Another way to focus that saves your
vision is to turn around and watch your shadow as it looks in the beam of light.
I also have been known to look at my nose while focusing the lights when there is more than one up at a time. Difficult to explain but by looking at how it is shadowed or colored while you
face the audience you can kind of get an indication of what it will look like from the audience or how it's focused. But again, difficult to explain and I havn't designed any real shows much less by using this method in... 2 or 3 years.
Another thing you want to be able to do while focusing is to "Flag" the light. That's passing your
hand slowly over the front of the light so the person looking at it can see where the beam is or pick it out amongst other beams.
As for
stage bracing, no it probably won't work so well on a S-4 for focus unless you at least in traverse, have a fiber washer in the
C-Clamp bolt to allow it to be turned by
hand or stick. I used to use it on
Altman 360Q and 65 type fixtures (Lekos and Fresnels) that most of the time did not have the pivot lock ring. You could tilt them and slightly adjust them in traverse/pan. As long as a gorilla with a 10"
C-Wrench was not up there tightening down the light, it would give a
bit without needing to worry about it dropping when normally tight.
You don't want to do the original focus on a show with this method, much less when there is time and ability, of course it's best to get out the ladder. But there are times when time is short, something is bumped like a few seconds before opening or during the show or fixtures that cannot be reached short of repelling in from above. Having such an option open as a way to do it, is a good thing in knowing about the other use of
stage braces. You can also
pick up or move cable that has draped down onto fixtures with the
stage brace and set it elsewhere in additon to other uses for the tool.
As for grabbing the
gel and frames, that's an old trick for a quick scene change. You would need to not use the
gel frame locks on newer equipment and the goal is to grab the
gel frame in the hook and set it down on the floor while it's held by the hook. Or at least put the stick
thru the hole and let it slide down the pole so it does not damage the frame of floor by falling. If the
gel frame does not move, it's also possible to put some
gaff tape on the stick and just grab the
gel in many cases.
Can't say I did this everywhere, much less all places have
stage braces available. But I have used this technique for a quick adjustment and pulling
gel quite a few times. Especially with pulling
gel, it works and is something that should be kept as an option. Not your best option but useful to have available.