeply.

Snapping a shot of a carved pumpkin can be hard. You need that glow to illuminate your design, but you also generally want people to know it's a pumpkin. So I recommend taking shots that balance the lit design with a hint of actual pumpkin. Get a lot of light inside those pumpkins, maybe even 2 or 3 tea candles. Set your camera on a tripod or other steady surface and turn off your flash. While I recommend turning off the lights where you are shooting, I might leave an ambient light on nearby to help you get the shot and to bring a little light on those pumpkin exteriors. Porch lights also work well for this! Compose your shot so that you're in nice and close with very few background distractions and shoot away. The photo below was shot at f/6.3 for 6 seconds, which gives it that nice glow and some extra light on the pumpkin exteriors.

Those are our pumpkins from last year, which you might have noticed from the political theme. That's Drifter's in the middle, and here's a cute snapshot of him waiting for trick-or-treaters!

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Eric
Eric Lovelin Photography