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The ETC Desire D22 offers 22 Luxeon Rebel LED emitters in a small eight-inch footprint weighing less than seven pounds.
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The A.leda B-Eye from Clay Paky LED wash fixture features zoom ranges from 4 to 60 degrees making it effective as a wash, zoom or special effect light.
Last April I wrote an article for Church Production Magazine entitled “Lighting Design and Fixture Selection.” Since that time several technological developments have made selecting the correct lighting fixtures even more complicated. The tools of the lighting designer are changing, and as technology evolves, these new tools are evolving the art form itself. This has been the case throughout the history of lighting design.
Illuminating yesterday
In the early 19th century, gas lighting changed the art. Not only was it much brighter than candles, for the first time lighting designers were able to control the intensity from a remote location. Due to the many gas jets at the control board (The Gas Table) designers could also control the visibility to different areas of the stage. Gas lighting also allowed designers to change the colors of the light through what was called a medium. These devices were made up into cylinders of color media, which were rotated, gradually changing the color of the light. This enabled the designer to create colored atmospheric changes previously impossible in the candle era. In the late 19th century electricity changed the art by permitting the lighting artist to further control the lighting—by being able to completely turn the lights on and off, without the danger of burning the theater down.
Technology moved slower in the field of lighting fixtures. For about 70 years most were incandescent or arc sources, using electrical current. The development of the ellipsoidal reflector spotlight allowed the lighting designer to shape and cut the light that was projected on stage. This beam-shaping ability offered the lighting designer more flexibility in lighting certain parts of the stage. But other than the Leko, Fresnel, and PAR (parabolic aluminized reflector), lighting fixtures stayed basically the same for many years.
Lighting control boards radically changed in the 1960s with transistors and the silicon-controlled rectifier dimmer. For the first time, lighting designers were able to control their lighting levels from a remote location (away from the dimmers) and preset their lighting levels without using large heavy handles that were attached to the dimmers. This made running the cues much faster and easier.
In the 1970s an even larger revolution occurred: the development of the memory lighting control board. This controller allowed lighting designers to program many lighting cues without having to wait for the manual set-up of the faders on a preset board. In addition, memory boards pretty much made operator errors obsolete. Designers were finally free to create as many lighting atmospheres as they wanted, and change them in extremely sophisticated ways that were, up to that time, impossible to accomplish manually.
…consider that most LED lighting fixtures offer built-in color changing. This alone makes LED lighting much more flexible than conventional source fixtures.
The next huge leap in lighting technology was the invention of the moving light. Originally designed for rock ‘n' roll tours, the moving light eventually made its way into theaters, television studios, and houses of worship. The amazing flexibility of these fixtures allowed designers instantaneous control of focus, shape and color. This not only sped up the process of design, it allowed designers more improvisational opportunities [since] they could now have a complete set of tools in one lighting fixture. Moving lights can be changed remotely, without an electrician having to get out a ladder, climb it, and change the focus or color. In addition, moving lights have the ability to change color and focus during a show, allowing the designer to use the same fixture for many different uses. Once again, fixture technology changed the way lighting designers create their art.
Today's tool: LED
So how is technology changing the tools of the lighting designer today? We have come a long way from Lekos (ellipsoidals), Fresnels and PAR cans. Although we still use these fixtures, the advent of LEDs in stage lighting has bred a variety of new lighting fixtures based on these conventional designs. These include many models of LED PA's, striplights, floodlights, and even Lekos. How do you use these new lights? The same way you always used a Leko or PAR. You just have a lot more flexibility with LED.
First, consider that most LED lighting fixtures offer built-in color changing. This alone makes LED lighting much more flexible than conventional source fixtures. Similar to using moving lights, designers can now mix their colors from the lighting desk. There is no reason to purchase color media anymore.
LED striplights have been very popular to light sky cycs and drops. Unlike a conventional striplight that only has three or four colors evenly spaced along the fixture, LED striplights have all their color elements right next to each other in cluster arrays. All these elements can be controlled separately, so you can fade the color from red to blue along the entire line of the striplight. This allows the designer to create extremely sophisticated color blending along the line of the cyc or drop. Plus, the line of light can change colors, allowing flowing color sunsets and sky blends that incorporate color movement.
In addition, LEDs are so small and light that they can be applied onto flexible tape. I am designing a show in New York right now that uses this LED tape for long strips of light. This enables me to create multicolored lines of light. I am using two different types of LED strips, a RGB strip that can give me a wide variety of color, and a “warm/cool white” strip that concentrates on a strong warm or cool white color. You could not do this with old fluorescent tubes.
LED floods and PARs come in many different styles and configurations. Some are static and only offer color changing, some will remotely zoom in and out, and some are placed on moving yokes, making them fully functional moving lights. Manufacturers have expanded on these functions, creating new lighting fixtures with capabilities that we have not seen before. One is the new Clay Paky “B-Eye” LED moving light. The B-Eye incorporates a very distinctive lensing system for its LED elements. In addition, the entire lens array will rotate, creating some amazing moving beam effects. The technology of this fixture has offered designers new functions to add to their design arsenal.
New LED Lekos have transformed the ellipsoidal reflector spotlight (ERS). Most LED Lekos incorporate internal color changing through their LED source matrix. ETC uses a seven-color LED source that allows the designer to create some beautiful shades of color and white, previously impossible in LED stage lighting fixtures. One of the main concerns with LEDs was their lack of a good mixed white color. This issue has been getting better—with better LED elements and new color mixing technology that creates a warmer and more realistic white light.
Concerning this issue, LED Lekos and floodlights offer different configurations of LED elements (depending on the needs of the designer). For instance, the ETC D22 and D40 floodlights come in several LED configurations. There is their “Desire Vivid” series that offers a wide range of colors for strong color washes. Their “Desire Studio” LED configuration offers the designer a wide range of cool and warm white colors with dedicated warm and cool white LEDs. Instead of mixing to white from the colored LEDs, the Studio models' dedicated warm and cool LEDs are tuned to create a very natural white light that can be remotely adjusted.
All this means that the modern lighting designer needs to understand how the color of LEDs can be manipulated for the designer's use. I am currently designing a church in California where I am using the ETC Vivid configuration for colored backlight and some front color washes, and using the Studio LED configuration for frontlight where the color temperature of the light is critical, especially for video applications.
So you see, learning to choose the correct lighting fixtures requires you to keep up with the latest technology. One way to do this is by reading articles like this one. You can also purchase books that explain what each type of fixture does and how it is designed. I also suggest that you attend the yearly LDI Lighting convention in Las Vegas (usually held in November). Here you will find just about every stage light in existence. If you can't make it to LDI, then call your local theatrical lighting supplier. They will be happy to bring these lights to your house of worship so you can see exactly what they can accomplish. Who knows? You may discover a new, more effective and efficient tool for your lighting art.
