Lighting Effects

 

Illumination of your haunt is very important, it adds the mood to your props and scenes.  The one thing about Halloween that is common everywhere is darkness.  What's bad about darkness is that you can't see anything and this is what makes it scary not seeing what's next.  Different props and scenes need to be illuminated with a large or small amount of light if you don't use any illumination all your hard work won't be seen.  The position, intensity and color are the important things to keep in mind about lighting.  Lighting can be done very cheaply with the use of outdoor flood lights that can be bought at any hardware store.  Lighting can also be very expensive if you start to get into using projection systems, powerful stage lights and DMX512 control to create the best effects money can buy.

 

DSC00994Position:

The best way to position your flood lights is to go outside at night and just experiment by putting them at different angles weather they be on the ground or up in a tree.  The position should be some where out of viewing site of your guests.  Lights can be hidden with all kinds of different objects weather it be behind a Halloween prop or just something in the landscaping.  The most important thing about positioning is to do some experimenting to see where the light would look the most effective to illuminate your scene.

 

 

 

 

 

DSC01044Color:

Color is important when it come to adding mood to a scene.  Using flood lights it is possible to change the color by using colorized plastic sheets (gel) to tape to the front of your lights.  Gel comes in sheets or rolls and you can buy gel online from a theatrical company or check your area for a theatrical store.  Before you start going and buying different colors you should pick up a swatch book that has a small sample of all the color gels a manufacturer might have to offer.  Swatch books are usually free of charge and a theatrical supply company can provide you with a couple of them from different manufacturers.

 

 

 

 

DSC00219Intensity:

The amount of light you add to an area can be good or bad.  Using dimmers or different wattage lamps experimenting can be done to get that perfect look.  Using gels that are darker or lighter in color can change the amount of light that illuminates an object as well.  I personally tend to used most of the time different wattage lamps with the added of different gels to get the right intensity and color that I'm looking for.

 

 

 

 

 

Lighting Projects:

Using those outdoor flood lights that can be bought at any local hardware store work extremely well and if it rains they will still work! 

Below I have a few pictures showing the use of these flood lights.  This is a mini lighting project that can be used to make flood lights better at lighting an object without getting any back light.  The picture on the left shows a standard flood light with a ground stake and a colorized gel taped to the front.  The picture on the right shows the same flood light but the reflector on the light has been painted using black heat resistant paint.  Comparing both pictures the picture on the right looks better because there is no back light or light leaking.  The black paint helps to keep the light where you want it!  For this project all you need are the flood lights, masking tape and a spray can of black heat resistant paint the kind that is used to repaint your barbecue which you can get at any local hardware store.

DSC01047DSC01045DSC00145                                   Before                                                               After

 

The Haunted Driveway