new to lighting: What color light for graveyard scene?

[EverydayisHalloween311]

I'm. Thinking amber lights for my scarecrow pumpkin patch but what color would look good lighting up a 6ft skelly reaper and some zombies and tombstones... Maybe some blues,purples?

[Offwhiteknight]

Depends on what you are looking for...blue is a good color for general spookiness...red spotlights on key items to give them a more evil look...and green can just look really unnatural. Purple should look unnatural also.

I like a overall blue over the scene, with green or red spots on key props. I do a pumpkinrot/jack-o-lantern/graveyard scene and like the overall creepy blue, but red spots on my pumpkinrots make them look extra evil and green on my scarecrowrot makes it stand out.

[Bone Dancer]

I agree. I use blue through out the whole set up and use small led lights to high light items. You can make your own mini spots fairly easy and cheap. Or just go out and buy some small led flash lights which are normally in the $3 to $5 range and then add colored filter to them.

[stagehand1975]

You should light a scene in layers. A back light in blue or green, highlight some details with the oposing blue or green color. This can.create spooky shadows if done right. Use ambers and reds to highlight the thing that you.really.want.people to see.

[kevin242]

There's a good tutorial here: http://www.robertdbrown.com/haunt/ its the .pdf entitled YardHauntLighting-SkullAndBone.pdf
Best of luck!

[EverydayisHalloween311]

Awesome! Thanks

[BioHazardCustoms]

I swear by the Skull and bone tutorial, Frank. You can't go wrong with his methods.

[wandererrob]

Originally Posted by Offwhiteknight

I like a overall blue over the scene, with green or red spots on key props. I do a pumpkinrot/jack-o-lantern/graveyard scene and like the overall creepy blue, but red spots on my pumpkinrots make them look extra evil and green on my scarecrowrot makes it stand out.

Agreed. I've leaned this way myself. Blue wash over the whole scene, then accent with colors. But that may also be because I lack Rob's (Skull-n-Bone) skill with layering my lighting. I need to play around with my lighting more.

To take it one step further, I've gotten some cool lighting effects on certain props by hitting them with two colors, one from each side. Blue and green work nicely together as do blue and red. I find red and green just comes off to "Christmas-y" in my mind so I avoid that color combo.

[Troll Wizard]

In my own yard haunts I have always used blue and red floods. I blend them together and it makes for a very grayish look with the colors combined. I then use small low wattage spots to highlight certain displays with in my haunt. I tend to stay away from colors like green and yellow, tends to be to bright. Purple tends not to light as well I think, except for using as individual mini spots on certain items.

I feel the two main colors red and blue flooding light onto the yard in connection with a fog machine makes for a very great effect giving off a very mystical look.

[jaege]

If you are just using one color, then blue is perfect for a graveyard. It looks like moonlight scattered across the graves and looks really cool on fog. A second color, I would go with green to highlight any undead (skeletons, zombies, what have you). Green brings out the decay. Or, if you have no walking (or moving) dead, then I like small purple spots to highlight any "special" stones or objects. As to scarecrows or pumpkins, it depends on what type they are. I have seen some really demonic looking pumpkinrots, so red is a good color. If you are going for a somewhat festive mood, then yellow is a good color for anything associated to the harvest.