# Fancy Lighting Ruining Atmosphere?



## skeletonowl

Hey! Not trying to bust on anyone but this year we saw a LOT of spectacular multi colered lighting on haunts. It's impressive, and I understand the concept, but I believe we are ruining the overall effect!

Multiple colors like this just doesn't seem to work on a yard haunt. Sorry. I can understand in a walk thru like red for a body part room but there's way to much going on here guys.

Remember looking at pictures of spooky mansions? It's always green and mostly purple lighting! I think that's how it works. Just my opioion on the lighting. And by the way good news! My dad came home this morning with a stake in light! whoo!

Sorry if anyone was...offended? I really think all your haunts look great!


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## Otaku

I have always used muted lighting (blues, greens) and the occasional amber or white LED spot or lantern to highlight a prop. I agree that reds and yellows are colors that don't occur naturally in a moonlit graveyard. It really depends on the mood you're trying to set, and if you have different areas where reds and yellows are appropriate. When outdoors, though, I always try to remember what the natural lighting is like, and try to intensify it a bit.


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## Revenant

I can see your point but can't get on your "we're losing the whole point" bus. Pictures of spooky mansions are basically spooky pictures of... well, mansions. Mimicking that monochromatic muted lighting just isn't going to get the same effect in suburbia. Subtle muted lighting is best to accentuate the creepy attributes of a prop or scene, but your average boxy white-vinyl siding house just doesn't have enough creepiness to accentuate. And even the scenes themselves (graveyards for example) take on a different flavor with the multicolor scheme-- sort of a surreal comic-booky look-- and it helps hide the fact that maybe the scene & props are a little short on detail and finish quality. Short of building a full facade, colored lighting schemes is an affordable way to totally change a backdrop and make it at least something like a stylized nightmare or impressionist painting if you can't go for Hollywood "realism". My ideal too would be muted blues and greens and a little amber, but if I can't totally change the face of a bland suburban peoplebox I'd just as soon hang a little jute and paint it with wierd colored light. It looks more finished that way. But that's just my opinion, FWIW.

Besides, little kids like colors.


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## Terrormaster

I agree with Otaku and Skeleton Owl - I'm a huge fan of less is more, especially when it comes to lighting. I try to stick with blues and greens myself just because of the eeriness the colors present when used properly. Reds do work in the right circumstances and some of us use it to mute out annoying streetlights and do it quite effectively - for my haunt I found a rich green was a warm enough color to cancel most of the streetlight to my satisfaction. 

On the other hand red can and does work with graveyard settings when done right. I think the issue is when some people tend to use too many in one scene and for me it does throw off the effect. This happens more often when folks use spots versus floods and use a mix of red and blue to highlight different props in the same scene. While it draws attention to specific props (and is most probably the intention) I find it distracts from the overall atmosphere of the scene.

Even Rob of Skull and Bone (who has some of the most inspiring tutorials on the subject) will tell you, less is more and not to add more lights to fix problems which can be solved by either changing the color or placement.

But thats my artistic pair of copper coins and what works for me.

-TM


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## HalloweenZombie

I use green and blue lighting, but I use red, yellow and orange as well. I don't like to limit my options. I light according to what looks right. I use dim lights on my crappy props and make sure I light the detailed props well. Green doesn't occur naturally in any setting, but it sets a tone. I've used red in my skull pit and open graves. If you light a prop with blue on one side and red on the other it creates an uneasiness on the eyes. Orange and red will raise a person's alertness, espicially when used with fog because of the fear of fire. Also, red means danger to almost anyone. Yellow light from a lantern is perfectly natural. Not to mention the photographs I've seen of some people's props with the different colored lighting is stunning. I don't have any photos like that of my stuff because my camera is a piece of poo, but what I have seen of the lighting in other people's photos is very artistic. I respectfully disagree with you SkeletonOwl. Zombies, ghosts and vampires are fantasy. There's nothing wrong with fantasy lighting. Of course if you want to play it safe then there is definitely something to be said for blue and green lighting. They have a cold eerie feeling to them that screams cemetary.


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## Haunted Bayou

I have used blue and greeen in my yard. I like the way it looks. I use red on the inside. I had one red party light on my porch this year but I think I am going to use blue next year.

Hmmmmm, are there any purple spot lights out there? I could paint a white one with glass paint...I think. I like the idea of purple on the house.


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## Terrormaster

I agree thats it's really hard to put emphasis on the natural sometimes. We all light our haunts differently and thats what makes us unique. For me is about lighting the entire scene, not a specific prop. I like to draw people into the atmosphere of the haunt. I'm trying to create atmosphere not an exhibit when I light - but we're all different in our presentation methods. 

I know we all work so hard on our props and we like to draw attention to the ones we like best or have worked the hardest on. I try and treat all my props equally whether they're good or not. If they completely suck, I don't put them out. Then I light the entire scene to create an all encompassing picture. I don't like drawing attention to any one specific prop unless I'm using it to set up a scare. This is why I pretty much exclusively use floods in design. But hey, thats my style.

As for red - for me it says either gore or fire and since I don't use gore and until I get to the demon theme in a few years, I don't plan on using red.

-TM


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## Fester

I was struggling with how to express the thought, but Revenant's " like a stylized nightmare or impressionist painting" and HZ's "fantasy lighting " sum up it up well.


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## ScareFX

There is one thing you need to remember as you peruse the images of haunts. What you see in the photo is probably not like what you would see in person. 

When a photographer uses a tripod mounted camera and takes long exposures, the amount of light captured is far greater than what the human eye sees. The lighting will look much brighter than it actually is. And the colors will be much more saturated. It makes for some interesting pictures but it does not necessarily capture the true mood of the scene.


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## TSquared

ScareFX said:


> There is one thing you need to remember as you peruse the images of haunts. What you see in the photo is probably not like what you would see in person.
> 
> When a photographer uses a tripod mounted camera and takes long exposures, the amount of light captured is far greater than what the human eye sees. The lighting will look much brighter than it actually is. And the colors will be much more saturated. It makes for some interesting pictures but it does not necessarily capture the true mood of the scene.


Really good point that I didn't think about until you wrote it down. The colors in my photos this year are really vivid. But it sure didn't look saturated in person. When I went back and checked, some of my photo's had 8 to 15 second exposure times. Looking back at my video, you can see that the colors are more muted.


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## skeletonowl

wow there are some good opinions here


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## edwood saucer

Here's mine...

Multi colored day glo madness! To each his own - I strive each year to make my display glow - the glow that can never be achieved - like what I see on pictures from howloweenqueen and others.

I don't think there is a right or wrong. What ever anybody enjoys. It's like it's their own palette of ideas.

Glow on!


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## Terrormaster

edwood saucer said:


> I don't think there is a right or wrong. What ever anybody enjoys. It's like it's their own palette of ideas.!


I think this sums it best and says it much better than I did. We each have a different way we like to light our haunt and different ideals of what we feel is creepy or appropriate. There's no right or wrong really.

-TM


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## Haunted Bayou

If you want color and brightness also, you can use a white light with a color spot...I saw that on a tutorial..can't remember who told me that. He had a photo to show the difference. The white light mixed with the color spot lookes a lot better than color alone.


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## SkullAndBone

Lighting is kinda like picking out the soundtrack for your haunt.

Sometimes garish and disturbing is the ticket. Sometimes somber and mello fills the bill. To that end, a lot of haunters don't have budgets to field the full spectrum of lighting colors. A choice one year could last for years to come. There are very few lighting options available through retailers like Home Depot or WmarT.

All of these factors work against the average haunter. At a certain point, a colorful light choice becomes a more useful option than no light choice.


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## Scottzilla

The street light in front of my house pretty much tells me that orangy/pinky/amber is going to be one of my graveyard lighting colors whether I like it or not. =(

Haunted Bayou: You should get yourself a gel swatch book from Rosco or Lee or somebody. They have lots of different purple gels you can throw in front of a white spot. I like going that route because then I'm not limited to 6 or so primary color choices for my lighting.


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## edwood saucer

Skull and Bone nailed it. We have a fairly generic looking house in a young and fairly generic looking subdivision. So anything I can use to "change" the atmosphere helps.

Now - look at the Skull and Bones site... it's dripping with atmosphere - the trees and scale of the tombstones and attention to detail - it probably looks great without lights at all. 

So my lights are definitely to help alter fairly blank surroundings.


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## Terrormaster

Scottzilla said:


> The street light in front of my house pretty much tells me that orangy/pinky/amber is going to be one of my graveyard lighting colors whether I like it or not.


I have a pretty annoying street light too and used greens and blues to light my yard and I feel it came out pretty well, especially the green off the front of the house:










-TM


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## SkullAndBone

Terrormaster said:


> I have a pretty annoying street light too and used greens and blues to light my yard and I feel it came out pretty well, especially the green off the front of the house:
> 
> -TM


Hehe, you fight the good fight!.. Your situation is very similar to ours, and you handled the solution with grace and poise! Well done.


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## Sickie Ickie

It looks great to me!


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## ScareFX

Terrormaster said:


> ...
> As for red - for me it says either gore or fire and since I don't use gore and until I get to the demon theme in a few years, I don't plan on using red...


Reds symbolize fire for me as well. But it can coexist with cooler colors.


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## Bodybagging

I use the same theory in lighting as I do in my FX Makeup and Costuming, I use layers of light to create the depth of our scenes, everything is three dimensional, I lit the foreground in a cool blue, (the cemetery pillars and fence) I lit the midground in pale green, (hearse , props) and the background in a dim red (house) By differating the layers it causes each layer to stand out on its own....


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## edwood saucer

I like that idea Bodybagging... Look at the picture by scarefx... the lights, to me, make the scene absolutely rock.. This brings an unrelated issue me though that I have been pondering...

Authentic looking tombstones. These, and other examples are fabulous. I've put a lot of time in my stylized ones - but think I like the more authentic look better.

But I digress!


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## Terrormaster

SkullAndBone said:


> Hehe, you fight the good fight!.. Your situation is very similar to ours, and you handled the solution with grace and poise! Well done.


Thanks Rob, that means a lot coming from you.



ScareFX said:


> Reds symbolize fire for me as well. But it can coexist with cooler colors.


ScareFX, this kinda scene works for me because there are demons in it and the red emphasizes that. If there were no demons or fire in that shot the red would just feel out of place. I personally have no objections to red IF it fits the scene. I don't add colors out of context in my haunt for the pop-out effect (and even if so, it would have to be VERY subtle and not over saturated), I just don't have the depth of space in my front yard for that.

What you have works. I think my complaint are over saturated colors that are mixed in ways that just don't make sense, too frequently, or are out of context for the scene.



Bodybagging said:


> I use the same theory in lighting as I do in my FX Makeup and Costuming, I use layers of light to create the depth of our scenes, everything is three dimensional, I lit the foreground in a cool blue, (the cemetery pillars and fence) I lit the midground in pale green, (hearse , props) and the background in a dim red (house) By differating the layers it causes each layer to stand out on its own....


See, the way you describe it is a very subtle change and not a harsh over saturated use. Not to mention, you guys have plenty of space to work with where I don't. I'd love to see some samples of your lighting though to see how that looks.

-TM


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## Haunted Bayou

Scottzilla said:


> Haunted Bayou: You should get yourself a gel swatch book from Rosco or Lee or somebody. They have lots of different purple gels you can throw in front of a white spot. I like going that route because then I'm not limited to 6 or so primary color choices for my lighting.


Thanks,
I'll look into that.

You know I used to be a little worried about the street light in front of my house but it helps everybody see the gravestones. If you throw the colored spots in there...it overcomes the streetlight. However, if you really want a dark graveyard then you won't like the light in front of your house.

I have learned to embrace the streetlight for Halloween...however I still curse it and all of suburbia it when I try to use my telescope. ARGH! Ruins my night vision and fades out all of the dim fuzzy deep space objects I am so fond of.









I digress.......back to topic of lighting your yard.


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## edwood saucer

Haunted,

I laughed at your telescope comment. We live in an area where I am constantly battling the overall glow of our town. Well, that and the fact I have a hard time finding anything.

However - myself, my kids, and some neighbor kids caught the shuttle chasing the ISS a month ago. That was really pretty neat.

Alright - back on subject now!


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## Haunted Bayou

Ahhhh, a fellow amateur astronomer here on hauntforum. Yeah!
The first time I saw the shuttle go across the sky I was amazed....dang that thing goes fast. "there it is...I mean goes..gone" LOL!

Back to lighting your yard with spots and lots of them.......
My opinion is that you like what you like.... a lot of color or a little. Depends on the mood you are trying to create.
The inside of my garage had a lot of orange string lights....people were so impressed with what was really nothing more than a few static props an a lot of orange light. There were a lot of "wow" comments. Hee Hee...cheap string lights rule!

I have a neighbor who does nothing more than webs between his trees and uplight with bright black-lights. Looks really cool, and people are impressed with it. The average TOT doesn't know the difference.


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## Ghostess

A lot of the time for some people, and in my case as well, people like to use more than just one or two colors not only for some depth, but as an eye-catcher. I live on a dead end and there are no other houses that decorate. I have to get people to come down here by word of mouth, and having plenty of color catches their eyes when they come around the corner. Many people tell me that if I didn't have the lighting I have, they wouldn't have bothered walking down the street and would have missed out on seeing it all. 

I agree, it's just one of those things that everyone has their own likes and dislikes about. A lot of us are still learning how to get it to work for us, I know I'm always a student and learning from everyone else. 

And Haunted Bayou -- AMEN to the colored string lights! I use them everywhere, they cast just the right light and can fit into places that other light fixtures just can't get into.


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## Haunted Bayou

I'll second your AMEN.
My garage door was open last year, and I had all those orange lights draped everywhere and my ghost was lit with a flourescent black-light. You could see it from far away....those lights were like a beacon for TOTs.

I can't say it enough....lights and a soundtrack!


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## HalloweenZombie

I'll third your AMEN. Some people aren't going for realism in lighting. Some people are out to entertain the TOTs instead of scaring them. I don't use string lights in my haunt, but my kids love to see them at other people's houses. 

I was watching Creepshow the other day and noticed they lit some scenes like a comic book panel, sometimes with one red light or maybe blue. It had nothing to do with realistic lighting. Does it really matter what kind or color lights you use as long as it looks good and achieves the look you are going for in your individual haunt/display?

And soundtrack is a must!


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## Ghostess

One thing I was thinking about all day yesterday (I know, I have no life) was the mention of red lighting for a "gore" scene. Using red lighting would take away (in my mind's eye) from the color of the blood and gore, kind of making it disappear - sort of canceling it out, since they're in the same color spectrum. (Yeah, I know real blood is much darker, but still, most people use a brighter red in their haunts..) Basically what I'm trying to say is that I personally really don't associate red with gore unless it's from blood, entrails, and torn flesh. To me, it's just a color that catches the eye very well. It does go very well with an evil demonic theme though.

String lights are great for kid-friendly haunts if they're visible to the eye and used as they're intended. I use them for other purposes, such as making fire, backlighting my witches cabinet, or lighting hard to light places, like over my kitchen cabinets and stuff. I liked the green over the kitchen so much that I'm leaving the string there for the other holiday too.


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## Haunted Bayou

To me Red symbolized fear... you know..expect something kind of scary.
Blue is more creepy for me and green is just easier for the eyes to see. I was afraid of green at first mixed with red because I thought it might look like Christmas...but it doesn't look that way when you are lighting skeletons instead of elves. LOL!


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## Ghostess

Yeah, red symbolizes fear for me too... which is why I'm lighting up the front of the house with red floods for that "other" holiday. I find it very scary indeed!


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## Haunted Bayou

Lol!


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## Death Master

They just put a street light right across the street from me last year, and I deal with it by putting a sock that I made from a sheet of blue gel over it for Halloween night. I have a telescoping pole for changing out my outside recessed lights that I hang the sock from and put it over the light for Halloween night. I think like most of you, you just make do with what you have on hand, and try to convey what you are thinking for the scene. I use reds, greens, and blues; I really don't think there is a wrong color.


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## Revenant

Whoa... now there's an idea for combating the Evil Street Light... a few months ago we were discussing all the illegal and possibly dangerous ways of blacking it out. Just changing the color to a haunt color makes so much more sense... make it work for you instead of against you... and you can probably avoid legality trouble since you're not disabling it. Duh...!


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## Terrormaster

Death Master said:


> I really don't think there is a wrong color.


TM tries to think of ways to include mauve, pink, and lavender into his next lighting scheme.  j/k

Definitely no wrong color. It comes down to how the scene is conveyed and the lights utilized - it IS possible to have to much or the wrong combinations in the wrong places.

-TM


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## Revenant

Terrormaster said:


> TM tries to think of ways to include mauve, pink, and lavender into his next lighting scheme.  j/k


My Little Pony's Stable of Terror?

Barbie's Dream Crypt?


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## HalloweenZombie

Littlest Pet Chop
Carnage Patch Kids

How 'bout a minty green while we're at it. :-O


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