It's almost Spooky season, so we asked our community to bring to life pumpkins, ghosts, scarecrows, monsters, anything goes as long as it's Halloween!!
Header image from Karlito.
Keywords listed: handcrafting, jack-o-lantern, giant, artist, Halloween. Keywords are OK but could be better for the top 5. These are all relevant, but it’s important to think like a customer. My assumption is that more customers would use the word “pumpkin” over “jack-o-lantern” so that is what I would use instead. Instead of “handcrafting” I suspect a more common search term for an image like this would be “carving”.
As for the image itself, I like the concept. This is a good use of generative AI technology. To create an image that is bigger than life, yet still somewhat realistic. A story is being told here. Specifically, about the preparation for Halloween. The actual generation has some issues however. I could be wrong, but it looks like there is a giant ball of flames inside the pumpkin. That is not consistent with the “reality” that is being portrayed here with the BTS look and feel. In addition, the hands are looking pretty funky. Especially the left hand with what appears to be only three fingers and a matching glove. Those two elements disqualify the image being useful for stock in my opinion. It’s a good effort, but could use some tweaking.
Keywords listed: spider, web, embroidery, decoration, Halloween. I think that is a good selection of keywords! Little to add here for the top five 😉
This is a very nice approach to the there! Especially, because you kind of subvert the expected dark color palette with your white background, which makes all that orange pop up! I also like the idea of using this embroidery to show spiderwebs, and I think the result is really good. However, I have some issues with those strange black and orange elements. What are those? Some kind of berries? For me, they do not add anything to the image, and, in fact, removes some of the grounded, real feel the image has.
Keywords listed: Halloween, boy, funny, pumpkin, costume. Perfect keywords, I wouldn’t change a thing.
I like the background color choice. It’s aesthetically pleasing paired with the pumpkin. Plenty of copy space to use. First thing I check are the hands: they look good. The kid has a cute expression. The concept is solid and there are multiple use cases for the image. The realism is slightly diminished at the top of the costume as I would expect the shell to be attached at the shoulder somehow, but that is getting nitpicky. All in all, this is a good stock image with potential for sales.
Keywords listed: Waiting, Silent, Camouflaged, Stalking, Chosen. Not a big fan of those keywords; I believe that, even though they may describe what's on the image, it goes more in a narrative way, which is not going to be helpful for our customers to find it. Something like "terror", "Monster", "darkness", or "fantasy"... would be more accurate to describe it.
When reviewing the images we decided to select images that fell more on the festivity side (pumpkins, decorations, costumes, etc.) and not so much on the fantasy and monsters; however, there was something so unsettling with this image, touching elements of folk horror, that just catch my eye and we finally decided to include it. The composition is good, with the light leading our eyes to the creature; but I also like how it looks like something else in hiding in the tall grass. There is plenty of space for copy and to crop it on a different aspect ratio, which makes the image useful for customers. However, pure fantasy/horror/sci-fi images are still kind of niche for buyers, so keep that in mind when creating those contents.
Keywords listed: Halloween, jack-o-lantern, pumpkin, decoration, garland. Keywords are OK. I recommend “lights” instead of “garland,” but it’s a personal preference.
The image is sellable stock with a Halloween theme. This could be used for a variety of purposes including stores featuring Halloween content on sale, holiday parties, school events, etc. The only thing I would like to see differently is the ball on the far left. While the pumpkin face is a bit obscured, it looks to be off a bit. You may want to clone that one out. Should be an easy fix with generative Fill in Photoshop. Keeping the image less than terrifying opens up a wide range of opportunities for use. Most holidays present big opportunities for seasonal sales and Halloween is one of the biggest.
Keywords listed: halloween, young boy, monster costume, cute, mischevious. The selection of keywords is ok. I wouldn't use compound keywords, like "young boy" (I'd keep "boy", and add "young" later on the list) or "monster costume" (I would have use that as two different keywords). Also, take care of the spelling for "mischievous"!
This image is cute, even though the costume is a bit unsettling to me. There are some minor Gen AI issues, like the teeth of the kid and the eyes of the monster, but it is okay, and it shouldn't be difficult to solve. I like the playful, mischievous expression of the kid, and the color palette, a bit colder than what we are used to seeing for Halloween, but that works very well. I would have liked a wider framing, though, so that we could see the whole costume's head, so customers could re-crop the image to adapt it to their needs.
Keyword listed: child, ginger, clown, costume, balloon. As a ginger myself, I do use the keywords, but generally much later in the list. “Redhead” is probably more useful
The image may be approved, but I do not recommend you submit it. Clearly, this is an image influenced by a mainstream book (and movie) character Pennywise the Clown from Stephen King’s “It”. I always recommend you err on the side of caution when it comes to intellectual property. You can’t submit an image of a kid wearing a Batman costume, so I would avoid all trademarked characters and costumes. The image itself is good. I like the aspect ratio and the copy space on the left. The look and feel is very realistic.
Keywords listed: woman, mexico, diademuertos, skull, make up. Keywords are okay, but there are a couple of comments: you should spell "Dia de muertos" with spaces, as a unique keyword. It's like "New Year's Eve", you do not use "newyearseve", because nobody is going to search for that keyword. Also, I would have used "Catrina" or "La Catrina" as a keyword, instead of skull (which would be later on my list).
It is good to see images related to Día de muertos, even though it is not the same celebration, they are closely related and occur at almost the same time. There are some issues with the jewelry, like the earrings or the necklaces (which always have some kind of problem). The image is good, but I would have cropped a bit on the top and use Generative Expand to gain a bit more space on the right. The flowers on the hat are a nice touch!
And now, let's discover our favourite image for this challenge!
Now let's return to our Discord community for our new Silhouette Creative Challenge!