![]() This is not as funny as you may think when you consider what we do to an average audience member. One of the prime jobs of the lighting designer is to actually keep the audience awake. Light attracts! Conversely, darkness conceals – but may also put the audience to sleep. He soon learns that objects of higher brightness generally draw attention on stage. ![]() The stage lighting designer is more concerned with the brightness of an object than the intensity of it’s light source. Color, contrast, distance, movement and the conditions of the eye and visual system all play an important role towards visibility. VISIBILITY depends on many factors, not just the intensity of a source or the brightness of an object. This results in a change of ILLUMINANCE (light falling on the stage) that is perceived by the eye as a change in BRIGHTNESS. The footlambert is the unit of brightness.Įxample: In theatre when we change the dimmer setting of a lighting fixture, we are changing the output INTENSITY of the source. The eye has an incredible power of accommodation and can comfortably adjust to illuminance levels in nature from 1 to 10,000 footcandles, or more.īRIGHTNESS refers to the visual sensation caused by a light source when it interacts with an object and then the eye.īrightness depends on the intensity of the source, on the distance to the object and on the reflective properties of the object. Typical stage lighting illuminance levels may range from 25 to 200 footcandles or more. Illuminance is measured by a light meter (corrected for the curve of the human eye) in footcandles or lux (metric). The old term for illuminance was ‘illumination’. ![]() ILLUMINATION refers to amount of light falling on a surface. Intensity is measured in candela (The old term was candlepower). Intensity of a source exists independent of its distance. INTENSITY typical refers to the ‘strength’ of a light source. The blue wash unnoticeably reappears as a shaft of sharp silvery moonlight slips across the stage. Soon a low dominating warmth from stage right becomes evident, balanced by a diminishing and cooling of other general light.Īs darkness falls, the entire stage grows shadowy and covered with sharp defined leaf projections. Cool, textured and uncertain light slowly starts to grow and creep throughout every corner of the stage. Slowly, the amber sun softly rose above the horizon gently illuminating the stage in a golden glow. Example: The stage was brightly bathed in a deep blue wash. The experienced lighting designer also frequently relies on the qualities of light to help communicate his lighting concept to others. (This exercise is sometimes known as the ‘postcard’ exercise as often this is the source of the reproduction paintings. In addition the painting as a whole is discussed in respect to overall lighting impact, style, mood, composition, emotional content and other qualities. These terms are used to discuss the painting in detail from one small area to another. Student learn to discuss the qualities of light, using such terms as intensity, brightness, direction, color, form, and distribution. There is an excellent classroom exercise that usually starts with an analysis of reproduction paintings from the ‘Old Masters’. These are the lighting designer’s tools.Īlmost all visual images can be described, discussed and analyzed in these terms – both physically and psychologically. These basic qualities of light are INTENSITY, FORM, COLOR, DIRECTION and MOVEMENT. The laws and applications of reflection, refraction and absorption are encountered and used every day by the stage lighting designer and these concepts must be thoroughly understood both in theory and in practice. An understanding of the physical properties of light can also help explain optics, lenses, color theory, lighting and projectionĮquipment and much more. The lighting designer is especially interested in how the properties of light affect the eye/brain process and cause feelings and emotions. Knowledge of the behavior and properties of light can help explain vision and human perception. Any study of lighting design must include a thorough understanding of both the PHYSICAL and the PSYCHOLOGICAL properties of light.
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