Lights & Lighting Accessories

Modern stage lighting is a flexible tool in the production of theatre, dance, opera and other performance arts. Several different types of stage lighting instruments are used in the pursuit of the various principles or goals of lighting. more...

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Principles of lighting

There are many general principles to lighting a stage, although to allow for artistic effect, no hard and fast rules can ever be applied. The principles of lighting include:

Illumination: The simple ability to see what is occurring onstage. Any lighting design will be ineffective if the audience has to strain to see the characters; unless this is the explicit intent.;

Revelation of form: Altering the perception of shapes onstage, particularly three-dimensional stage elements.;

Focus: Directing the audience's attention to an area of the stage or distracting them from another.;

Mood: Setting the tone of a scene. Harsh red light has a totally different effect than soft lavender light.;

Location and time of day: Establishing or altering position in time and space. Blues can suggest night time while orange and red can suggest a sunrise or sunset. Use of gobos to project sky scene, moon etc;

Projection/stage elements: Lighting may be used to project scenery or to act as scenery onstage.;

Plot: A lighting event may trigger or advance the action onstage.;

Selective visibility: Lighting may be used to show only the areas of the stage which the designer wants the audience to see.;

Qualities of lighting

In the pursuit of these principles, the three main qualities or properties of interest are:

Intensity: Measured in both lux and lumens. For any given luminaire (lighting instrument or fixture), this depends upon the power of the lamp, the design of the instrument (and its corresponding efficiency), the presence or absence of color gels or gobos, distance from the area to be lit, the color and subtance to be lit, and the neuro-optics of the total scene (that is, the relative contrasts to other regions of illumination).;

Color: Color temperature is measured in Kelvin, and gel colors are organized by several different systems maintained by the color manufacturing companies. The apparent color of a light is determined largely by the gel color given it, but also in part by the power level the lamp is being run at and the color of material it is to light. As the percentage of full power a lamp is being run at drops, the tungsten filament in the bulb glows orange instead of more nearly white. This is known as amber drift or amber shift. Thus a 1000-watt instrument at 50% will appear far more orange than a 500-watt instrument at full.;

Pattern: Pattern refers to the shape, quality and evenness of a lamp's output. The pattern of light an instrument makes is largely determined by three factors. The first are the specifics of the lamp, reflector and lens assembly. Different mounting positions for the lamp (axial, base up, base down), different sizes and shapes of reflector and the nature of the lens (or lenses) being used can all affect the pattern of light. Secondly, the specifics of how the lamp is focused affect its pattern. In Ellipsoidal Reflector Spotlights (ERS) and their derivatives (see below), there are two beams of light emitted from the lamp. When the cones of both intersect at the throw distance (the distance to the stage), the lamp has a sharply defined 'hard' edge. When the two cones do not intersect at that distance, the edge is fuzzy and 'soft'. Depending on which beam (direct or reflected) is outside the other, the pattern may be 'thin and soft' or 'fat and soft.' Lastly, a gobo or break up pattern may be applied to ERS's and similar instruments. This is typically a thin sheet of metal with a shape cut into it. It is inserted into the instrument near its aperture. Gobos come in many shapes, but often include leaves, waves, stars and similar patterns.;

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