As Halloween approaches I know there are those of you who desire to shoot some ghoulish images. I thought I would have some fun and share some tips from the set. You see I shoot crime scenes all year round and have acquired some techniques I’d love to share.
Editor’s Note: The following photos are a bit gory, but they are fake. Not real.
For this particular effect you need: some latex gloves, F/X blood (though water soluble is still very messy), and you’ll need a very ripe banana.
With all the Halloween stores open now get yourself some F/X blood. Next you mush the ripe banana into the palm of your hand and add the F/X blood. Once mixed well you put the fingertips from your other hand into the mixture and flick onto the tub or wall. This effect is used with trauma to the head. The banana replicates gray matter really well, so good in fact that most network television won’t air it. I assure you she got up when we were done, and she had a blast, no pun intended.
Another technique is much easier, yet still has effective results.
With this technique, again you’ll start with latex gloves and F/X blood. However you’ll apply it with a can of air, the type you use to blast dust off your lens. You just aim and spray. It will take a bit of practice to acquire the effect you want. It’s a good look when you just want some splatter from a severed finger and shaking hand.
For this last effect we needed to practice the look of spray from a carotic artery.
We used a make-up brush with a flick. Once we felt confident on how to apply the F/X blood effect, it was time to go to our scene.
The only trick left was to keep our actress from laughing while we shot the scene. This was from last season on NCIS. Hope you enjoyed some Trick or Treats. Thanks for reading.
That’s a wrap, fade to black.
Mike Kubeisy has been shooting celebrities in Hollywood for over 30 years as a Motion Picture and Television Stills Photographer.
Mike is best known for his work on countless popular shows that are household names: CSI, CSI: Miami, CSI: NY, JAG, Boston Legal, Pretty Little Liars to name a few. His current projects are NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles.
Mike is a Trainer for KelbyOne, and Los Angeles Center of Photography. Mike is also a member of the International Cinematographers Guild.
You can view Mike’s work at 4stills.com, and follow him on Facebook at 4Stills.
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Filed under: Photography, Shooting, Technique & Tutorials Tagged: Celebrities, F/X, halloween, Hollywood Photographer, Kubeisy, Photofocus, Television 
