How to Use RGB Lighting in Your Halloween Photography!
Halloween themed photography comes in all different shapes and sizes, but a lot of spooky photoshoots would not be complete without some form of RGB photography lighting to set the mood!
There are lots of different ways to use RGB lighting to enhance your Halloween theme, so we've put together some top tips and suggestions for how you can use different kinds of RGB lights in your shoots.
Use as a replacement for gels!
Using RGB lighting rather than gels on studio heads is a great way to make your
set-up more portable so you can shoot easily on location in spooky locations such as the woods, in buildings or cities. Lugging gels, softboxes, gel clips and the lights themselves around can be a scary enough prospect as it is, so having one RGB light that can do the trick is sure to save you some time.
Use as a backlight/rimlight to light up your scene or give your subject a bright and colourful glow. Using a smoke machine is also a great way to give your image an eerie, modern horror-esque feel that you wouldn't get with standard lighting as RGB lighting will reflect the colour off the smoke effects.
Suitable types of RGB lighting to achieve this effect would be large panel or RGB Studio head lights with enough power to backlight such as the LECO500 II RGB Panel, an affordable and versatile option, or the Godox SZ150R RGB Studio Head, which is an LED head with RGB Functionality and remote control support. However, the SZ150R is mains-powered only and is therefore most suitable for a studio environment. Alternatively, if you're looking for a more professional, broadcast-quality RGB light, the Godox LD75R RGB LED Panel offers a saturated, bright lighting effect.
Using RGB Lighting as a keylight is also a great option if you're looking to change the lighting effect on your model or subject rather than the entire scene. Especially when paired with subtle natural light, adding an RGB Light in a Halloween-themed colour such as a deep red, green, or orange works well to make an image pop and help you achieve an effect reminiscent of neon lighting. Alternatively, a cold blue colour could go far to achieve an outdoors moonlit effect.
Suitable RGB Lights to achieve this kind of effect could be RGB Tubes such as the Godox TL120 RGB Tube or the PiXAPRO RGB Rainbow Tubes which would both be useful for shooting on location, as they can be easily handheld and moved close to the face of your model or to your subject for saturated colour. The benefit of handheld tube lights is also that you can keep the spread of light to your model or subject as the light comes from a smaller surface area than it would an LED Panel for example.
Another suitable option to create this effect could be something like an RGB Ringlight or a small RGB Panel such as the LECO500 II.
Use RGB Lighting with props
RGB lighting can also subtly be added into a scene via the use of props. Instead of lighting up your whole image, why not add a small splash of colour to draw the eye to a specific subject or item? Especially when paired with Pumpkins or cauldrons, small RGB lighting units can be put inside props to make them stand out, such as this image below, that uses a small green coloured RGB light for an eerier effect than just a simple candle.
This can also be a very practical use of lighting, as especially if you're running a shoot with children and you're concerned about health and safety, or if you're even just in a studio space that doesn't allow open flames, replacing candles with an orange RGB light can be an effective way to replicate the colour instead.
Smaller lighting units that would work for these kinds of effect could be mini LED units such as the R1 RGB Round LED Light, the bright Godox Knowled C5R Pocket-Sized RGB Light, or the M1 Mini RGB Panel, which can also come with a Mini Tripod if you need to stand it up.
Similarly, RGB lighting can be used to replicate natural lighting, such as the image below, where a saturated blue coloured light has been placed behind the window in order to cast the eerie moonlit colour against the child. Great products for these kinds of uses could be mini RGB Panels such as the C5R Knowled Mini Panel again, or the affordable Glowpad 112RGB, or small RGB tubes such as the Godox TL30 Tube (30cm).
Or use as a visible prop
Finally, another alternative is to use RGB lighting as a visible prop. While it may feel more natural to expect your light source to not be visible in the image, bringing your lighting into the focus of your shoot can really make the image pop, especially when it comes to Halloween themes.
This images uses a mix of RGB panels out of shot, plus the vibrant light tube in the centre of the shot being held by the models. It may not always be the look you're going for, but it's always something you could consider. Suitable lights for this fluorescent lighting style would be the Godox TL Series RGB Tubes, or the PiXAPRO Rainbow RGB Tubes.
A more subtle option instead would also be using the KYU-6 RGB Light Bracelets for light-painting or as a bracelet prop in spooky photos! Using long-exposure photography can create a fun effect with these snap-bracelet styled lights, and they can be easily used in a suitable colour to create a fluid magic effect without heavy editing in Photoshop. Use to create an alien out-of-this-world effect in green or create an eerie blood-coloured effect in red.
The possibilities are endless with RGB lighting! There are so many ways to use the different kinds to enhance your Halloween photoshoots, and so much creativity to unlock. Have you used RGB lighting in your Halloween shoots before? Make sure to tag us in the photos on social media!
After some personalised advice on which RGB units will be best for your photography? Why not get in touch via info@essentialphoto.co.uk for some help from our Product Advisors?
