T-minus 5 days until the strangest Halloween in memory. I bet you’d never be thinking about how to trick-or-treat in a pandemic, right? 😂

Well, it might be weird, but, costumes and happiness will still be happening. 🎉

So, here are 3 of my tried-and-true tips for photographing your Halloween in a beautiful way.

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1. Capture the costumes BEFORE it’s dark outside

This one comes from first-hand experience! I’ve been that mom trying to get my kid to ‘pose’ in a horribly lit house while she yells at me “can you be done!!?” because she spies her friends out trick or treating and just wants to get going.

So, think about it the night before and plan for a few minutes during daylight to photograph your kid in their costume. It can be before school, after school or even when you’re doing the costume dry run a few days before Halloween. If you’re outside find a shady area to snap away in and if you’re inside, have your child stand next to a window.

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The same rule applies to pumpkin carving too. If you can do it in the daylight by a window, the photos will be 1000 times better. My husband thinks I’m ridiculous for always wanting to do afternoon carving, but I’m telling you, it’s always worth it!

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2. Get down low for little ones

If you’ve ever seen me shoot a session with small kids, you’ll likely have seen me spend a good chunk of the session on the floor. That’s because great photos happen at eye level. That means that you need to get down low to capture the expressions, excitement and emotion. So, grab your camera or phone and kneel down. If you’re trick or treating this year, get your phone ready to snap a quick photo as they head out the door trick or treating by being ready at the end of the sidewalk and crouching down to eye-level.

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3. Start a series

I’m such a sucker for a good photo series as there’s just no better way to document growth. Halloween presents the perfect day to set up the same photo year after year. It’s a 2-for-1 too as you can capture costumes AND growth. It can be your kids sitting on the front step, beside the Halloween inflatable, laying on the couch, standing on your counter….it doesn’t matter what it is, as long as it’s close to being the same each year.

I accidentally fell into a series of photographing my husband with the kids walking down our street. It started the first year in our house (with only 1 kid!) and it has progressed over the last 7 years. Sometimes the kids are cold or they aren’t into participating (you can see from their faces!), but I don’t care. Every year I haul my camera out and make sure I get the shot. Honestly, I hope one day I can keep it going with their kids!

Whatever you’re doing this year for Halloween, I hope it’s full of lots of childhood excitement and laughter (and lots of sugar too!).