Stop Blinding Pastor

[Hysell]

Hello All,

I have been working for my church for a little bit of time now as the lighting operator. We have tried various things to make our lighting look better for video purposes. Last week my Pastor asked me is there a way to turn lights down a bit so that he is not blinded when engaging the congregation such as asking people to raise their hands for something. I initially told him I do not think there is anything I can except turn lights even lower, but at that point the cameras will not pic him up well. I am open to suggestions if you have any.

Thanks.

 

[RonHebbard]

Hello All,

I have been working for my church for a little bit of time now as the lighting operator. We have tried various things to make our lighting look better for video purposes. Last week my Pastor asked me is there a way to turn lights down a bit so that he is not blinded when engaging the congregation such as asking people to raise their hands for something. I initially told him I do not think there is anything I can except turn lights even lower, but at that point the cameras will not pic him up well. I am open to suggestions if you have any.

Thanks.

Without having any knowledge of your options, if you were lighting your Pastor only from both sides and not from directly in front, he should be able to see directly in front of him with far less light striking him directly in his eyes. Assuming your camera is viewing your Pastor directly from the front this shouldn't work out too bad for you.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

 

[sk8rsdad]

Can you side light the stage or are you restricted to front lighting only? If you can side light, then use that as your primary light and lower the front lighting to the minimum needed to blend facial shadows. Lots of lumens without the glare. Egg crate louvres might help too, but only if the lights aren't focused directly at the pastor.

@RonHebbard beat me by 15 seconds... What he said.

 

[Hysell]

Without having any knowledge of your options, if you were lighting your Pastor only from both sides and not from directly in front, he should be able to see directly in front of him with far less light striking him directly in his eyes. Assuming your camera is viewing your Pastor directly from the front this shouldn't work out too bad for you.
Toodleoo!
Ron Hebbard.

Thank you I will look into lighting from the side.

 

[Hysell]

Can you side light the stage or are you restricted to front lighting only? If you can side light, then use that as your primary light and lower the front lighting to the minimum needed to blend facial shadows. Lots of lumens without the glare. Egg crate louvres might help too, but only if the lights aren't focused directly at the pastor.

@RonHebbard beat me by 15 seconds... What he said.

Thank you I will look into lighting from the side.

 

[Aaron Clarke]

What they said. The further out of the pastor's line of sign you can get the bulk of the light(s) the better and use the front just to fill in shadows.

 

[TNasty]

I initially thought that moving the lights closer to the stage would help, but then I quickly realized that you probably can't do that without a massive amount of work that just might not be worth it.

The side lights really do work, we've got a couple that are at about a 20-30 degree angle horizontally from their target, and I was amazed how they looked compared to my predictions.

 

[Lextech]

Can you turn down the lights and adjust the cameras gain? Have you white balanced your camera or are you letting it make decisions for you? Another question, do you have light from any other source on him? If you have too much light from top or back positions you will have real problems getting video to look right. The posts above about angle will help, I like 45 degrees when I can get it. I do think that to often people overlook the fact that modern, professional cameras are made to work in a variety of light levels. Spend some time adjusting the camera and you might find that a light level comfortable to your pastor is usable.

 

[TeeDeeDon]

Without knowing your setup, it is hard to make recommendations. The lower the angle of the front light, the more it will blind the pastor, so the higher the angle, the better. You could also try a McCandless method of lighting where you hang the fixtures at 45 degree angles. So when he is looking straight out, he isn't looking straight at a light.


.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Light the audience to reduce contrast.

 

[JD]

Most complaints occur when the horizontal angle drops below 45 degrees. (pictured in post #9 above) Once you get below that number it really starts to interfere with the victim ... err performer's (in this case, Pastor) line of sight. As long as you have the ceiling height needed, use it.

 

[BillConnerFASTC]

Also more sources all at lower intensities - jewel lighting - so there are not real bright single spots. For video, not very flattering if you get too steep - and much lit worship is for the camera, not the on site parishioner. You get up above 30-35 degrees off the horizon and eye sockets and under chins seem to get really shadowed and people look older and less well. An array of balcony rail fixtures at a level of 10-20% can help counteract the ghostly look.

I really feel the 45 degree rule of thumb has diminished in a world filled with video and often - not always - lesser need to isolate upstage and downstage zones. For worship, video, general assembly, etc. Drama - probably not changed so much.

 

[ChrisB_SanDiego]

Light the audience to reduce contrast.

Exactly my thoughts. We light our pastor and worship team at about 20FC's which seems to be half of what most churches do in my area. Then I keep the house about 5-7FC's less than the stage at least during the sermon, during worship time varies. The less contrast makes a huge difference. The pastor doesn't feel blinded because the room is lit close to the level of the stage. It also seems to make the congregation more engaged ;-)

 

[Dionysus]

Also more sources all at lower intensities - jewel lighting - so there are not real bright single spots. For video, not very flattering if you get too steep - and much lit worship is for the camera, not the on site parishioner. You get up above 30-35 degrees off the horizon and eye sockets and under chins seem to get really shadowed and people look older and less well. An array of balcony rail fixtures at a level of 10-20% can help counteract the ghostly look.

I really feel the 45 degree rule of thumb has diminished in a world filled with video and often - not always - lesser need to isolate upstage and downstage zones. For worship, video, general assembly, etc. Drama - probably not changed so much.

I agree completely, in typical the old-school theatre rule of thumb of a 45-degree incline typically makes people make comments about things "looking dark" and works very poorly for video without lower angle fill light (also as suggested by Bill). However it does get the light "out of the eyes" significantly.
Depending on your current angle, raising to something like 30-35 degrees could help (would need to know what you have currently). Moving to more of a "broadway tee", IE lighting very strongly from the sides and less brightly from the front as some have already suggested can help a whole lot.

However to a degree the argument that "if you are being (slightly) blinded by the light it means you are actually well lit" does hold a lot of truth.

Honestly one of the best solutions is to use a MIX of the solutions, make sure the room is lit to reduce contrast on the eye and the "I can see the audience" thing which could partly be what he/she is actually complaining about (ie, saying "I can't see the audience" without actually saying that), and as well as this light from angles as suggested one way or another to help reduce direct face on light which can be displeasing.