Lighting Units
Lighting units are what you may consider to be the paint brush for stage lighting. It is with these that you will be able to produce color of light, texture, amount of light, and the shape of it. Sometimes you will need to have very large lights called strip lights, and there will be times that you may need to have pin spots of lekos. If you have to create a sky, then you are going to have to have very large lights.
The manufacturers for theatrical lighting have actually gone through some good lengths to make certain that lighting designers have control systems and lighting units that supply a chance to manipulate all light elements. Each time that a single designer thinks about the way they would like to complete the set, there will be someone out there to invent it and then make it. Even then, they all understand that you do not have to know everything about engineering or electrical design, just the system and that is what is important.
When it comes to lighting units, there are different types. There are follow spots, pin spots, par cans, Lekos or ellipsoidals and fresnels. Each one will do something different.
Follow spots are basically a pointer. The whole purpose of this light is to direct the attention of the audience. Even though it does seem to be really simple, it is very important. Whenever you want the audience to look at a certain performer, you will point to them. When it comes to controlling the contrast ratio in a stage setting, it is very common for there to be the main performer during that particular moment to be brighter than anything else or even anyone else. A follow spot will normally have plenty of intensity behind them which helps a designer to achieve that.
So, a pin spot is going to be a smaller follow spot, similar to having a smaller brush for painting. They are able to produce a concentrated beam of focused light. In this day and age, there are now more conventional pin spots that will have a hot, tight spot that have some flare but there is no defined edge of the light and then there are also the LED pin spots that will have a sharp edge of light. There are even some LED versions that will allow you to change the color. These are able to add magic to the look of an object. The shadow and high light will be the things that help to provide visual interest. Take a moment and imagine having a single pin spot on a statue within a museum. Or maybe on a single rose on every table within a restaurant. Without pin spots, you are not going to get that magic that is needed.
Par Cans are going to be really simplistic. They are used to create color washes. What makes them so difficult to put into a category is that they are many different types that trying to make them clear within a sentence or two is impossible. The only common thread between the varieties of par cans is that they are made to wash light and they are often cost effective if that is all that you have been looking for. The one thing that you will notice is that any LED par cans will never be listed with other par cans as it is more an LED light than anything else. The only reason why they are even referred to as a par can is because during the explosion of theater, they were called par cans.
Ellipsoidals have also been called lekos. These happen to be very common lights to help produce stage lighting. The main reason that it gets called common is because it is able to be controlled in a lot of different ways. Some of the most common adjustments that can make with the lekos is the iris. This gives you the chance to reduce the size of the circle of light that is automatically produced. There are shutters which allow you to shape the light with lines which makes it possible to cut lights away from an object. You can add colors to the light and there is even a gobo slot which allows you to put a pattern holder into it as well as the gobo rotator.
A circle of light that is provided by a fresnel will be adjustable from spot to flooding, or perhaps understood as smaller to larger. The lens that is are used were originally found in lighthouses and includes a built-in circular ridge. It is this ridge pattern that dictates the smooth, soft advantages. You may possibly flood the light away or ensure it is smaller by adjusting the commitment of the lamp to the reflector. The closer the lamp is to the reflector, the stronger the light shall be. The further from the reflector, the wider the lamp would be most likely. Some products make use of wing nut on the base to loosen the lamp, permitting the lamp fall backwards and forwards, among others have hand crank in the relative straight back of the system to accomplish the thing that is same. These blend very well with others plus it can be a method that is effortless is wonderful of areas. Some typical uses of a fresnel is always to put color on to the floor or on a curtain.
They are available in many different sizes and those sizes are typically based on the diameter regarding the lens. For instance, the 3-inch version has a three-inch diameter lens. The bigger the lens the further the place of the light therefore the higher the production. They also have a gel frame slot right in front regarding the lens that allows for you to utilize a gel frame to hold gel to color the light. It really is also typical to put a barn door in that accessory slot which will let you control the edge of the ray that is soft.