This collection of books covers a wide range of topics related to stage lighting and lighting design, including lighting technology specifically for theater, events, concerts, and film.
In addition to information on lighting, there are also books on projection effects and projection design for various media, such as film and theater.
These books provide valuable insights and techniques for anyone working in the field of lighting and projection design, whether for live events or media production.
Designing with Light: An Introduction to Stage Lighting
By J Michael Gillette
Designing with Light, now in its seventh edition, is a guide to the art, craft, and technology of stage lighting and media projection.
The new edition of Designing with Light includes current information on stage lighting technology, including lighting fixtures, lamps, cabling, dimmers, and control boards, as well as electrical theory. It covers the creative aspect of lighting design, including how to craft a light plot, design for various stage configurations, and create lighting designs for different types of productions like dramas, musicals, and dance. The book also features insights from experienced lighting designers in mainstream theatre and related industries.
Designing with Light is a comprehensive survey of stage lighting design, written for students, professionals, and technicians.
Digital Media, Projection Design, and Technology for Theatre
By Alex Oliszewski, Daniel Fine and Daniel Roth
A complete guide to digital media and projection design.
Digital Media, Projection Design, and Technology for Theatre covers the foundational skills, best practices, and real-world considerations of integrating digital media and projections into theatre. Written by professional designers and professors, it provides an overview of industry standards and techniques, as well as a practical guide to using digital media in live performance. The book explores how digital media can create meaning on stage.
Digital Media, Projection Design, and Technology for Theatre outlines the workflow for designing with digital media and projections in nine phases. It covers everything from landing the job to opening night and archiving a design, with detailed analysis, tips, case studies, and best practices for creating a schedule and budget, rehearsing with digital media, and designing a unified stage production with lighting, set, sound, costumes, and props.
The book covers the fundamentals of content creation, including photography, video, animation, real-time effects, generative art, data, and interactive digital media. It also provides information on standard industry equipment and technical tasks such as converging and blending projectors, calculating surface brightness, using masks, and projection mapping.
The book includes an eResource page with sample assets and interviews from top projection designers, offering a glimpse into current and relevant work in the field.
Stage Lighting – The Fundamentals
By Richard E Dunman
Stage Lighting: The Fundamentals is a comprehensive guide designed for students taking their first stage lighting course. It covers the fundamental principles of light, perception, and color, as well as the equipment and techniques used by stage lighting technicians. The book also delves into the process of lighting design for the theater and other forms of entertainment, and discusses the wide range of career opportunities available in the field, including concert and corporate lighting, themed design, architectural and landscape lighting, and computer animation.
New for this edition:
- Enlarged full-color illustrations, photographs, light plots and examples of lighting design
- Updated information on LED lighting and equipment
- Expanded discussion of the practical use of color as a designer
- Expanded discussion of psychological/perceptual effects of color
- New discussion of color mixing through light sources that make use of additive mixing
- Expanded discussion of industry professions
- Expanded discussion and illustrations relating to photometrics
- Expanded discussion and examples of control protocols and new equipment
- Updated designer profiles along with the addition of still more profiles of lighting designers
Stage Lighting – Design Applications and More
By Richard E Dunham
“Stage Lighting: Design Applications and More” is a reference book that expands on the concepts introduced in “Stage Lighting: The Fundamentals” and delves into various specialized areas of lighting design.
These include traditional applications such as drama, dance, and venue design, as well as more advanced areas such as concerts, corporate events, film and video, virtual events, architectural and landscape lighting, and other forms of entertainment.
Each chapter of the book provides a thorough understanding of the background, design practices, and equipment used in each specialization, allowing readers to make informed decisions and ask informed questions when working in these fields.
The book also includes information on the latest technology and profiles of well-known lighting designers like James Moody, Jeff Ravitz, Alan Adelman, and Paul Gregory.
This book is intended to help lighting designers apply their theatrical skills to other areas of lighting design and offers guidance on how to explore new opportunities in their lighting careers.
Stage Lighting The Technicians Guide: An On-the-job Reference Tool with Online Video Resources – 2nd Edition
Bye Skip Mort
This book covers both the design and technical aspects of stage lighting and includes links to online video resources that are useful for teaching or for gaining a more thorough understanding and visual examples of the techniques described in the book. These resources are particularly helpful for gaining insight into the subject matter.
The revised and updated edition of this quick-reference guide to stage lighting provides a wealth of information on equipment, lighting a performance space, special effects, and lighting design. It includes new sections on LED lighting and video content, as well as detailed coverage of a wide range of topics related to stage lighting.
This book is designed to be a reference guide that you can use to find the information you need without having to read through the entire book. You can easily look up specific topics as needed, making it a convenient resource for both beginners and experienced professionals.
Performance Lighting Design: How to Light for the Stage, Concerts and Live Events
By Nick Moran
A practical guide to the art and technique of lighting for the stage, this book explains the complex mixture of craft, collaboration and creativity behind successful lighting design. The designer paints with light – revealing form and composing a living picture from collections of objects and bodies in a given space. This handbook for professional practice walks you through how to achieve this, from first concept to development of design ideas, planning to realisation and, finally, public performance.
Now fully revised, this second edition of Nick Moran’s Performance Lighting Design has been brought up to date to consider advances made in the technology used for lighting design for live performance. Alongside this, Moran introduces new concepts and ways of working; includes a section on analysing the finished design; and discusses recent research into contemporary lighting practice, addressing emerging trends, particularly for drama. Combining practical information with aesthetic considerations, Performance Lighting Design is the ideal book for students and practitioners of stage lighting working on the contemporary stage.
Lighting Design Handbook
By Lee H. Watson
Great book about lighting design. Difficult to get!
Stage Lighting Design
By Neil Fraser
Foreword Richard Attenborough
Stage Lighting Design is a comprehensive introduction to technical theatre, tracing the evolution of lighting design from ancient drama to contemporary performance. Neil Fraser covers everything that today’s designers will need to know, from the simple nuts and bolts of equipment, through to the complexity of a full lighting rig for a production, including all aspects of the stage electrician and lighter designer’s roles. This revised second edition includes new material on historical development, intelligent control systems and the latest advances in LED fixtures and luminaires. Each chapter includes key exercises, now totalling 100, that enable the reader to practise their skills on a wide variety of lighting challenges. The work of current designers is showcased and analysed, with examples from complete and detailed lighting designs.
The book includes: Choosing and using equipment; Applying colour; Techniques for focusing; Lighting in the round and other stage layouts; Creating mood and atmosphere; Lighting effects and LED source fixtures; Planning, testing and executing a lighting design. The book is superbly llustrated with over 150 colour, black & white photographs and line artworks.
A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting
by Steven Louis Shelley
In the first edition of A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting, Steve Shelley cracked open his production book and showed how to prepare a lighting design and create the paperwork needed to mount a production.
In the second edition, he pulled back the curtain and showed the methods and processes that go on before the light plot is finalized and ready to go to into the shop, even dealing with cutting the plot in half.
In this third edition, Shelley throws the door wide open and shows step-by-step how to construct every lighting system in the Hokey light plot. Combining his diacritical analysis, killer drafting, and analytic use of the Slinky Method and Slinky Calculations, he presents the Periodic Table of Fundamental Lighting Systems and shows the basic methods used to create multi-instrument lighting systems.
Highlights include:
* Over 100 new topics, including analysis and application of the three categories of collaboration; detailed examinations of production meetings, approaching production schedules and budgets; one-on-one meetings and checklists with management and the creative team.
* Over 50 new illustrations, including Shelley’s Periodic Table of Fundamental Lighting Systems — groundplans, sections, and front elevations that illustrate basic system wash configurations for each direction of light.
* Analysis, calculation, examples, and step-by-step technical construction of each lighting system in the Hokey light plot.
* Detailed examination of techniques used to light backdrops, scrims, and translucencies in the scenic stack.
* Explanation of a manufacturer’s cut sheet, and how to apply basic formulas to determine beam size, footcandle, and gel transmission for lighting instruments.
* Updated discussion of the process for pre-programming computer lighting consoles prior to the load-in.
* Comprehensive overview of archiving paperwork and softcopy for a production.
The Magic of Light:
The Craft and Career of Jean Rosenthal, Pioneer in Lighting for the Modern Stage
by Jean Rosenthal and Lael Wertenbaker
” – A book about Jean Rosenthal, the “grandmother” of lighting design!”
A lighting designer discusses the people and the productions that she has worked with, revealing the use and significance of lighting in plays, operas, musicals, and ballets.
Stage lighting for dance
Books for those who design lighting for dance and dance performances. Many techniques can also be used for musicals and other performances.
Dance and Light: The Partnership Between Choreography and Lighting
By Kevin Dreyer
Dance and Light examines the interconnected relationship between movement and design, the fluid partnership that exists between the two disciplines, and the approaches that designers can take to enhance dance performances through lighting design.
The book demystifies lighting for the dancer and helps light designers understand how the dancer/choreographer thinks about their art form, providing insight into the choreographer’s process and exploring how designers can make the most of their resources. The author shares anecdotes and ideas from an almost 50-year career as a lighting designer, along with practical examples and insights from colleagues, and stresses the importance of clear communication between designers, choreographers, and dancers. Attention is also given to the choreographer who wants to learn what light can do to help enhance their work on stage.
Written in short, stand-alone chapters that allow readers to quickly navigate to areas of interest, Dance and Light is a valuable resource for lighting design classes wishing to add a section on dance lighting, as well as for choreography classes who want to better equip young artists for a significant collaborative partnership.
Dance Production: Design and Technology
By Jeromy Hopgood
Dance Production: Design and Technology introduces you to the skills you need to plan, design, and execute the technical aspects of a dance production. While it may not seem that staging a dance production is that different from a play or musical, in reality a dance performance offers up unique intricacies and challenges all its own, from scenery that accommodates choreography, to lighting design that sculpts the body, and costumes that complement movement. This unique book approaches the process of staging a dance production from a balanced perspective, making it an essential resource for dancers and designers alike.
Covering a broad range of topics, author Jeromy Hopgood takes the reader through the process of producing dance from start to finish – including pre-production planning (collaboration, production process, personnel, performance spaces), design disciplines (lighting, sound, scenery, costumes, projections), stage management, and more. Bridging the gap between theatrical and dance design, the book includes a quick reference guide for theatrical and dance terminology, useful in giving dancers and designers a common working vocabulary that will ensure productive communication across the different fields.
