What Is Stage Lighting and When Should You Use It

Stage lighting is lighting that is needed to light up a stage, and it’s a powerful tool for all events.

It’s a way to increase attention at your event and used to highlight people, stage backdrops and props, and more!

Taking a deeper dive, we find that we can direct someone's focus with light drawing their eyes around the stage.

Lighting can communicate emotion using color, texture and different amounts of light.

An experienced lighting designer can transform a simple event into an exciting experience. From conferences to concerts, or sales meetings to church services, stage lighting can be used for any type of event.

Providing More Than Light

Stage lighting provides four main functions at events: Visibility, Motivation, Composition, and Mood.

Visibility:

Staging lighting provides visibility and direction for where the audience should direct their attention.

Motivation:

For most events, lighting designers strive to make the light look natural for the environment and setting.

Composition:

For events like plays, the lighting director will work closely with the scene designer to make sure the background and important props or people are visible to the audience.

Mood:

Lighting has the ability to change the mood of a crowd, whether it’s slow and mellow or colorful and upbeat.

Stage Lighting Positions

Most stage lighting designers focus on five main positions of stage lighting.

Front Lights

– These lights are the primary source of lighting for the event.

Side Lighting

– Primarily used to highlight the sides of the performer’s body.

High Side Lighting

– These shine the light on the top of the performer’s head, neck and shoulders so you can see their facial expressions.

Back Lighting

– These lights create depth and separate the performer with the background.

Down Lights

 – This lighting is used to wash an area of the stage with soft or harsh light.

Types of Stage Lighting

Automated Lighting

Automated lighting can be a flexible and economical alternative to stationary lighting. It’s perfect for events in a theater, nightclub, concert hall or church.

Conventional Fixtures and Spotlights

Unlike automated lighting, conventional lighting fixtures provide only one function, and that's illumination. We recommend conventional lighting for conferences, company events or large seminars where there’s only one person speaking at a time.

LED Lighting

LED lighting is the most energy-efficient way of lighting an event. On-stage performers appreciate the comfort of LEDs, as they emit very little heat and they rarely need replacing.

Equipment You May Need

• Mixing Console

• Decor Lighting

• Dimmers

• Motors & Lifts

• Backdrops

• Trusses

• Atmosphere & Special Effects , s

  uch as: Fog Machines, Confetti Cannons, and Strobe Lights

Learn more about our Stage Lighting Equipment Rentals »

Need to rent equipment to light your next event? Contact Onstage Systems today!