On Stage Lighting presents our first reader poll. Please let us know what kind of stuff you look for or enjoy the most here.
When developing new articles for On Stage Lighting, I sometimes use specific readers queries or common lighting questions as a starting point. We also track the trends of the on site search box to gauge the kinds of information that readers look for (which reminds me, we haven’t written anything about dimmers so far!). While this sounds very scientific, the fact is that this feedback is invaluable but it is also quite subjective and often very specific.
In order to improve On Stage Lighting, I would be interested to know what floats the boat of On Stage Lighting readers hence the poll. You might really like all the choices and can pick as many as you like, but it would be great if you pick 1 or 2 of your top content types. There is some quick guidance about the different choices below the poll to help you make up your mind.
What kind of stage lighting related content really makes your day?
More about the questions
1. General traditional lighting techniques and lighting design methods. Beginner to intermediate general stuff like our Learn Stage Lighting articles.
2. Opinions and ideas from lighting professionals like our recent chat with Mark Wyn-Edwards about the Jands Vista or the Stage Lighting Education series with different industry employers.
3. Personal help. Specific answers to questions about your own lighting designs or equipment – a lot of these are currently answered directly via the comments or Facebook, Twitter etc or get turned into an article.
4. Lighting product information . Reviews or specs to help make decisions about purchasing equipment such as the Zero88 Jester review.
5. Advanced technical info. Specific tutorials on how to do something on pro level equipment similar to the Avolites Pearl Tools and Time Savers article.
6. Lighting industry news. Who did which gig with what kit? Who has brought out another LED product? So far, only the PLASA reports have much of an industry news slant.
7. A chance to interact with other users interested in stage lighting. Like the Your Stage Lighting series or comments. On Stage Lighting readers quite often interact with each other via the comments section which is great and a reason for setting up the new On Stage Lighting Facebook Group for more discussion.
Thanks for voting
On Stage Lighting has been in existence for less than 2 years. We have nearly 400 feed/email subscribers around the world (according to somewhat erratic Feedburner stats), receive up to 15,000 visitors and serve 50,000 pages every month.
Your participation created this success and will shape the site for the future. Thank you.
Rob Sayer HND PGDip FHEA is a Senior Lecturer in Technical Theatre Production, mentor, and consultant in stage lighting and education. As a professional lighting designer, Rob designed and programmed theatre performances, music festivals and large corporate events for blue chip companies while travelling all over Europe. With a background in theatre, he combines traditional stage lighting knowledge alongside fast moving lighting and video technology in the world of commercial events.
Could we have some more tutorials on MagicQ?
Hi Rob!
I placed my vote for “General lighting techniques” and by that I mean articles related to lighting techniques/design, not necessarily in terms of technology. Something like “Lighting & Shadow” and “Backlight – What, Why, How and Where?”. At least for me, I guess these useful techniques, tips & tricks are something which make a good basis for stage lighting design, whether the tech side features hundreds of moving heads or a couple rusty PAR cans.
I would say that pretty much every article I’ve read on this site has been really useful. I think it’s great that so many aspects on lighting are covered. Thanks a lot!
@Josh – Yes, I know we promised more on the MagicQ. Have been holding off as was promised some exclusive tutorials from the MQ developers but… think I will just get on with some myself.
@Ville – Thanks for your thoughts, you are right about the importance of the basics whatever the situation.
As an “advanced beginner” who is entirely self-taught, I find the how-to’s and product information very helpful and informative.
The group I work for has a (very) limited budget and so I have to make do with limited equipment, but every little piece of information is helpful – if not immediately, I hope it will be at some stage if/when we obtain more/better equipment.
It’s also nice to feel that there’s someone who I can call on if I need advice about something
Keep up the good work Rob, it’s much appreciated
Paul
I am an avid linux user (Ubuntu, currently), as well as a lighting designer for small theatre. I was wondering if there were any recommendations that you could make for linux users in terms of software for lighting design/plotting/etc, or also for software for doing design on a very limited budget.
Thanks in advance, and thanks for all the other interesting articles on this site!
~Matt Klein
I just found this website and haven’t read much of the articles yet but I’ll certainly be coming back here to read new posts.
I’m currently doing a media study at a school in Holland which deals with all aspects of backstage work and the lighting biz has grasped my attention specifically.
You might be thinking now “A school? You can’t learn to be a light tech from a book.” Luckily the entire education is ran by ex-media people and the lighting teachers both have over 30 years of experience in the field. It’s an honor to learn the tricks and tools of the trade from them.
I’ll be keeping an eye on this place to sharpen up my lighting knowledge whenever I’m not at school. In the meantime I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my own blog and read some of the lighting related articles and tell me what you think about them :).
Keep up the good work!
Robin
Hi, we are real amateurs at lighting but really love it and the cool fx’s you can get quite simply. we started on a real budget and have progressed to a stage where onstagelighting tips really count. I am sure there are many young and aspiring bands out there who really need to start from a very basic level. it would be great to have a section that focused on really basic, low budget or even improvision from a lighting perspective. cheers Steve (Mojo Filter)
the information available,is of little use for me.Pl provide some programming techniques for stage lighting,specially for inteligent lights including mooving heads
I have finally got some moving fixtures that i am not ashamed to hang in a venue and now i want to show what they can do!
I am an absolute beginner with moving fixtures.
How do i go about creating chases, do i just program a single scene with all movements, pallets and gobos in or are these all attributes that should be programmed separately and then run simultaneously together live.
Tips or useful links/vids would be of great help.
Thanks
Nick