How to Light a Jack-o-lantern

If you shoot the picture before the sun goes down you’re just going to have too much overall light and the mood won’t be right yet. Patience is required as you wait for the right balance of overall light and pumpkin glow. Conditions will vary—shade from trees and cloud conditions, for example—but it’s going to be sometime after sunset, but not too long after sunset! To be on the safe side, you should be ready to shoot the picture AT sunset.

 

If you wait too long after sunset the ambient or overall light will have vanished. All of a sudden everything looks like it’s floating in outer space. You don’t want that. You want some nice dark detail in everything while the pumpkin glows.

 

If you do have a ghoul in the background, it will become clear to you that you’re going to need some extra light on him/her/it. Almost any kind of light will do. A flashlight is probably the easiest thing to use.

 

And yes, there’s always a little editing you can do to add to the effect. I brightened the pumpkin and increased saturation. The bluish light of dusk in the background got bluer and the warm, orange light of the jack-o-lantern got warmer—a lovely, moody contrast.