Halloween Be Good!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN, friends! Nala and I got all tricked out for your viewing pleasure! Also, we’ve included some photo tips! And if any of your little humans (& furry friends) go trick-or-treating tonight, we’ve included some tips to help keep them safe! 🙂

You know what else today is? It’s Roo’s Birthday/Gotcha Day! Won’t you please stop by and wish him a very happy birthday? Also, Roo and his family are gonna donate 50 cents for every Happy Birthday/Gotcha Day comment, to The Sarasota Humane Society. Tell him Bailey sent ya! Happy Birthday/Gotcha Day, Rooooo! <3 How to Take Great Halloween Photos

Pope Gregory III started it all in 739 A.D. when he officially designated All Saints Day, but he wouldn’t recognize Halloween as we celebrate it today. It’s become a night of fantasy for children of all ages, and with its glowing Jack-O-Lanterns, costumes, and trick-or-treating, it’s also a great opportunity for you to capture the spirit(s) with your camera.

“It’s easy to turn this night of fantasy into permanent picture memories,” says Chuck DeLaney, Dean of the New York Institute of Photography, “but you have to follow two simple guidelines or, excuse the pun, you won’t have a ghost of a chance.”

“The most important guideline,” says DeLaney, “is to know exactly what you want to be the subject of your picture. Then, when you look through the viewfinder of your camera, make your subject the most important thing in the frame and try not to show anything that distracts from it. The second guideline is to try to capture the ‘feeling’ of the occasion too.”

For example, if you are shooting a Jack-O-Lantern, it’s your subject. Make that clear by moving in close and almost filling the frame with the pumpkin. Keep the background simple so it doesn’t distract from your subject. Hint: To make this picture even more interesting, include the faces of the kids or Dad or Mom hovering over it. Get down low so that you see their faces looming over the top of the pumpkin. Careful now, you don’t want to cut any heads off, even on Halloween.

Now the second guideline. To capture the eerie “feeling” of Halloween, shoot at night using “ghoul” lighting. Rule One is to turn off your flash! You don’t want pictures with its cold, clear light. Rather, you’re looking for eerie lighting that captures the “spirit” of Halloween.

Hint: To capture the glow of a jack-o-lantern, don’t light just one candle inside the pumpkin. Two or three lit candles will produce a far better picture.

When you take a picture of your favorite goblin in costume, have a helper shine a flashlight from off to one side or from below, the way we all did as kids. This is “ghoul” lighting and it will produce wonderfully scary lighting in your pictures. The biggest mistake amateurs make is to shoot from too far back. So get in close and fill the frame. You don’t have to shoot from head-to-toe. Rather, you’re usually better off if you fill the frame. And bend down low to kid’s-eye level. Don’t shoot from adult-level.

Hint: If your kids wear a mask, take two shots – one with the mask on and one without so that in future years you’ll be able to identify the little devil behind the mask and you may be able to use the picture for your Xmas card.

“The key to good Halloween pictures,” concludes DeLaney, “is to capture the spirit – the feeling – of the occasion. The spirit of Halloween is ghoulish fun and silliness. So for great Halloween pictures, know what you want the subject of each of your pictures to be, and make it important in the frame. Then add ‘mood’ that captures the spirit of Halloween by the ghoulish way you light your pictures or the silly way you pose your subjects.”

Now for some not-so-scary photos, from Bailey & Nala!

Yeah, I’m a little devil. 😉

Uh, What’s up doc?
(By the way… can you spot my missing whiskers?!)

Nala definitely makes a cuter bunny than I do.

I’ll get you, my prettyyyy!
Let me just take a little snooze first.

Meoooowzers!

I’m still trying to figure this one out. Ah haha!

This pic is for my two little buddies, Benny & Lily…
This is the giant pumpkin I was talking about that eats children!

Here’s a pic of our neighborhood beach — it
turns into a haunted house during Halloween.

Now for a few friends in costume…

Here’s little Chewie as a skeleton!
He’s a 1-yr-old chiweenie (chihuahua dachshund mix)

This is Princess Oliver (also known as Doodle).
He’s a Bishon Frise.
You can read more about him here.

This is Kijani, a Cinnamon Green Cheek Conure.
Kijani is pronounced: ‘Kah-hah-knee…’ (it means ‘green’ in Swahili).
You can see more Kijani here.

6 Creative Tips for a Healthier Halloween

Halloween is about more than just a competition to see who brings home the most candy. Instead of focusing on the sugary side of this scare-fest, try working with your kids to build lasting memories that focus on healthier Halloween staples like pumpkins, creative costumes and haunted houses.

Below are six helpful strategies from The Alliance for a Healthier Generation, to keep your Halloween focused on building lasting memories and away from unhealthy candy binges.

1. Trick or post-dinner treat: Trick or treat after eating a wholesome dinner. Children who are full may be less likely to snack on the treats they accumulate.

2. Pillow cases are for pillows: give the kids smaller treat containers like recycled grocery bags or small, plastic jack o’ lanterns so they won’t bring home too many sweets. Use your pillow cases to create ghostly costumes instead.

3. Scare ‘em with vitamin E: Instead of handing out candy corn, hand out prepackaged servings of carrots or dried fruit that has no added sugar. Both are great sources of vitamins that can help your children stay healthy. Take it a step further and hand out cut fruit and berries packed in small plastic bags.

4. Use your pumpkins: Pumpkins are for more than just pumpkin pie and jack o’ lanterns. Use the flesh and seeds from your pumpkins to make delicious, healthy treats as a replacement for candy.

5. Give ‘em treasures for treats: Hand out boxes of crayons, stickers, colored pencils, erasers, Halloween tattoos (the removable kind!), or rubber spiders!

6. Patrol those sweets: The best way to limit the amount of candy your children eat is to limit the number of treats they CAN eat. After inspecting all treats to make sure they’re safe, set a limit on how many they can keep. Then remind them to eat in moderation so they last longer (wink, wink). Store the bag in a high but public place so you won’t be tempted to snack on the candy either!

Some Halloween Pet Safety Tips… from Bailey & Nala

• Pets can become nervous, excited, and/or stressed during Halloween — it’s all that bell-ringing! If you’re not planning on handing out candy, you should keep your light off and/or place a note outside so trick-or-treaters won’t ring your bell needlessly.
• If you plan on taking your furry one with you while trick-or-treating, make sure a responsible adult has a good hold of their leash. Pets can be easily frightened at night, and you want to have a good hold on their leash in case they decide to make a run for it.
• If you do take your furry one out with you, make sure they’re wearing their collar and tags. If they happen to get lost, this will make it easier for someone to help them find their way back home.
• If your furry one is trick-or-treating with you, be sure to keep an eye on them — they’ll be sniffing the ground and will be the first to come across any dropped Halloween candy, which could be dangerous for them if they eat any.
• If your furry one will be walking with you, think about getting a flashing collar for them, or one of those light-up glow-in-the-dark Halloween necklaces — they will be more visible to traffic.
• If your furry one is there to greet you when you’ve come home from trick-or-treating, you should be sure to keep all that candy out of their reach.
• Think about leaving any pets at home that may be scared by crowds.

For Even More Halloween Safety Tips… Read articles at our parent site, MyParenTime.com:

• Halloween Guide: How to Keep Your Children Safe
  (Halloween Safety Tips)
• 13 Halloween Safety Tips for Little Ghosts and Goblins

Missing Whiskers…

I seem to have lost lotsa whiskers… do whiskers fall out and grow back in? Are they supposed ta do that? I’m missin’ lots!

Happy Halloween Be Good Monday woofs & hugs, friends! <3

~Bailey (Yep, I’m a girl)
P.S… If you’re a human who blogs about your furry, or a furry who blogs about your human… or even a furry who blogs about your life… I invite you to follow me via Google Friend Connect (see box in the right-hand column –>), and join me on Facebook. Please let me know you’ve visited — I love reading other blogs and making new friends. <3

*Extra Woofies*
Word verification has been turned off! Comment away! Don’t forget: all comments are moderated, so they won’t show up right away. 😉

 

Copyright © BaileyBeGood.com. All Rights Reserved.

“How to Take Great Halloween Photos,” Copyright © New York Institute of Photography. All Rights Reserved. Reprinted with permission.

“6 Creative Tips for a Healthier Halloween,” Copyright © The Alliance for a Healthier Generation. The Alliance for a Healthier Generation works to address one of the nation’s leading public health threats – childhood obesity. The goal of the Alliance is to reduce the prevalence of childhood obesity by 2015, and to empower kids nationwide to make healthy lifestyle choices. Founded in 2005 by the American Heart Association and William J. Clinton Foundation, the Alliance works to positively affect the places that can make a difference to a child’s health: homes, schools, doctor’s offices and communities. For more information please visit our website. Reprinted with permission.

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