# A little lighting stuff....



## Ghostess (Aug 21, 2005)

along with some photography stuff:

http://www.howloweenqueen.com/tipsntricks.htm

Now, this is not a "how-to" or anything like that. It's just my explaining how I do things here at the Dead End for those who have been asking about those two subjects. My inbox has been full of questions the past 2 weeks on lighting, which really surprises me since it's really nothing spectacular. Anyway, I hope someone finds it useful.  I'll be adding more content to the page soon too. As I take things apart and move things into storage, I'm taking pictures and writing up articles on more stuff I do/did this year that people have been asking about. It's so much easier when there are pics!!


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## spideranne (Jul 17, 2006)

Excellent easy to understand explinations with pictures. This is great, Thanks!!!


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

nice explanation... the camera stuff is handy too. a tripod is a must... I utilized the 10s timer on my camera this year for some of the pics... I only have a mini (18" maybe?) travel tripod so I wound up taking pics from the hood of my car which was parked in a driveway of a vacant house across the street


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## Technician of Terror (Nov 7, 2007)

Thanks Ghostess, good write-up.


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## BooGirl666 (Jul 29, 2006)

Great tips Ghostess! Did you hide the floods at the columns? I use alot of blacklights in my haunt and I can never get the colors to show up unless I have a blacklight right on the item I am tryin to take a picture of. Will the camera tips also work for blacklight shots?


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## Richie (Jan 4, 2007)

Thank you Ghostess. I'm going to make good use of this information.


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## kerryike (Oct 5, 2006)

Thanks for the informative post, Ghostess. Every year I find that the proper lighting of the display is the most difficult to achieve to my satisfaction.


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## Ghostess (Aug 21, 2005)

Thanks y'all 

Nick, I have had to use a small bendable tripod on the hood of my car before. Whatever works, as long as that bad boy is still! LOL

Boo-girl -- The floods at the columns were hidden by the columns themselves. I'm trying to figure a way to attach the floods TO the columns for next year. The green flood that was shining on the columns was hidden by one of my faux rocks. The camera tips work with any low light situation, including blacklight shots. I have 6 blacklights inside the house and one outside on the FCG.


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## HalloweenZombie (Jul 22, 2007)

I'd let you light my haunt anytime.


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## Ghostess (Aug 21, 2005)

LOL HZ..... I'd light you up anytime!


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

I've been trying to figure out how to do lighting in my yard, as well. cheaplights.com has par 38 can black spotlights, and this includes the bulb and color gels, for ~$17 a piece. (120-P38BBG)

I'm thinking of getting 4 or 5 of these. A simple light stake and colored bulb would still run ~$12, i think. I wonder if it's worth the extra $5 just to get the steel par 38 can. I know very little about lighting. I guess w/ the cans you have to fool with mounting. I'm hoping that the light could focus a little better relative to a naked floodlight, because i'll be trying to shine 2 lights on the upstairs portion of our house, on walls inbetween windows.

Your pictures are awesome, by the way. I love the columns & arch!


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## Haunted Bayou (Feb 16, 2007)

Waldiddy...here you go....
Skull and Bone lighting tutorial


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## lowdwnrob (Jul 2, 2008)

Ghostess, is there a how to on Spider freaks leering prop on your site. That thing is awesome. Your yard looked great. I have a street light in front of my house so you are very lucky to be able to do that. It looked great.


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## waldiddy (Aug 4, 2008)

I've actually already seen the Skull & Bones page (which is excellent!). But, i'm wondering what you think is better? a steel par 38 black can or just a naked floodlight?


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## Ghostess (Aug 21, 2005)

I'm thinking the black can would be more directional where as the floodlight is more encompassing since it doesn't have a shield, so-to-speak, around the light bulb. Are the cans okay to use outdoors? The price seems pretty good to me - especially since gels are included too.

As for the floodlight stakes, the ones I got originally from Big Lots have lasted me about 8 years, but last year 3 of them died thanks to all the rain we get in October. The inside metal parts corroded and eventually the whole things were no good. I replaced them with nicer ones from Home Depot. A light stake was 5 bucks I think, and the bulbs were less than 4 bucks each.

Lowdwnrob - I don't think SpiderFreak did a how-to on his leer prop. There are links though, on this page: http://floridahaunters.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1217049482/15 showing the way he set it up (I think they are in reverse order though on the flickr link). And thank you for the kind words. I have a street light in the next door neighbor's yard that they cleaned up and replaced the bulb in last year right before Halloween. It really sucked and made for some lighting challenges.


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## SkullAndBone (Sep 21, 2005)

waldiddy said:


> I've actually already seen the Skull & Bones page (which is excellent!). But, i'm wondering what you think is better? a steel par 38 black can or just a naked floodlight?


The outdoor stake lights are good if you don't have housings for your lights and you don't plan on using gels. Par can's are not designed for water.

The par cans really 'shine' when you need to control the color of the light. Gel's are much richer and more flexible than pre-colored spots.


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## HauntCast (Jul 25, 2008)

Mucho gracias senorita! My lighting last year sucked. Due this this great post my haunt this year will look a 1000 times better.


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

Great info Ghostess...
thanks for write up


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## robisc (Oct 2, 2008)

great info and cools lighting effects! Thanks.


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