[WickedWino]

For Halloween 2015, I set up a photo op spot in front of the Evil Vines Cemetery using a great old leather chair I picked up at a garage sale last year. I decided to hook up my remote control e-cracker to the camera tripod and see if I could get anyone to jump. I asked people to say "Happy Halloween!" and then I hit the remote camera trigger on blast on my iphone (so I could get a stream of photos) and the remote e-cracker at the same time.





I thought, to be thorough, I should test it out on my husband first. Looks promising



And here are some of the results on Halloween night! It was definitely not as loud as inside our house. But we had a good time with it. And I could email everyone their photos right from my phone. I love the last family, because they started to run!

 

[Gumpster09]

I wanted to do something similar but wasnt sure about getting the timing right...

 

[ooojen]

Cool idea! I have a startle prop/photo op in mind for this year, too.
On a side note, I'm very impressed with your spider webs! You did an amazing job with them.

 

[WickedWino]

I wanted to do something similar but wasnt sure about getting the timing right...

Yes, that photo blast mode was key. I bought a cheap remote control for the iPhone camera and by holding down the button it took a rapid series of pictures. You end up with a ton of photos, but you should definitely capture a good expression of surprise. It took a little practice to hold the remote trigger for the camera in one hand and the e-cracker in the other.

 

[WickedWino]

Cool idea! I have a startle prop/photo op in mind for this year, too.
On a side note, I'm very impressed with your spider webs! You did an amazing job with them.

Thanks ooojen! I had hoped to get more webs up but they took longer to cut up than I thought. And my hand was killing me by the end of it! There's always this year to add more.

What kind of scare will you try in your photo op? Maybe it's a surprise. You'll have to share it with us after the big night!

 

[ooojen]

You wanted even more webs? Wow! They do look great as they are.
My intent is to use an RC prop that I hope will be taken for a static prop. The plan is to have it turn toward the posing "victim" at the last instant. I hope I'll get some good reactions.

 

[WickedWino]

Cool! Can't wait to see pix of your victims!

 

[Gym Whourlfeld]

I know one guy who would also hook-up a squirt gun aimed at the person's crotch, just to make the photo more worthy of the blackmail fee .

 

[Grey Lady]

This is a great idea!
I'm thinking of doing something like this as well, curious, how many emails did you have to send? And did you take the pic's with your phone?

 

[CHEFJULI]

I LOVE this idea and would like to try it this next year! Great photo op with the chair and the sign! Napa is beautiful in the fall! My husband and I went on the WineTrain for our Honeymoon and the valley was just beautiful! Great pics!

 

[punkineater]

Very cool, WW!!! The photo op pics came out great~love the leaning skelly

 

[WickedWino]

This is a great idea!
I'm thinking of doing something like this as well, curious, how many emails did you have to send? And did you take the pic's with your phone?

Yes, I took the photos with my phone and emailed most of them immediately after I took the picture. We had about 100 TOTs and I only emailed one per group picture, so it wouldn't take so long between group photos. I think that ended up being maybe 25 emails sent. Sometimes I let the people type in their email address themselves, so that I didn't make a typo (without removing the phone from the tripod).

After a couple hours, I think my phone started suffering as the temperature dropped and I couldn't get the key pad to come up to forward photos via email. So I ended up just letting people take their own photos or taking the picture for them with their phone. I also followed up with several people the next day to email them the best pictures from their photo blast. Sometimes it was hard to tell outside on the little screen which photos were the best. And it gave me time to make those photo collages, so they could see their reaction like stop motion.

 

[WickedWino]

I LOVE this idea and would like to try it this next year! Great photo op with the chair and the sign! Napa is beautiful in the fall! My husband and I went on the WineTrain for our Honeymoon and the valley was just beautiful! Great pics!

Thanks! I'd love to see your version of this on Halloween!

Yes, Napa is beautiful, especially in the fall when the grape leaves change. I imagine you two enjoyed the amazing food and wine experiences here. And I just heard the wine train horn as it headed up valley for lunch! Now you know you have a friend here, if you ever make it back