Ghosts

I had been wanting to try something like this for a while when we ateempted these back in October. I saw another photographer's haunted house image series and have been mulling around in my mind exactly how I might pull off something similar. I really didn't want the kids to know how they would look as ghosts, so I just asked them to show up at the cemetery (we were very respectful) in just a black shirt and jeans. 

I accomplished the look by first taking a photo of my subject, then while holding the focus, ask the subject to step out of the photo so I could get the background. After desaturating the skin, I used the multiply tool in PS to darken under the eyes, the lips, and a bit on the neck and hands. I dodged a bit in the eyes to get that icy feeling. I layered the 2 photos, erased a bit where I wanted the background to show through. It was actually way easier than I thought it would be. Scroll all the way down to see my before &afters.
We used the photos on some invites for their Halloween Birthday Bash and printed some to use as decor for the party.