Tips: Haunted House

[u/ThinkEye8883]

I was recently asked to do photography for a haunted house (free work, all volunteer run for a good cause, I'm friends with a few of the long term volunteers. Happy to do what I can and expand my skills). It is a nice haunted house, plus some outdoor entertainment, haystack rides, etc. Everything is done after dark, and inside has varied lighting but dim. I will be shooting while it is going on. My other photography has always been outdoor sport photography during the day, so I'm really worried about lighting. If I use flash, I think i will mess up thr ambiance for the visitors and blind the actors. Any ideas/tips?

I'm also a huge chicken of haunted houses myself so I'm worried about accidently getting scared myself, but i dont know if anyone can help with that 😅 I'm hoping focusing on the pictures will be enough of a distraction. I have volunteered as an actor at a haunted house before, but its not scary when you are the one jumping out at people.

[u/scoobasteve813]

Shoot wide open, use a wider lens with lower shutter speed, and crank the iso

[u/OccasionallyImmortal → u/scoobasteve813]

In addition to this:

• underexpose by 2-3 stops otherwise it looks like daylight.
• if you use flash, bounce it off of the floor as the unnatural lighting angle adds to the air of insanity

[u/Rae_Wilder]

For the being a chicken thing; go into it as work. You have a job to do, you’re not a patron. Focus on the task at hand. It’s not a haunted house, it’s just a set with actors that you have to photograph. It should be easier with that mindset.

[u/AWildGamerAppeared25]

If you use flash, you will be blinding people if you use it but it kinda makes for good scare pictures, if you set up by the scarers and wait for someone to come by

Use a smaller flash, if you have one? I have a small USB-C rechargeable flash that I can keep on as a light and have it flash when I shoot a photo so something like that light be easier on the eyes

[u/shiruki]

If it's not that inconvenient using a tripod can really help you get sharp longer exposures with lower noise.

[u/doc_shades → u/shiruki]

in a haunted house though?

[u/romanrowe]

Could you get a walkthrough with the show lighting on before opening? You could test your settings without visitors around and find out where the jump scares are.

[u/texbinky]

Try to crouch down and shoot upward so the light makes scary shadows on faces.

[u/RaspberryItchy3261]

Don’t be afraid of high iso, I mean really high iso. Getting the shot in focus and without too much motion blur is a higher priority than low noise. Deal with noise later if needed.

And my number one tip, no matter what advice you take to action here, after taking several shots in each different scenario, take a serious beat to analyze your results in case you need to change strategy. Don’t feel rushed. Take your time. You don’t want to get home and then find that “ every shot is…”!

[u/1805trafalgar]

I have had success using a handheld incandescent flashlight, believe it or not. You can hold your camera in one hand and the light in the other and light faces or objects - it takes very little light shining on such things to make them pop perfectly in a photo.

Unfortunately it is like a tight spotlight that throws only a circle of light, so the person or object has to be close.

An even better tool are the many versions offered by different manufacturers of this kind of inexpensive ( under $30) dimmable LED light https://www.smallrig.com/Vibe-P96-P108-Pro-mini-LED-Video-Light.html?sku=4661

[u/doc_shades]

do you have an external flash? use bounce/diffused flash instead of direct flash. it's less distracting/intense to people being photographed.

also keep in mind that haunted houses are typically environments with a lot of sensory stimulation. some rooms will be dark. some rooms will be bright. some rooms will have flashing strobe lights. your flash may be distracting in one room, but it may not even be noticeable in a different room.

my trick is to use a rear curtain sync and a slow shutter sync. there is no mention of which camera you are using but these options can be found on a lot of cameras including just about every SLR style camera and some point & shoot style cameras.

the gist is this: instead of shooting 1/60s with the flash expected to be the primary light source, shoot at, say, 1/8s with the flash. this allows both the flash AND ambient background light to act as light sources.

of course you will get blurring at a slower shutter speed. 1/60s is used typically because it freezes action. anything slower will result in blurring. this is where the rear curtain sync comes into play. with a rear curtain sync, the shutter opens, it exposes the scene, and then the flash fires the instant before the shutter closes.

this means that the blurring will trail into a frozen image. it implies motion and action. the captured blurs are the "past" with the frozen image being the "present".

by default a front curtain sync will fire the flash first, then expose the frame. the blurs will lead outward/away from the frozen subjects. it implies motion, but the frozen image is the "past" and the blurs are the "future".

[u/AnotherNewUniqueName]

I’m gonna go against what most people said.

Tripod
F11 or numerically higher
Remote shutter
Someone else said to under expose and I like that idea
Long exposure but under expose to keep the darks dark. Long exposure to make the Halloween lighting vibrant and people ethereal.
If you feel creative, low power flash triggered on the second curtain

If you’re doing this as a “job” communicate with the cast and crew to get the shots you need. Most times that can get you better access to free roam behind the scenes or stage a “scare” for a picture

[u/wolf-in-tuxedo]

Find out if the patrons have agreed to a photo release as part of their admission. If not, shoot over the shoulder of patrons, get the actors not the patrons. Also - dim lights- you can blur faces with low shutter speed but it is a particular look.

If you can shoot patrons, consider the various moments- the leadup, the scare, the omg/hand-on-face reaction. Review early in the night and get a feel for what is working and then emphasize that.

Get crowds. Get individuals. Get a hand on a doorknob. Get a shreiking mouth. Get patron faces (if permitted) with actor in frame. Get patron scared with set in background. Get a full body jumping in recoil.

You’ll probably have a lot of kids in line. Even with a release, I take more shots of the backs of kids heads than their faces because publishing identifiable pictures of children without explicit consent of parents is problematic. Keep that in mind for the hayride.