Ghostly Photographs
Posted October 31st, 2008 in [hide]Normally, shooting “ghosts” is a pretty easy thing to do; a double-exposure does the trick pretty nicely.
Of course, that’s a Film Age trick, and needs to be handled differently with digital. Photoshop can come to the rescue, as always. A long-exposure is a more natural way to accomplish the same thing, and demands low light … ghostly ambiance. Shoot a scene in bulb mode, and put the lens cap on when your image is almost properly exposed. Position your subject, then take the cap off and finish the exposure. Most of the background will have already sunk into the photo; only a hint of your subject will show up, like an apparition. A similar trick can be done with a flash.
Sometimes, though, the camera plays its own tricks. Try as I might, I can’t figure this one out: Gandolph the Gray, from Lord of the Rings, or at least his ghost, seems to have shown up in a waterfall shot this spring, near Talapus Lake.
Have a look at the original; he’s highlighted below:
Here’s a close-up: Read the rest of this entry »
