Making a good looking Halloween graveyard display is not all that difficult. All you need to do is follow a few simple rules:
Don’t over crowd your display: More isn’t always better when setting up your graveyard display.
Use small sources of light in front or around the tombstones: Candles (I prefer LED candles for safety), lanterns etc…
Don’t highlight all of your pieces with point lights: leave some in the shadows.
Bring in brush and leaves to cover the bases of things: this adds a huge amount to the display. I generally put the brush/vines towards the back of the display as a backdrop and the leaves everywhere else.
A lot of people have opinions about lighting so I will tell you how I have done it in the past. No one is right or wrong its all a matter of personal taste.
I use large par cans (par 64′s with 1000 watt bulbs) with very dark blue gels from the eves of my house washing the entire display. Then I use par 56′s down very low and side light the graveyard with very deep purple’s to make dark shadows on everything from one direction only. This creates a very dark moonlit atmosphere. All of my lighting is plugged into a DMX controller so I can turn down each light individually. A few props have amber spots or red spots on them, but not all of them, I leave some in the shadows. I don’t worry too much about people seeing the edges of the lights, they really don’t care, or even notice them. As long as you arent shining them in their faces there isnt too much to worry about.
Have fun after all it Halloween, most people won’t be in your display for more than 5 minutes. You will sweat the small stuff, they won’t.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I am a big fan of not washing the yard with light….or different color floods for no apparent reason, looks like a circus (and I have the old haunt pictures to prove it
– The frog queen is guilty of some seriously bad lighting.
I appreciate your saying that this is what you have done in the past and no one is right or wrong. Husband and I always start all our workshops and seminars with "this is not the best way, this our way" That way we can all keep discovering.
That being said….:)
I would say that break your cardinal rule lighting everything. We do, but we make use of a significant variation of lights from white landscape lights, minimal flood lights, lightning and LED minispot lights, regular and bright (some with diffusers), strip LEDs, LED spotlights…some props get extra light, others get a lesser amount (or just lightning flashes), but I have a dark landscape and no light would yield the prop virtually unseen from the street…not in the creepy, "what is that creepy thing way?" – in the "I never saw that" kind of way.
Every year we learn new ways to present the scene, so lighting is a constantly changing part of the haunt.
As always, thanks again for your informative posts.
Cheers!
My favorite suggestion is to avoid highlighting all of the props. I think it's easy to forget that a display is not a photoshoot, but an atmospheric journey into the unknown. I love seeing displays where I can spy the hint of something sinister from the curb.
"Is that a mannequin? Is that a costumed actor? Is that my worst fear manifested on the lawn?"
Great recommendations, Grim.
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