Lighting Books

[dminor13]

I'm a college student who is new to the technical side of theater (long time actor) and I was just thrown into being the lighting designer for a bunch of student directed shows at school. I'm really excited about it, but designing lights in the past proved alot of trial and error with lighting levels and colors. Does anyone have any good lighting theory books that they can recomend?

[soundlight]

J. Michael Gillette's "Designing With Light."

Good basic book.

[gafftaper]

Originally Posted by soundlight

J. Michael Gillette's "Designing With Light."
Good basic book.

It's pretty much the Bible for College Lighting Design Classes

Also poke around the PLSN bookshelf and see if any thing else interests you.
https://www.plsnbookshelf.com/catalog/

[Footer]

A Practical Guide to Stage Lighting
Stage Lighting Design The Art, The Craft, The Life

Both Excellent.

[drawstuf99]

"The Magic of Light" by Jean Rosenthal is also a good one (assuming you can find it; it's out of print) because it also discusses the role of calaboration and working with other designers to create concepts...etc. It also talks about the lighting design itself.

A good read. Check for it on Amazon.com or Ebay
(Here is a link to the used ones on Amazon.com. I got mine here.)

[dbn]

My favoriate on the artistic issues of design is another out of print book: "The Lighting Art: The Aesthetics of Stage Lighting Design" by Richard H. Palmer, (C) 1985, ISBN 0-13-536566-X.

[LightStud]

Light on the Subject. by David Hays.

[Darthrob13]

And don't forget....

....a lot of times trial and error isn't bad. It lets you find for yourself what works, what you like and what is a total train wreck (sometimes all three).