# Knowing your lighting and how to light your haunt!



## Osenator

http://pinterest.com/pin/create/but...thers+form+of+lighting+in+my+haunts.+Also,+th
Many haunts have this problem and don't realise it, not enough lighting! You may have the best haunt and props, but if no ones can see them, what is the point.

Here is a quick giude into lighting and what to use. I use lots of different lights, as you can see in my latess youtube link below. In out very first year of haunting, we understood right away how use lighting and how much effects it makes. I use mulpitples spotlights, as others form of lighting in my haunts. Also, the colors plays a big role too, as you want to balance your colors and your themes.

I associate colors to themes myself

Green, witches, Red, Demons and vampires, Blue to ghosts and haunting figures. Yellow, pumpkins and scarecrows.

Here a few exemples from my home haunt



















Inside a tunnel, make sure to use lighting that doesn't heat up! Killing people by fire is not good! 









When doing an entrance, going into the dark, is very good to do, as people are not sure what to expect!









Also, here, my lighting was done by light up skeletons! Battery Props like this are perfect for were you have no extensions going there.


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## Osenator

_using fog and lighting together makes a haunt really cool too!










Lighting can really enhance a prop very well too!



















Also, your cemetary, had lots of life to it!



















Also, having props with light up eyes makes also make a difference
​_


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## Osenator

Yellow lights can be very suttled









Multiple colors also can creat some really cool effects










As mentionned, colors also help creat the character










Also, sometimes, to much of one colors can be bad. (the camera also didn't help, it went HYPER RED SENSATIVE MODE).










As you can see, lighting plays a huge factor. Please see in my new youtube vid all the diffrence lighting I use and I hope it helps you into your haunt!


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## Osenator

here you can see all the different lights I use, in my recent vid


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## BioHazardCustoms

I hate to say it but your cemetery is overlit. Everything looks washed out and bland.

Best place to look for haunt lighting is the Skull and Bone method, found here: http://www.robertdbrown.com/haunt/


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## Copchick

Hey BioHC, that's a good reference site. I have the problem they referred to with "orange glow" street light. I'll have to refer to this when I experiment with more lighting.


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## Osenator

I'll stick to mine, sorry, Bio, I love how my haunt comes out, and everyone who sees it in person too.


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## jdubbya

Osenator said:


> Many haunts have this problem and don't realise it, not enough lighting! You may have the best haunt and props, but if no ones can see them, what is the point.
> 
> Here is a quick giude into lighting and what to use. I use lots of different lights, as you can see in my latess youtube link below. In out very first year of haunting, we understood right away how use lighting and how much effects it makes. I use mulpitples spotlights, as others form of lighting in my haunts. Also, the colors plays a big role too, as you want to balance your colors and your themes.
> 
> I associate colors to themes myself
> 
> Green, witches, Red, Demons and vampires, Blue to ghosts and haunting figures. Yellow, pumpkins and scarecrows.


One of the problem with threads like this is the opening statement "Here is a quick guide to lighting and what to use." Lighting is purely subjective and very much a personal preference. There is no "right way or wrong way". There may be methods best suited to different haunts and displays, but not everyone has the same preference. Personally I'm a big fan of the skull and bone tutorial, which has been around for years and thought to be an excellent guide to haunt lighting. It plays on light and shadow, and doesn't actually promote a scene being heavily lit, but highlighting key points to create areas of shadow and darkness. We pare back on our lighting every year and like the creep factor that darkness can play in setting a mood. I'm personally not a fan of displays lit up light Christmas, but again, it's what you like and what you think looks good for your particular haunt. As with anything, there are different ways to get the desired result, so maybe saying "this is an idea of how I light my haunt, hope it might be helpful to someone", might have been a better opening line. As far as certain colors pertaining to certain themes, again it's subjective and really neat effects can be accomplished usng a variety of lighting colors regardless of the display.
Just an observation. We go for areas of darkness or at least very dim lighting. Not everything is lit up, but everything is "visible".


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## RoxyBlue

Bear in mind also that the camera sees and records lighting differently from the human eye viewing the scene "in person". Colors in the photograph are more intense and rich looking than they will appear to the person standing there taking the picture. What might appear too brightly lit in a photograph is typically just fine when viewed live.


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## stagehand1975

The only point I want to bring up is that dark is scarier than bright. Darkness brings the question of what might be lurking in the shadows. Again these are all just opinions. But look a most popular pro haunts. Most of the time not at all well lit. It even one of the slogans of one of the mini spotlight makers. Put the darkness back in your haunt.


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## Osenator

I been to a few pro haunts, and it had so little lighting, you couldn't see half the props or what was suppose to be scary and home haunts, you could not see almost nothing in their yard. That is why I made this tread, so people can be aware how Lighting is important. Also, if I see a house in October, even it's far, with colored lights, I will make a turn to go see it.


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## BioHazardCustoms

The thing is, too much light is infinitely worse than too little. In order to hide the wiring, mechanisms, pneumatic lines, etc, you need low lighting. You can still have things lit, but too much light bleeds detail from props, and shows how things work.


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## dlstorminc

Quote: When doing an entrance, going into the dark, is very good to do, as people are not sure what to expect!

Answer: Not really a good idea, that is a accident waiting to happen, more so if it is a home haunt like this one seems to be. If it was a controlled, INDOOR environment I would say sure, but this looks like a lawsuit waiting to happen, at least to me and I've been doing haunts off and on since 9 years old and I'm now 42. So I've seen it all.

If you really think that walking into a dark area is a good idea, then you have to rethink that Guests won't know what to expect? Yeah, when they fall in the hole or over the wires left on the ground or slip on the walkway edge (which has happened in several of haunts I've contracted for over the years so don't say it can't happen) then is it really a good idea to do? Uh no. Some folks' eyes can't adjust instantly to the dark or dark areas like this. Home haunts such as yours needs to rethink their safety issues for guests. Not enough home haunters think safety first, you HAVE to live by safety first to avoid issues.

.Do what you want but keep safety first in mind at all times when designing, planning and running the haunt. That is my 2 cents worth of safety tips for the night. Hope this helps.

Be safe.

Will


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## typoagain

Sorry guys, but I think the issue is not how much lighting as much as where the lighting is.


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## stagehand1975

I also agree with typoagain. But to distormincs point, even with a lot of light, you should have a clear and protected path, if you have to have a cord cross a path, hurry it or cover it with a thin rug.


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## corey872

Interesting thread. I'm always looking for ways to add more light without adding 'more light'. This is one distinction I haven't seen yet.

More light sources can certainly accentuate features, highlight scenes, etc - and it always takes light to create the scary shadows. 500 small LEDs could be used for accents all over a haunt, yet still have a very 'dark' overall feel.

More light lumens / brightness can have the opposite effect. If you have 500 watts of light beaming in from every direction, everything is very bright, no shadows, no scary.

My favorite is to play with contrasting colors...red/blue, orange/green, violet/red, etc. Then try to throw that light from odd angles - ie a small prop, lit from below will cast a huge shadow on a wall. Then if you throw contrasting light at it, the outline of each shadow will have that respective color - so it almost appears to 'pop' in 3D.


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## Troll Wizard

Well...I agree this is a very interesting thread. I think I would start off by saying that we all agree that lighting is very important to one's haunt. How much or how little we use is solely based on how and where your haunt is set up. Yes too much lighting can sometimes wash out your characters and can over saturate what you trying to accomplish. To little lighting can keep some from seeing what your trying to display, or may even cause an accident as someone stated earlier.

I remember one year attending a haunted house where I live and there was an area inside that was completely dark. I and others that were with me actually had to glide ourselves along the wall to find our way through the walkway and some of us ran into the oncoming wall on the other side of the hall. This is where poor lighting or none at all came into play.

Also important is where one positions lighting, and in which direction you point your lights. Colors can add dimension and effect to a display. How you control the light is just as important as were one puts there lights. What I mean by this is lets say for example someone is using floods to light their haunt. Floods have a tendency to spread the light over a large area, the more floods one uses the more light you have covering your display. Sometimes this can over light your display and can sometimes wash it out. On the other hand it can sometime add the right element to your haunt casting shadows and can let people see what your displaying, especially if they are standing from a distance like in a yard haunt.

I use floods in my haunt, mainly because it's outside and it helps me to keep my lighting to a minimum just because in my graveyard scene it cast enough lighting to catch gravestones that are behind ones in front of them. It tends to cast an eerie shadow on the ones behind, but it gives those that attend or walk by enough light to also see the ones in the back. Now because it rains sometimes during the Halloween season, I also tend to cover my floods to protect them and to keep the rain off of them. Nothing like having a flood explode on someone as they are walking by because of water hitting a hot flood light.

This helps me also in controlling the direction in which I aiming my lighting, and can give off a great effect by not casting to much light on what I want to display. So to sum things up, just as music is important to adding effects to a haunt, so is lighting and how we use it. I really depends on what you want to accomplish for your own haunt. No one is going to be exactly the same, as is no one is ever going to totally agree on how much or how little lighting one should use in a haunted house or haunted graveyard, or whatever you do for our very special holiday....Halloween.

Happy Haunting.....(or should I say, Happy Lighting) :jol:


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## Osenator

I must be doing something right, I am featured again on PUMKINROT a 2nd time! Such a honor!


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## Osenator

dlstorminc, I don't think you paid attention to my pics, as you see, at the entrance to my yard, I got fences and tapes, showing were to walk into. I do completely agree with you, safety is always the most important, that is why I make sure there is no cables, ubstructions or any complete dark spots anywhere in my haunt. I always rather see what is there, that see only part of it or baerly of it.

Everyone as their own style, and everyone's haunt is different. I hope this tread helps everyone into improving their haunt as much they can, and open some eyes as how much lighting, little or lot, can effect the haunt.


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## Haunted Bayou

I am no pro and this forum has a lot of amateur, small yard haunts or displays. The skull and bone tutorial is a good one but it is nice for somebody to share what works for them. 

My yard has a nice, bright orange street light. Flood lights work for me , and I aim them at the props so they can be seen better. Photos of my yard are saturated with color but in person it isn't that bright.

As far as washing out detail... Some of this can be addressed by painting some detail on the props. Most of the store-bought ones have crappy paint and need the facial details darkened up some. The facial details can totally wash-out and disappear at a distance.

I will add this since I never see it talked about.... People going through a walk through have eyes that are not "dark adapted" so, if they are coming from a bright lighted area, they don't see as well in a darker area so it doesn't need to be "pitch". It drives me insane when people pull out their cell phones to see, and then blind the actors who have been dark adapted. It takes a good 30 minutes to re-adapt. The only reason I noticed this is because this is because I have to dark-adapt to star-gaze, and at public viewings you would get mobbed if you shined a light at the viewers and screwed up their vision for another half hour. 

You have to think about those eyes that aren't yet dark adapted and the ones that are while setting up lighting in a walk-through. Eyes don't see the color red as well so you may want red light around where the actors are hiding to protect their dark vision. If you need to use a flashlight for some reason then put a red filter on it so your actors don't get blinded.


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## Osenator

Excellent point, Haunted Bayou. In my next Pro Haunt, I am thinking of giving people flashlights, but with almost very dead batteries (L)


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## Haunted Bayou

Sweet...Just a thought, though...with the led lights these days, everything is bright. Blue or red filters would probably do the same and not take the chance of running down the batteries. Would be fun to experiment with.


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## Headless

Or you could do what we do - buy the little Black Light flashlights. They don't throw out as much light and make everything that's white in the haunt really pop.


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## Haunted Bayou

Didn't know about those. That is cool.


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## Headless

Check Ebay HB - they are always for sale on there.


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