Lighting design

There are as many ways to design lights as there are lighting designers, what is discussed here is the basic's you need to know to light a show.

Three point lighting

This a key principle of a basic lighting rig, the idea is the any part of the stage can be lit by three lights, two from the front "frontlights" and one from the back "backlight".

In these example images, the two front lights have two similar but different shades and the back-light a contrasting colour.

The use of a three-point lighting in Girl Friday, notice how two slightly different shades of amber are used on either side on Naomi's face to enhance the 3d effect

The use of a three-point lighting in Mojo, notice how the light-blue backlight surrounds and defines Kevin

Types of light

Profile

Internal shutters, focusable

Fresnel

external shutters Barndoors The distinctive lens has a 'stepped' appearance and The resulting beam of light is wide and soft-edged, creating soft shadows, and is commonly used for back light and side light.

Fresnels use a spherical reflector, with the lamp at the focus. The lamp and reflector remain a fixed unit inside the housing, and are moved back and forth to focus the light. This is done by a slider on the bottom or side of the lantern.

Special effects

Gobo

A gobo is a metal stencil that fits inside a light and is used to project a pattern or image.

The use of a gobo to give a flame effect in Faust

Shadows

The use shadow for dramatic effect in Gagarin way