Ghosts in the Graveyard! Halloween Photo Shoot!

This has been my favorite Halloween project this year!  And I love Halloween!
Ghosts in the Graveyard--a Halloween Photo Shoot!

The first thing we did was take 376 pictures.

Well, lets back up.  I told my kids what I wanted to do.  Surprisingly, they were all on board!  Even the 4 year old!  Yay!
So we dressed them up.  I picked church clothes that looked the most old-timey.  And the boys wore some bow ties that I hot glued together.   The boys had vests...the girl had an old school dress and dark gray tights.  Pretty plain.

Then we found some accessories.  Old keys, a vintage pocketwatch and a lacy parasol.  

Then we trekked around our neighborhood...with me in a hoodie and yoga pants...looking for great picturesque places...and the little cemetery a mile across the road from us.  (yes, we walked...we are a 1 car household)

Then I would take pictures with my kids in them...then they would come stand by me and I would take a few of just the background.
The best part about this photoshoot is that I didn't need all my kids to smile at the same time!  :)  I just told them to look kind of sad...and we got some great shots!

I am a photoshop girl.  I've used it since high school...I think that's when the cavemen first invented photoshop for pc's.  Anyways.
I decided to try out pixlr...and I love it!
It's free...so super bonus there!  And it navigates basically the same as photoshop, so it didn't take me long to figure things out!
So, try it!

I loaded in 2 pictures.  One with my children in it...and one of the plain background!

The edits here are super simple!  But that's perfect, anyone can do it!

Here's what I did. 

Open up both pictures in pixlr.

Then copy the picture with the people and paste it right over the top of the plain background picture.

You have 2 layers now.  Then on the top layer (the one with the people) select that tiny carrot: Toggle Layer Settings (see picture)
It will bring up the OPACITY bar.  This is the fun part.  Just use the slider to make the people appear ghost-like!
Every picture is different.  Some I took the opacity to 60% some only 73%...

Then you want to look at the layers and make sure they line up as good as they can.
Not always super perfect, but it gives it a vintage double exposed kind of feel!  

Then I Desaturated the images...
You can also do sepia tones or old photo effects.

And if you're me, you will over-do it!  After all, we took over 300 pictures!

We altered tons of pictures!  We had them printed in 1 hour at Walmart, made cards for family and friends and wall decor for the entry way!

It helps if you have some ornate vintage frames...kind of spooky!

I realize this would be very disturbing if any of my children ever die...but for now, it's a great Halloween addition!

Thanks for viewing!  Let me know what you think...as long as it's nice! ;)
And please vote for me if you liked it!  :)