Tom Brott  

Day of the Dead by Tom Brott

October 2026 - Day of the Dead

About the Image(s)

Being the Halloween season I pulled up this image from several years ago. The movie named "Day of the Dead" was filmed in Fort Myers, FL in 1985. In 2007 Zombie Con started with 350 participants. It grew in popularity to over 20,000 participants in 10 plus years and was an annual street party in Fort Myers with people from all over the world joining in the festivities. This themed street party was ended in 2020 after a shooting left one dead and 5 wounded. The city fathers said the event had outgrown the streets of Fort Myers and was ended after the shooting. It was great fun and presented many photo-ops.

Canon 7D Mark II, f/4, 1/60 sec, ISO 250, 70mm, Flash (Bounced Down), hand held. Made a few minor adjustments in Camera Raw is all I remember.

3 comments posted

Jen Fawkes   Jen Fawkes
Hi Tom, again you have scored a terrific subject and the end result of all that makeup is both awesome and gross! The contrast between the lovely young woman and the crazy dude is just magnificant. I like how you have filled the frame, and muted and blurred the background. A couple of small distractions may be removed if you had stepped a little to one side or angled the camera a bit higher. I did find the image just a little dark and brightened the exposure. I'm not convinced this looks better as we now see too much of the background. I'd be interesting in the thoughts of the others.   Posted: 10/14/2026 04:08:18
Comment Image
Ron Davis   Ron Davis
Hi Tom. Jen makes some interesting suggestions re increasing the exposure to lighten the photo. I think your photo is better in that the background is darkened thus causing the eye to see the two sujects. I did my own version just using the adjustment brush on the two subjects: increasing Exposure, Highlights and Shadows. I don't think this is against any rules in HI. The key to successfully do this is not increase too much as you can create haloes around people. The Feather feature should also be observed "it softens and blurs the boundary of a mask to create a gradual, natural transition between the adjusted area and the rest of the photograph". I did this in PT Photo Editor freeware program ideal for doing a few photos.   Posted: 10/14/2026 04:50:10
Comment Image
Leslie Larson   Leslie Larson
What a great costume. Interesting facts you present about the Zombie Con. We had a similar situation in Boulder, CO...altho no one was killed, the Halloween Mall crawl event just got too big and rowdy to be contained and was eventually banned. I really wish we could make a few small adjustments to PJ photos...like getting rid of bright spots.   Posted: 10/14/2026 11:00:55

 

Please log in to post a comment