Horror Photos Without Gore?

Whoever said you cant get a horror type of photo without using a ton of fake blood or latex skin? Thanks to Hollywood Cinema and their need to over do everything people now think its not horror unless it has fake blood. Due to the success of select horror blockbuster hits such as Friday the 13th, Halloween and Nightmare On Elm Street. There were hundreds of knock off movies each with more gore to the next.Where sets are full of 100 gallon drums of fake blood and boxes of fake skin mix. Which in the end killed the horror and slasher genre for a few years.

Now when I tell people that my personal photos are more of the horror side they automatically say so with a lot of fake blood. With my personal work I try to give more of a creepy feel without using a lot of fake blood or special effects make up. Rather let the photo draw up any emotions you might have whether it be scared or sad. I go about doing this by using special light settings, color covers for the lights and messing with the settings on the camera. There are the ideas I have that will require sets to be built and special effects make up. Not against it just don't think its a must have to be a horror type of photo.

While watching and type of horror movie I'm always making mental notes about their lighting, where the cameras are positioned, etc. Usually shortly after finishing the movie I go out and try to figure out how to re- create what I like in the movie. Always seeing something new in every movie as well as everyday life. Another little thing I enjoy doing is looking at things and thinking of ways to turn it into a "creepy" photo. Almost the same thing I did while learning how to take photos. By just looking at everything and thinking of how it would look at a photo.

Thanks to photoshop programs can now use normal objects to help give a normal photos an creepy or dark feel. One item I found that always seems to give a photo that desired feel is newspaper articles. But there's another example of a way to give a photo a creepy feel and put into that horror type of photo without over doing it with fake blood. There are hundreds of other ways of going about turning normal photos into horror type of photos with out over doing things.

So who's to say every horror photo has to have the Hollywood touch of over production on it? Unless that's your thing and you are a gore hound, well more power to you. Having costumes and custom wardrobes isn't so bad until it takes over the photo and the photo becomes more about the clothing. I always thought that photography was about trying to capture the emotions of the subject. But again that is just me.