Lighting books/resources, suggestions please.

[AdeCastronovo]

Hi everyone,

 

Im a sound engineer wanting to branch out into lighting. I've had a bit of experience with lighting desks, but I feel I'm lacking an understanding of some of the fundamentals of lighting. Could anyone recommend any good books or resources to get me started?

 

Many Thanks

[Gerry]

A quick search of the Blue Room Wiki reveals:-

http://www.blue-room.org.uk/wiki/Category:Lighting_Books

 

Cheers

Gerry

[CatC]

I'd recommend The Stage Lighting Handbook by Reid, to start with if you are beginning (it's on the list Gerry provided and in it's 6ed).

[Junior8]

I wouldn't bother with books to start with. I'd suggest you find a good local Amdram/ Uni Dram Soc and join it on the technical side and simply join the crew. Often the technical standards of these groups can be astonishing in the face of real difficulties and venue limitations and you'll start learning in a real world situation. Once you've seen how they go about it the very fine books listed in the link will make more sense. Just one thing though - don't allow yourself to get 'hung up' on the equipment side of the books, it's what you are doing with the gear that is important. Beyond that the best 'reading' in my view are art galleries and well lit films - especially those where the DVD offers a commentary by the lighting cameraman. Jeff Jur's contributions to the commentary on Dirty Dancing are very enlightening I think.

[dbuckley]

Disagree; If I'd read Reid before I started fooling with lights it would have trimmed years off my learning process. I'd have known why I was doing things. But ignoring the equipment side is a good thing to do to start with is good advice.

 

To be fair, the important bits of Reids work were published as a series of short articles in Tabs magazine back in the day.

[Brian]

... the best 'reading' in my view are art galleries and well lit films...

Also disagree. The arts of lighting for galleries and films are totally different to lighting for the stage. And TV is different yet again.

[paulears]

Worst advice I've ever seen on this subject. Reid, Pilbrow and the others are almost required reading. Even a good amateur society will only teach you how they do it, because they've always done it that way, and their technique is frequently flawed when applied to different venues. You just get a single viewpoint with no breadth. Also - the standard varies amazingly depending on the company.

 

Sadly - you will have to buy these books because local libraries no longer keep many. In the whole of Suffolk, there is just 1 copy of Reid's entire collection - and that's not a 'how to' book at all.

 

Books are what used to be called a sound foundation to build on. Junior 8 is a writer, his profile shows - so I must say I can't really understand this one at all?

[HolyPhish]

A quick search of the Blue Room Wiki reveals:-

http://www.blue-room...:Lighting_Books

 

Cheers

Gerry

 

 

Out of interest, on a budget of £30 which books would you buy off the wiki page?

 

I'm thinking of going for:

 

The Stage Lighting Handbook (6th Edition) - Francis Reid

Stage Lighting, the Art, the Craft, the Life - Richard Pilbrow

 

Both retailing at around £16 each.

 

Is this a wise choice or will they pretty much cover all the same stuff the same way?

 

Should I look at get one of these and then a couple of the others?

[LeeStoddart]

 

Out of interest, on a budget of £30 which books would you buy off the wiki page?

 

I'm thinking of going for:

 

The Stage Lighting Handbook (6th Edition) - Francis Reid

Stage Lighting, the Art, the Craft, the Life - Richard Pilbrow

 

 

Reid and Pilbrow get my vote - those two volumes should be required reading for anyone with an interest in stage lighting.

[paulears]

Reid sticks to basics, upwards from beginner in content and equipment, Pilbrow gives a lot more design studies and tends to be the top downwards, so the two books are a perfect complement to each other. I bought those two books when I started, and I've used many of their ideas. It was Francis who got me into the ALD, and while looking after the magazine, I met Richard. Both very interesting people, and as Monty Python used to say, not at all stuck up!

 

Francis also wrote a great book on Theatre Admin, which is out of print now - but if ever one appears on ebay - snap it up. Some really useful material in there. I'm pretty sure it was what I learned soley from that book that let me blag my first management contract. That's how much importance I put on these two authors. They have very different approaches, but the content is sound!

[indyld]

Ok since we are suggesting books and I realise that this topic has plenty of coverage here...

 

While I totally agree that the Reid standard and Pilbrow's book are a good match and will get you a long way, I'd also like to put forward Nick Moran's 2007 Performance Lighting Design.

 

With all the basics and how-tos it also seems a lot less wordy than some of the older publications, even though it's actually stuffed with information as well as diagrams and graphics. I find some readers get along much better if they don't feel intimidated by pages and pages of text.

 

I personally also treasure Fred Bentham's The Art of Stage Lighting for the historical reference and a lot of advice that, despite advancing technology, hasn't really been improved upon since the middle of last century.

[Junior8]

Books are what used to be called a sound foundation to build on. Junior 8 is a writer, his profile shows - so I must say I can't really understand this one at all?

 

It might be the worst advice but I'll stick to it - in its entirety. You do not start to learn to drive by reading a book, you start to learn by driving under the guidance of an experienced instructor. I was thinking back to when I started out in all sorts of technical areas and the books available were far more advanced in both gear and appliactions than anything I'd come across at the time. I still hold to the view that in order to serve the buyers of a specailist market title most technical guides do not suit the absolute beginner. As it happens I'd entirely agree with your views on both Reid and Pilbrow, but I'd always urge a practical introduction first.

[Brian]

You do not start to learn to drive by reading a book, you start to learn by driving under the guidance of an experienced instructor.

The difference between learning to drive and learning about stage lighting is that when you learn to drive there is an underlying mandatory framework which all instructors follow. Every learner driver will learn the same stuff the same way supported by a book; the Highway Code (as well as many official manuals).

 

Joining a group, whilst an excellent idea, will simply teach you the way that they do it.

[kerry davies]

Bit of both? Simply sitting down with a book and then setting it aside and getting hands-on experience seems odd to me. In reality it is a combination of plugging in a lantern, playing with it and reading up how to get the most out of it.

 

My favourite LX book is a truly antiquated film-based affair and has proven a good introductory book for complete beginners. John Alton's 'Painting With Light', though completely out of date, first published the year I was born I think, gives the principles in language and examples that even an idiot like me can understand.

 

Thinking back my own introduction to lighting was very much playing with fire, torches, floodlights and finally rock/theatre lighting, it wasn't theoretical but mucking about then trying to discover why I couldn't get the results others did through literature.

Maybe it is an "age" thing?