Useful Tips for Volunteers to Rearrange Lighting

Many bands, sports venues, places of worship, and production events have conventional lighting systems set for a few selected positions. If they need to rearrange, they need to call an AV company, or some volunteers may be required to do the job for them.

The lights your volunteers will generally need to work on are Ellipsoidal, Par Can and Strip Light. Here are few tips for volunteers to complete the task perfectly. Ideally, there should be at least two persons involved in it.

Ellipsoidal

To get the best focus, you need to start from scratch. Pluck gel color, gobos or accessories out of the light and pull the framing shutters wide open. However, if you just want to tweak the focus, you don’t have to pull out all the accessories.

Have the light turned on and point it in the direction you want it to be in. Place the focal point of the light on the hot spot that the light is supposed to be focused on. A bench focus will be helpful in minimizing the hot spot.

To make the light sharper, slacken the knob on the bottom of the lens tube and move it in or out until the beam develops a sharp edge.

Use shutters to remove the focus from the places you don’t want the light on – walls, ceiling, stairs, seats, or more. When you are done, insert color, gobos, or accessories in the light. Double check the sharpness of the light and you are done.

Get the fixture turned off until you need it for comparison with another fixture. When you are done with other lights, you may need to work on it again to touch up the focus.

Strip Light

As a basic wash light, Strip Light is used for lighting drape, set pieces or a large curtain. To refocus Strip Light, pull the color out (if applicable), loosen the tilt knobs and point the light in the direction you want.

It may take some effort and time to get all the lights matching. Working on backdrop focus will enable you to learn more about spilling of light on the ceiling, and how to rectify it.

Par Can

You may be using either a standard Par 64, 56, 46, or 38, or any other light for that matter. Like ellipsoidal, you start by pulling color out of the light first.

Ask your operator to turn the fixture on and point it in the direction you would like the focus on. Spin the lamp to have the beam throwing light in the desired direction. You do this by touching the socket in a standard par with a gloved hand.

On LED pars, there is no lamp to spin or color to place into the fixture. Focusing LED pars in white will enable you to see where the light is hitting.

Summing Up

It is important to tighten down the lights you have been working on and point them exactly where you need them. Wearing a pair of gloves while working will ensure you do not end up burning yourself. While working at a height, do not be in hurry and be safe. In case you are not feeling confident, call in an expert.