What is the main focus of the video?

The video focuses on achieving professional lighting design for churches, emphasizing the importance of proper lighting techniques.

What are the four steps covered in this lighting lesson?

The four steps are: 1) Front wash lighting, 2) Kick/Hair lighting, 3) Wall wash, and 4) Atmospheric lighting effects.

Why is lighting important in church gatherings?

Lighting is crucial for illuminating subjects such as pastors and worship leaders, supporting the message of worship, and enhancing visual communication.

What is a wall wash in lighting design?

A wall wash involves projecting color light onto walls to create ambient effects and enhance the stage appearance.

What are atmospheric lighting effects?

Atmospheric effects include lighting fixtures that create dynamic patterns or beams, often requiring a hazer to see these effects clearly.

Why is a good CRI important for lighting?

CRI (Color Rendering Index) ensures lighting renders colors accurately. A high CRI light makes colors look natural and vibrant.

How does ambient light affect lighting design?

Ambient light can wash out colored lighting effects. Controlling ambient light, often using shades or blinds, is important to maintain desired lighting effects.

Can traditional churches benefit from modern lighting techniques?

Yes, even traditional churches can apply steps 1 and 2 (front and kick lighting) to ensure visibility during services.

What common mistakes should be avoided in church lighting?

Avoid mistakes like insufficient front lighting, lack of kick lights, poor beam control, complex lighting setups, and using low CRI fixtures.

How can proper lighting improve live streaming quality for churches?

Proper lighting ensures that subjects are well-lit on camera, improving visual clarity and engagement for the audience.

Church Lighting Design and Best Practices | 4-Steps to Pro Lighting

00:36:17

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RqKUj2WdIGQ

Summary

TLDRThis lesson is part of an online course aimed at teaching professional lighting design for churches. It highlights the importance of understanding lighting theory and best practices before assembling a lighting system. The video outlines two main objectives of church lighting: illuminating subjects effectively (such as pastors and worship leaders) and enhancing worship through creative design, like color effects and atmospheric lighting. The instructor demonstrates a four-step process for achieving professional lighting design: 1) using front wash lights for subject illumination, 2) adding kick or hair lights to separate subjects from backgrounds, 3) implementing wall washes to add color to the stage, and 4) using atmospheric lighting effects for dynamic visuals. He emphasizes the role of adequate lighting in improving live stream quality and shares a case study where simple lighting adjustments created substantial improvements. The lesson also covers the nature of light, including concepts like CRI and color temperature, and common mistakes to avoid in church lighting setups.

Takeaways

💡 Understanding lighting fundamentals is crucial before setting up church lighting.
🔦 Proper front lighting ensures pastors and worship leaders are seen clearly.
🎨 Use color in lighting to enrich the worship experience creatively.
🖥️ Good lighting improves church live streaming quality significantly.
🛠️ Most lighting design improvements require aim and control, not new fixtures.
🔍 CRI value is important for accurate color rendering of lit subjects.
⚠️ Avoid common mistakes like insufficient front light and complex controls.
🌈 Wall washes add ambient color effects to church stages.
🔊 Combine lighting design with live streaming strategies for best results.
📊 Lighting speaks to the church's beliefs and atmosphere.
☀️ Control ambient light to preserve intended lighting effects.
📷 Hairlights help distinguish subjects from the background in visuals.

Timeline

00:00:00 - 00:05:00
The video is introduced as a free lesson from a new online course on lighting for worship, offered by Worship Ministry School. The lesson focuses on the importance of understanding lighting theory and fundamentals before implementing creative designs, emphasizing the dual objectives of subject illumination and creative enhancement of messages in worship gatherings.
00:05:00 - 00:10:00
The instructor explains the primary objectives of a church lighting system: to illuminate subjects and enable creative design. Subject illumination is essential for visibility in worship, while creative design adds emotional and dynamic support through lighting effects, such as color and movement. Emphasis is placed on the importance of adequate lighting for effective live streaming.
00:10:00 - 00:15:00
The video discusses a case study at Grace Church, illustrating common issues in church lighting, like poor fixture aiming and control. It demonstrates the impact of adjusting lighting fixtures without new installations, highlighting increased visibility of subjects and improved color dynamics as key outcomes of effective lighting design.
00:15:00 - 00:20:00
The instructor introduces a four-step process for professional church lighting design. Step one is achieving proper front wash lighting to illuminate subjects adequately. The demonstration at South Fellowship Church illustrates the importance of light placement to avoid shadows and ensure an even wash across the stage.
00:20:00 - 00:25:00
Step two involves implementing kick or hair lights to separate the subject from the background, enhancing visual clarity. The demonstration shows the effect of a subtle glow around the subject's head and shoulders, which provides contrast and depth, preventing the image from appearing flat.
00:25:00 - 00:30:00
Step three involves using wall washes to add color and dynamic effects to the stage's background. Demonstrations show how wall washes can enhance the visual appeal with color changes and movements. This step is highlighted as an easy and effective way to introduce creative lighting design in church settings.
00:30:00 - 00:36:17
Step four focuses on atmospheric lighting effects, such as moving lights and hazers, to create dynamic visual experiences. The video warns against prioritizing these effects over foundational lighting steps. Finally, common lighting mistakes are discussed, emphasizing the importance of proper fixture use, control, and light quality to achieve effective church lighting.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

What is the main focus of the video?
The video focuses on achieving professional lighting design for churches, emphasizing the importance of proper lighting techniques.
What are the four steps covered in this lighting lesson?
The four steps are: 1) Front wash lighting, 2) Kick/Hair lighting, 3) Wall wash, and 4) Atmospheric lighting effects.
Why is lighting important in church gatherings?
Lighting is crucial for illuminating subjects such as pastors and worship leaders, supporting the message of worship, and enhancing visual communication.
What is a wall wash in lighting design?
A wall wash involves projecting color light onto walls to create ambient effects and enhance the stage appearance.
What are atmospheric lighting effects?
Atmospheric effects include lighting fixtures that create dynamic patterns or beams, often requiring a hazer to see these effects clearly.
Why is a good CRI important for lighting?
CRI (Color Rendering Index) ensures lighting renders colors accurately. A high CRI light makes colors look natural and vibrant.
How does ambient light affect lighting design?
Ambient light can wash out colored lighting effects. Controlling ambient light, often using shades or blinds, is important to maintain desired lighting effects.
Can traditional churches benefit from modern lighting techniques?
Yes, even traditional churches can apply steps 1 and 2 (front and kick lighting) to ensure visibility during services.
What common mistakes should be avoided in church lighting?
Avoid mistakes like insufficient front lighting, lack of kick lights, poor beam control, complex lighting setups, and using low CRI fixtures.
How can proper lighting improve live streaming quality for churches?
Proper lighting ensures that subjects are well-lit on camera, improving visual clarity and engagement for the audience.

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Subtitles

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00:00:00
in this video you are going to learn the
00:00:02
four crucial steps to achieving
00:00:04
professional lighting design for your
00:00:07
local church the video you're about to
00:00:09
watch is one of the lessons from our new
00:00:11
lighting for worship online course that
00:00:14
you will find at worship
00:00:15
worshipministryschool.com we're giving
00:00:17
this lesson away free here on youtube
00:00:19
but if you'd like to access all of our
00:00:20
courses and all of the lessons check out
00:00:22
worshipministryschool.com
00:00:24
and apply to join our program today i
00:00:26
also want you to check out our worship
00:00:27
ministry toolkit linked below it
00:00:29
contains all of our gear and software
00:00:31
recommendations for worship ministry and
00:00:33
we recently updated this toolkit to
00:00:35
include our favorite gear for church
00:00:37
lighting without further ado let's dive
00:00:39
into the lesson
00:00:41
in this lesson you are going to learn
00:00:43
about lighting theory and best practices
00:00:47
it is so important before you start
00:00:49
putting together a lighting system and
00:00:50
using control software that you
00:00:52
understand the foundations of lighting
00:00:55
theory you guys know we are big on this
00:00:57
if you've taken any of our other courses
00:00:59
in worship ministry school like our
00:01:01
audio courses it's all about getting the
00:01:03
fundamentals right before you try to get
00:01:05
all fancy because that's not going to
00:01:07
end up well for you if you skip the
00:01:10
fundamentals so that's what this lesson
00:01:12
is all about let's talk about lighting
00:01:14
objectives for the local church what is
00:01:17
the purpose of a lighting system in the
00:01:20
context of a worship gathering both
00:01:23
in-person gatherings and online
00:01:25
gatherings there's really two objectives
00:01:27
in my opinion number one illuminate
00:01:30
subjects make sure you have adequate
00:01:32
light so the congregation can see the
00:01:35
pastors worship leaders
00:01:37
the rest of the congregation maybe and
00:01:39
any other people or objects that they
00:01:41
need to see
00:01:42
in worship and things that they they
00:01:44
need to see that's going to support
00:01:46
what's being communicated throughout the
00:01:48
service or what you're trying to
00:01:51
convey to your congregation or have them
00:01:53
experience
00:01:54
during the worship service and you can
00:01:56
get really creative with this but you
00:01:58
know simply put make sure people can see
00:02:00
your pastor and the worship leaders and
00:02:01
the people on the platform who are
00:02:03
communicating or leading a song or
00:02:05
sharing announcements or leading
00:02:07
communion or leading a baptism you want
00:02:10
people to see people getting baptized
00:02:11
right we have a sense of sight that god
00:02:14
has given us and we use that sense of
00:02:16
sight in the worship gathering in the
00:02:18
most foundational way we do that is
00:02:20
through just simply illuminating
00:02:22
subjects the second objective which is a
00:02:25
bit fancier and this will be
00:02:26
contextualized to your local church
00:02:29
setting is creative design
00:02:31
it's the ability to enhance and support
00:02:34
the message in various moments during
00:02:36
the worship experience and usually we do
00:02:39
this through color in special
00:02:41
atmospheric effects the lighting design
00:02:44
world can get as complex and creative as
00:02:47
you in your church want it to be
00:02:50
and that is a pretty important objective
00:02:52
of our lighting system we want to be
00:02:54
able to support the emotion and dynamics
00:02:57
of the songs that we're singing because
00:02:59
again it's just engaging another sense
00:03:01
that we have as human beings to speak
00:03:04
the truths of the gospel whether that's
00:03:06
through songs or through preaching or
00:03:08
whatever it is maybe it's just the
00:03:09
environment of the room the way we have
00:03:12
the lighting and the aesthetic of the
00:03:14
room and the stage that that speaks to
00:03:16
people's hearts even though it's not in
00:03:18
an overt you know verbal way it's kind
00:03:21
of more in a subliminal way right so um
00:03:24
the way you light your church says a lot
00:03:26
about what you your church believes and
00:03:29
what your church believes about god and
00:03:31
we can get more into the nuance of some
00:03:33
of that design theory later on in the
00:03:35
course but um
00:03:37
simply put creative design can be let's
00:03:40
throw some color in there again color is
00:03:42
a simple way to
00:03:44
enhance or emphasize the emotional theme
00:03:47
of whatever it is you're trying to sing
00:03:48
or communicate so let's throw some color
00:03:50
let's throw some
00:03:51
lighting movement with moving fixtures
00:03:53
to kind of you know add to the dynamics
00:03:56
of a song
00:03:57
that's simply put what the creative
00:03:59
design objective is i want to make this
00:04:02
important note too that adequate
00:04:03
lighting design is crucial for your
00:04:07
church's live stream cameras need
00:04:11
light
00:04:12
even the most high end of cameras out
00:04:14
there if they don't have light
00:04:17
that are reflecting the image in this
00:04:19
case me is being reflected into this
00:04:21
camera right here that you're watching
00:04:23
me on um if if i didn't have my key
00:04:26
light on it's to look horrible actually
00:04:28
let me demonstrate that to you how would
00:04:30
you feel if for the rest of this
00:04:31
training i kept my lighting like this
00:04:34
maybe you don't want to see my wonderful
00:04:36
face as clearly as you did a few moments
00:04:38
ago but it's it's distracting it's just
00:04:41
it doesn't really capture your attention
00:04:43
as well you just don't see me
00:04:44
communicating quite as clearly so a lot
00:04:47
of churches their lighting design looks
00:04:50
like this and this is why their live
00:04:51
stream looks horrible so before you go
00:04:53
spending a ton of money on expensive
00:04:56
cameras and lenses and live stream gear
00:04:59
please please please make sure you have
00:05:02
adequate lighting
00:05:03
in that you've configured your lights in
00:05:06
a way and your cameras in such a way
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that they're actually going to be
00:05:09
working together the camera side of
00:05:12
things we definitely cover a ton of in
00:05:14
our live streaming courses so use this
00:05:17
course in conjunction with our live
00:05:18
streaming courses they're going to talk
00:05:20
more about camera exposure and things
00:05:22
like that so let's get let's get some
00:05:24
good lighting back here much much better
00:05:26
and i want to illustrate for you a case
00:05:30
study of a church that i go to this is
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grace church i started going here within
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the past year when i moved to florida
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it's an awesome church i love it there
00:05:39
and they have really a great foundation
00:05:41
of all the gear that you need in a
00:05:44
modern worship context and they have a
00:05:47
really great lighting system like
00:05:49
whoever
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designed this lighting system the
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integrator who they hired they built
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this church about a year ago
00:05:55
they knew these fundamental concepts of
00:05:58
what fixtures they would need and where
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where to place the fixtures
00:06:02
but there's an issue there's some sort
00:06:04
of gap in terms of just getting the
00:06:06
actual worship team and tech tech team
00:06:09
up to speed on the best practices of how
00:06:11
to use those fixtures properly so you
00:06:14
can see a before and after here we did
00:06:16
not change
00:06:17
anything about the fixtures or the
00:06:19
control software um in this setup like
00:06:22
the same same fixtures were hung before
00:06:24
and after all we did is we actually just
00:06:27
re-aimed fixtures and we controlled the
00:06:30
beam of our lighting fixtures more
00:06:32
effectively
00:06:33
and then we did just some brightness
00:06:35
adjustments at the control software i
00:06:37
think a lot of churches watching this
00:06:39
course could be in a similar place to
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grace church where you're going to learn
00:06:43
about the concepts of great lighting and
00:06:45
you're going to realize oh we actually
00:06:46
do have all the fixtures we need
00:06:49
maybe some of them are kicking around in
00:06:50
a closet somewhere we need to hang them
00:06:52
still but maybe you don't need to hang
00:06:54
any new fixtures you just need to aim
00:06:56
them and control them properly to get
00:06:58
better results so before you can see
00:07:01
here that you know if you just compare
00:07:03
the images you can see our worship
00:07:05
leader here asa he looks darker his skin
00:07:08
tones look a little weird um and there's
00:07:11
just not much dynamics to this image
00:07:14
like the the brights aren't very bright
00:07:16
the darks aren't very dark it's kind of
00:07:17
flat um and there's not much color in
00:07:20
the background at all it's kind of green
00:07:22
but not really and a lot of churches
00:07:25
will kind of settle for this because if
00:07:27
this what you see on the left is is all
00:07:29
you know and what you're used to
00:07:31
you kind of don't think
00:07:33
any different like it could be much
00:07:34
better but i knew when i got there i'm
00:07:36
like man this lighting needs to improve
00:07:38
because it looked pretty much just as
00:07:40
bad in person as it did online actually
00:07:42
probably looked worse online and there's
00:07:44
some some weeks during the live stream
00:07:46
like you just could not see
00:07:48
basically anything that was going on
00:07:50
again combination of camera exposure and
00:07:52
poor lightning but poor lighting is
00:07:54
where it starts and that's what the
00:07:55
problem was
00:07:56
so what we did is we
00:07:59
just again we re-aimed the lights we
00:08:01
controlled the shutter on the
00:08:03
front lighting that they had and we made
00:08:06
some adjustments to the brightness and
00:08:08
now just look how much better the
00:08:10
subject stands out and you can see asa
00:08:13
as he's leading worship much clearly in
00:08:15
the background we have much more color
00:08:17
control so we can actually light up
00:08:18
these panels in the background and you
00:08:20
can see kind of that back kind of wash
00:08:23
atmospheric effect happening with the
00:08:25
lighting in there so it just looks much
00:08:26
clearer and here's an example of what
00:08:28
this change looked like for our
00:08:30
preaching portion of service this is our
00:08:32
pastor aaron and before
00:08:35
you know during the sermon sermon they
00:08:36
would you know put the lights on full
00:08:38
brightness so he's actually bright
00:08:40
enough as a subject but what was
00:08:42
happening because the lights were aimed
00:08:44
improperly
00:08:45
they were flooding onto the back wall
00:08:47
and that's why the back wall looks flat
00:08:48
you can just see random light beams kind
00:08:50
of flooding onto that back wall we we
00:08:53
don't want it to be like that we want to
00:08:54
be able to control that back wall we
00:08:56
want it to be black when there's no
00:08:58
light we want it to be
00:09:00
a color when we have different colors so
00:09:02
here you can see we've got this similar
00:09:04
blue look it's kind of my favorite color
00:09:05
for worship is blue
00:09:08
maybe because it's just my favorite
00:09:09
color overall but we have this blue look
00:09:12
and now there's much just better
00:09:13
separation between pastor aaron and the
00:09:16
background so again these were changes
00:09:18
that we implemented without introducing
00:09:20
any new fixtures it was it was all just
00:09:22
about getting the aim of the fixtures
00:09:24
right and the control right here is the
00:09:27
four step process to professional
00:09:30
lighting design for churches if you can
00:09:33
follow these four steps and apply them
00:09:35
to your context you are going to get
00:09:37
much better results when it comes to
00:09:39
lighting so what i'm going to do is
00:09:41
first i'll introduce the step and then
00:09:43
i'm actually going to
00:09:44
illustrate it to you
00:09:46
in our worship center at south
00:09:48
fellowship church step number one the
00:09:50
front wash light this is very important
00:09:53
to achieving that first objective we
00:09:55
talked about earlier of illuminating
00:09:58
subjects properly your worship leader
00:10:00
your pastor whoever it is they are
00:10:02
leading at a moment in time in worship
00:10:04
and for them to communicate effectively
00:10:06
people need to see them so that's where
00:10:09
the front wash light comes in that's
00:10:11
kind of the first half of meeting that
00:10:14
objective of adequately lighting your
00:10:17
subject right now i'm sitting at my desk
00:10:19
and i have one front wash light right in
00:10:22
front of me it's a nice soft uh key
00:10:25
light and that's what's illuminating and
00:10:28
i showed you guys earlier on what that
00:10:30
looks like when that's turned off so
00:10:32
that's my front wash light here now
00:10:34
let's head on over to our worship center
00:10:37
at south fellowship and i'll illustrate
00:10:39
this to you there welcome to the south
00:10:41
fellowship church worship center in
00:10:43
which i'm going to demo for you some of
00:10:45
these principles that we're talking
00:10:46
about first let's talk about front
00:10:49
lighting so you can see i'm standing
00:10:52
here on the front little platform we
00:10:54
have on our stage and i know every
00:10:56
single stage out there is unique but
00:10:58
most of these principles will always
00:11:00
apply to any church context first i'm
00:11:03
going to go ahead and turn off our front
00:11:05
lights so now there's pretty much no
00:11:07
light in the room except for the light
00:11:09
coming off of the projection that i have
00:11:12
behind me so we have four primary front
00:11:15
wash fixtures in front of me i'll go
00:11:18
ahead and turn those on this is pretty
00:11:19
much at full brightness so you can see
00:11:22
these
00:11:23
lights uh basically you've got one two
00:11:26
three four so if i'm looking straight
00:11:28
ahead out to the congregation
00:11:30
we've got the two lights on the right
00:11:32
side of me
00:11:34
they are about a 45 degree angle up and
00:11:38
that's one important tip i also want to
00:11:39
share with you when it comes to not
00:11:41
having weird shadows on your subject
00:11:43
with front lighting is try to have your
00:11:46
lights for whatever subject you're
00:11:47
trying to light 45 degrees vertically
00:11:51
and then also 45 degrees to the side
00:11:53
works well especially if you can have
00:11:55
two front lights lighting one zone kind
00:11:58
of coming together in one place we don't
00:12:00
really have as many front light fixtures
00:12:02
that i would prefer in this space
00:12:05
but this works pretty well because
00:12:07
whoever's standing on this front
00:12:08
platform here is going to get a pretty
00:12:10
even wash no matter what part of the
00:12:13
platform that they are on so you can see
00:12:15
here as i kind of shuffle back and forth
00:12:17
across the frame sometimes with front
00:12:20
lights you can get a more dramatic look
00:12:22
when you only have one of them lit so i
00:12:24
have this primary key light right here
00:12:27
that's lighting one side of me and it
00:12:28
has some pretty harsh shadows on the
00:12:30
other side and it makes it a bit more
00:12:32
dramatic so that can be appropriate
00:12:34
sometimes especially for maybe a worship
00:12:36
leader if you want the song to look and
00:12:38
feel a little bit more dramatic
00:12:39
but usually when we're doing you know
00:12:41
our teaching
00:12:42
lighting design for our our pastors
00:12:45
we're just going to have those full
00:12:47
front lights on so that there's a nice
00:12:49
even wash all across the subjects who
00:12:52
are on stage step number two is to
00:12:55
implement a kick light or a hair light
00:12:58
or sometimes it's called a kicker light
00:13:01
any of these terms are pretty much
00:13:03
referring to the same thing the purpose
00:13:06
of a kick light and a hair light is to
00:13:09
enhance the look of the subject on stage
00:13:12
you're trying to light like a pastor or
00:13:14
a worship leader anybody else who's
00:13:16
talking during worship by separating
00:13:19
them from their background so that's
00:13:21
what the kick and the hair light does so
00:13:23
we've got my front light and then a kick
00:13:25
light or a hair light is going to be
00:13:27
above the subject and a little bit
00:13:30
behind like not too far behind so in
00:13:33
this scenario here my kick light is this
00:13:36
little led panel that's right above me
00:13:38
my hand is pretty much on it right here
00:13:41
it's probably like a foot or so above my
00:13:43
head out of frame so you can't see it
00:13:46
and you can see how it's it's kind of
00:13:48
has this orange glow around my hat and
00:13:51
here i can kind of adjust the brightness
00:13:52
so it's too much if i do that right i
00:13:55
actually have it on pretty dim i just
00:13:57
want it to be
00:13:58
glowing a little bit and then you can
00:14:00
kind of see again the difference let me
00:14:02
shut it off so that's no hair light
00:14:05
notice how
00:14:06
um kind of flat the image looks and i
00:14:08
kind of get absorbed into the background
00:14:11
behind me right and then when i turn it
00:14:12
on it kind of helps separate me so you
00:14:15
get the hair on my shoulders and on top
00:14:17
of my head and that's separating me from
00:14:19
the background and it's subtle it's one
00:14:21
of those things where like you kind of
00:14:22
almost don't notice at all
00:14:24
until i demo that to you right there and
00:14:26
you see it before and after and it's
00:14:27
like whoa that's a huge difference i
00:14:29
would never want to be without a kick
00:14:31
light or a hair light so let's head on
00:14:33
to the worship center and i'll demo that
00:14:35
for you there so here's what it looks
00:14:36
like with our hair light or our kick
00:14:38
lights on at south fellowship let me go
00:14:40
ahead and i will turn off the front
00:14:43
lights
00:14:44
and now i'm going to only turn on the
00:14:46
back hair light so now you can see
00:14:49
there's sort of a glow around the top of
00:14:51
my head and my shoulders here and it's
00:14:54
creating that separation between me and
00:14:56
the background and here is what that
00:14:59
hair light looks like
00:15:01
from the side angle here so you can kind
00:15:02
of get a better picture of where this
00:15:05
light is placed notice it's not
00:15:07
necessarily a 45 degree angle behind me
00:15:09
it doesn't need to be it can be you know
00:15:11
above me in a little bit behind me i
00:15:13
think it's around like 16 to 20 degrees
00:15:16
or degrees or something like that so
00:15:18
it's not as far back
00:15:20
when you're having the kick lights and
00:15:22
again it's going to create that nice
00:15:24
kind of silhouette look it's going to
00:15:26
separate me from the background so now
00:15:28
i'm going to combine the front lights
00:15:30
with the hair light behind me and here's
00:15:33
what it looks like when i shut off the
00:15:34
hair light you can see it just kind of
00:15:36
like loses that separation of uh from on
00:15:39
the back of me and then i turn the hair
00:15:41
light back on and then that kind of
00:15:43
comes back a little bit here we don't
00:15:45
always have the hair light on 100 full
00:15:47
sometimes around 60 to 70 percent and
00:15:49
let's go back to the front angle here so
00:15:52
you can kind of see the combined results
00:15:54
of these
00:15:56
two lighting fixtures working together
00:15:58
so let's go ahead and turn off
00:16:00
the hair light so no hair light
00:16:03
and now bringing the hair light back on
00:16:06
so that's the hair light or the kick
00:16:07
light demoed in this space we also have
00:16:10
some colored kick lights or hair lights
00:16:13
so if i go ahead and i turn on behind me
00:16:16
here there's a kind of blue you can see
00:16:18
the blue cyan colors behind me and let
00:16:21
me just turn down my front lights just
00:16:23
so you get a better
00:16:25
look at what that looks like here so
00:16:27
this kick light look if you use some
00:16:29
blues or purples in combination with
00:16:32
those front lights it can look really
00:16:34
sharp i think especially for a worship
00:16:36
leader setting i think for like teaching
00:16:38
pastors i usually like to have a more
00:16:41
you know kind of incandescent
00:16:43
warmer look to that kick light that's
00:16:45
why we use our regular fixtures for that
00:16:47
but we do have the blue look here and
00:16:49
then let me go ahead and bring in our
00:16:52
front lights and that's a pretty
00:16:53
pleasing look to have the natural front
00:16:56
light
00:16:57
lighting the front of me and then having
00:16:59
the the blue kick light that again it's
00:17:01
creating that separation between me and
00:17:03
the background step number three which
00:17:05
is very easy to implement in most
00:17:07
churches is a wall wash so whatever
00:17:10
platform or stage you have at your
00:17:12
church you most likely have some walls
00:17:15
at the back of that
00:17:16
space or that stage and one of the
00:17:19
easiest ways to have some some color
00:17:22
lighting design on your stage is to
00:17:24
simply wash color light onto the wall
00:17:27
behind your band i've done this in many
00:17:29
church contexts and now i'm going to
00:17:31
turn on my led light that i have here in
00:17:33
my studio and you'll kind of get a sense
00:17:35
of what i'm talking about so this is an
00:17:37
led light tube i like to use it for
00:17:39
youtube videos and stuff like that it's
00:17:42
a nan light pavo tube 30c i think they
00:17:46
do make dmx enabled ones if you ever
00:17:48
wanted to integrate that into a dmx
00:17:52
lighting system for your church i would
00:17:53
love to get a ton of these sometimes but
00:17:56
in terms of this concept here of a wall
00:17:59
wash it to illustrate this for you i'll
00:18:01
just put it behind me and i'll have it
00:18:03
kind of pointing at the wall behind me
00:18:05
because i don't really want it in front
00:18:06
of me because i'm going to look blue
00:18:08
kind of like a smurf that doesn't look
00:18:09
good right so watch this now that light
00:18:11
is behind me it's directed more at the
00:18:14
wall you can kind of see some of it also
00:18:16
reflecting on me a little bit that light
00:18:18
doesn't give me much control over that
00:18:20
that beam of light it kind of just like
00:18:22
washes everywhere but you get the idea
00:18:24
that's a wall wash and for a lot of
00:18:26
church stage setups and platforms you
00:18:29
probably have some bare walls behind
00:18:31
your band
00:18:32
or you know just behind the pulpit or
00:18:34
wherever it is that if you threw light
00:18:36
onto those walls it's going to add some
00:18:38
nice color and start adding some nice
00:18:41
effects so now let's head on into the
00:18:42
worship center and i'll demonstrate to
00:18:44
you what this looks like in our setup so
00:18:46
we're back here at south fellowship
00:18:47
church and i want to show you our wall
00:18:49
wash fixtures i'm just going to pan over
00:18:51
here and you can kind of get a feel for
00:18:53
it this panel right here
00:18:55
the stage is a little bit of mester in
00:18:56
the midweek here but we have these
00:18:58
wooden panels behind us and i'll cut in
00:19:00
some other footage from other events
00:19:02
that we've had here where you can see
00:19:04
sometimes we actually don't have the
00:19:05
screen behind me we turn the screen
00:19:07
around and we have paneling and we have
00:19:09
lights that are shining down on those
00:19:11
panels that is our wall wash here at
00:19:13
south fellowship and really depending on
00:19:15
the week or the sermon series or the
00:19:17
style we're going for on our stage
00:19:19
design it can be different in how much
00:19:21
wall wash we're using and i do think a
00:19:24
projector like what we're using right
00:19:25
now on a on a white reflective service
00:19:27
surface can function as a wall wash
00:19:30
there's some churches that use kind of
00:19:31
environmental projection and that's
00:19:33
basically what that is is a wall wash
00:19:36
it's adding lots of color behind me and
00:19:38
i have a few different presets so i can
00:19:40
change it to different colors like red
00:19:43
and then we've got
00:19:44
amber
00:19:45
and we've got purple
00:19:47
and we also have some movement in some
00:19:49
of these scenes too so you'll actually
00:19:51
see
00:19:52
these lights kind of fading in and out
00:19:54
behind me you can kind of see them on
00:19:56
the top of the screen because it kind of
00:19:58
washes onto the top of the screen
00:20:00
as well and that adds a cool kind of
00:20:02
visual dynamic all with a simple wall
00:20:05
wash step number four is when you start
00:20:08
adding in atmospheric effect lighting
00:20:11
this is when you start working with
00:20:12
lighting fixtures like moving lights
00:20:14
that have gobos and cool beams and of
00:20:17
course you're gonna need a hazer that
00:20:19
creates that atmospheric effect that you
00:20:21
can see the beams of light
00:20:23
there's blinder fixtures there's lasers
00:20:26
there's all sorts of fancy lights that
00:20:28
you can get into when it comes to the
00:20:30
atmospheric lights and this should
00:20:33
always be step number four there's a
00:20:35
reason why i ordered these steps in the
00:20:37
way that i did because you got to have
00:20:39
number one good front lighting number
00:20:41
two a kick light number three that's
00:20:43
when you can start doing some
00:20:45
wall uh washes and then step number four
00:20:48
that's when you should worry about
00:20:49
moving fixtures and such don't get this
00:20:52
out of order don't go building a
00:20:54
lighting system and thinking oh i need
00:20:55
to buy a bunch of moving lights with
00:20:56
gobos like no don't do that prioritize
00:21:00
in the exact order that i laid them out
00:21:02
for you here so now let's head back on
00:21:04
over to south fellowship church and talk
00:21:07
about some of the atmospheric lighting
00:21:08
effects that we have set up there so
00:21:11
here is our simple use of atmospheric
00:21:14
lighting effects here at south
00:21:15
fellowship i would consider our
00:21:17
atmospheric lights here to be our edison
00:21:20
bulbs so if i turn on these light bulbs
00:21:22
you kind of see them all around the back
00:21:24
of me on stage here we don't run any
00:21:27
haze we don't have any fancy moving
00:21:29
lights but these edison bulbs function
00:21:32
as atmospheric effect lighting you could
00:21:35
also get like tube light fixtures like
00:21:37
the kind i have in my studio
00:21:39
you can again you can get movers
00:21:41
you can get profile lights you can get
00:21:44
led wash movers you can get the ones
00:21:46
that have gobos built into it you can
00:21:48
get blinders there's all sorts of
00:21:50
different atmospheric lights out there
00:21:52
and this is our simple implementation of
00:21:54
it where we made these edison
00:21:57
light stands and we're hanging edison
00:21:58
light bulbs from the ceiling and it just
00:22:00
has a really nice homey cozy glow to the
00:22:04
stage that fits the vibe of our church
00:22:06
so those are the four steps to
00:22:09
professional lighting design have
00:22:10
adequate front wash lights have an
00:22:13
adequate kick light have wall wash and
00:22:15
then have your atmospheric effects but
00:22:18
those last don't put atmospheric effects
00:22:21
before one two or three a word about
00:22:25
style all churches are unique there's so
00:22:28
many different styles of worship out
00:22:30
there and denominations you get
00:22:31
traditional contemporary modern cafe
00:22:34
style churches just all sorts of
00:22:36
different styles right
00:22:38
all churches regardless of your
00:22:40
tradition denomination should observe
00:22:42
steps one and two uh the front and kick
00:22:45
lighting so that people are visible and
00:22:47
your live stream is going to look good i
00:22:49
know sometimes i've hear from people uh
00:22:51
who are like jake i'm at a roman
00:22:54
catholic church or i'm at a lutheran
00:22:56
church and we have a traditional
00:22:57
building and we don't really want to do
00:22:59
like crazy modern lighting and that's
00:23:01
okay you can still observe these
00:23:04
principles from steps one and two when
00:23:06
you have adequate front lights and kick
00:23:08
lights and you don't have to have any
00:23:10
wall washes or any atmospheric effects
00:23:12
and that that can work well for a
00:23:14
traditional church but
00:23:16
you might also want to explore some
00:23:18
different scenarios even if you're a
00:23:20
traditional church you could implement
00:23:22
some wall washes and i've seen that
00:23:23
before there's an anglican church in
00:23:25
town if you look at wellspring anglican
00:23:28
church look them up on youtube we've
00:23:30
done tech tours with them where they had
00:23:32
wall washes and they would change the
00:23:34
colors of those wall washes depending on
00:23:36
the season of the liturgical calendar so
00:23:40
there's actually probably a lot of
00:23:41
creative things you could do with
00:23:42
lighting if you ever went down that
00:23:45
route even if you're in a more
00:23:46
traditional church steps three and four
00:23:48
that we covered in this four-step
00:23:50
process that will look different in
00:23:52
every church setting it has a lot to do
00:23:54
with your mission your style your values
00:23:57
your budget how many of these fancy
00:23:59
lights do you want to get so i'm not
00:24:01
going to prescribe
00:24:02
and say like every single church has to
00:24:04
implement these fancy things like a
00:24:06
hazer machine and moving lights that
00:24:09
that would be foolish it just doesn't
00:24:10
make sense because those are artistic
00:24:12
creative choices that have to be
00:24:14
contextualized to your local church
00:24:17
context and before we move on in this
00:24:19
course i do want to spend some time just
00:24:21
talking about
00:24:22
what is light just the concept of light
00:24:24
hopefully now you have lots of clarity
00:24:27
on that four-step process and how to
00:24:29
design a great system but let's just
00:24:30
talk about the nature of light so light
00:24:32
is a pretty magnificent thing that god
00:24:35
created right and that's what the very
00:24:36
first thing he created was light so it's
00:24:39
kind of a big deal and it's it's a part
00:24:42
of our lives in a lot of different ways
00:24:44
so light exists on the electromagnetic
00:24:46
spectrum and maybe this is going to
00:24:49
bring back some good memories or bad
00:24:51
memories from your high school physics
00:24:54
courses back in the day
00:24:56
but visible light is is just a small
00:24:58
portion of the electromagnetic spectrum
00:25:02
right on the far left you got like radio
00:25:04
waves and on the far right you've got
00:25:06
gamma rays
00:25:08
and in between this is the visible light
00:25:10
that's pretty safe and this is the light
00:25:12
that we can you know see and and
00:25:14
perceive the world around us and then
00:25:17
you have red on the left which has the
00:25:19
the longer wavelengths and then you have
00:25:22
like the violet which has the shorter
00:25:23
wavelengths
00:25:25
none of this is super important or
00:25:26
relevant to church lighting design but
00:25:29
just wanted to bring bring you back to
00:25:31
some of these fundamental principles
00:25:32
about light is that it basically
00:25:35
consists of a ton of different
00:25:37
wavelengths of
00:25:39
electromagnetic particles and waves
00:25:41
right light is both a particle and a
00:25:43
wave i do remember that back from
00:25:44
physics so
00:25:45
that's the first thing to understand
00:25:47
about visible light which was what we
00:25:49
are working with cri is another
00:25:51
important concept to understand when it
00:25:53
comes to
00:25:54
light because a lot of the lighting
00:25:56
fixtures that you're going to purchase
00:25:57
might have a cri
00:25:59
number assigned to them that's a color
00:26:01
rendering index and the
00:26:05
short answer to what this all means is
00:26:07
basically
00:26:09
if you go with a light that's that's
00:26:11
cheap and inexpensive it's going to have
00:26:12
a low cri
00:26:14
and you're going to get very poor
00:26:16
results cheap lights are going to look
00:26:17
bad and
00:26:19
better lights they don't always have to
00:26:20
be super expensive but probably
00:26:22
somewhere in the
00:26:24
high hundreds to a thousand dollars or
00:26:26
so per fixture those are going to have a
00:26:29
higher cri with
00:26:32
a rating of 100. 100 is the same type of
00:26:35
light quality we get from the sun the
00:26:37
sun is emitting
00:26:39
all of the different uh wave forms that
00:26:43
we talked about earlier on this previous
00:26:45
slide pretty much all the red through
00:26:47
the purple at the same amount or mostly
00:26:49
the same amount in such a way that when
00:26:52
the sunlight hits an object like an
00:26:54
apple we we see that the apples color um
00:26:57
in in the most full way it's fully
00:27:00
saturated
00:27:02
and the apple looks great but if you get
00:27:05
cheap little rgbw
00:27:07
parkan light from you know
00:27:10
alibaba or something like that
00:27:12
and you light the apple
00:27:14
that little led park hand because it's
00:27:16
so cheap it's not producing all of the
00:27:19
same wavelengths that you get from the
00:27:21
sun so
00:27:22
you know when you're looking at the
00:27:24
apple you're actually seeing the light
00:27:26
that's being reflected off the apple to
00:27:28
your eye right and if there's not a good
00:27:30
light source that's illuminating that
00:27:32
apple
00:27:33
then you're just not gonna see actually
00:27:35
all of the color that that apple has so
00:27:38
that's why you know cheap light has a
00:27:40
poor cri it's gonna be in 70 and it's
00:27:43
gonna look weird it kind of has this
00:27:44
weird like
00:27:45
purplish tint and that's the same exact
00:27:48
um results that i've seen in some of the
00:27:51
you know cheap led
00:27:53
lights that i've tried to implement at
00:27:54
churches before in the past and i've
00:27:56
always wondered why do they look so
00:27:58
horrible why do the people kind of look
00:27:59
purple on stage
00:28:01
has to do with cri so here's an example
00:28:04
of what a cri test looks like on a light
00:28:07
it's basically divided up into these
00:28:09
like 15
00:28:10
r
00:28:11
zones or measurements the higher that
00:28:14
these measurements are closer to 100
00:28:16
just the more accurate the the color is
00:28:19
going to look of the object that's being
00:28:21
illuminated by this light so the
00:28:23
important thing is to know when it comes
00:28:25
to cri look for things that are at least
00:28:27
like 90 and above if it's below 90
00:28:29
especially for like your front wash
00:28:31
lights when you're illuminating people's
00:28:33
skin tones and you want them to look
00:28:35
natural don't go cheap with inexpensive
00:28:37
low cri lights another concept i want to
00:28:40
make you familiar with is color
00:28:42
temperature so this one's pretty
00:28:44
straightforward even if you're not a
00:28:46
tech geek it's pretty easy to see and
00:28:48
understand what's going on so
00:28:51
color temperature is is the way of
00:28:54
basically rating the the temperature of
00:28:56
that light is it going to be a cooler
00:28:58
temperature is it going to be a warmer
00:29:00
temperature so it's rated in kelvins
00:29:02
that's what k stands for and on the left
00:29:05
side of the chart here you'll see 1500
00:29:07
kelvin is about the equivalent of
00:29:09
candlelight which is about as warm as a
00:29:12
light can possibly get on the right side
00:29:15
you have daylight to ultra daylight so
00:29:18
this is where it starts to get blue or
00:29:20
have a very cool feel too color
00:29:22
temperature is going to be important for
00:29:23
the front lighting that you have at your
00:29:25
church and the sweet spot you're going
00:29:27
to be looking for
00:29:28
color temperature wise for those front
00:29:30
lights is going to be somewhere around
00:29:31
here
00:29:32
4 000. sometimes i have i really prefer
00:29:35
like daylight front lights closer to
00:29:38
like 5 000 but in a
00:29:40
venue like a church where you have a
00:29:42
stage and you also want people to kind
00:29:44
of look good you know in person it's not
00:29:46
just about what you're producing for
00:29:48
camera like i am here
00:29:49
i think the 4 000 4500 range is going to
00:29:52
be ideal for color temperature because
00:29:55
let me show you what happens when i
00:29:56
dramatically change the color
00:29:58
temperature of this key light currently
00:30:00
this color temperature this light is
00:30:01
actually like 5600 now i drop the color
00:30:04
temperature of this light down to 3 000.
00:30:06
and my camera is not on auto white
00:30:09
balance it probably would have adjusted
00:30:11
it automatically i have it locked in to
00:30:13
5600 kelvin because that's what i had
00:30:15
had it at before
00:30:17
and you can just see how
00:30:19
yellow and warm i look in this image so
00:30:22
you definitely don't want to go too warm
00:30:24
because it just looks too warm it
00:30:26
i kind of look orange and here we are
00:30:28
back to 5600 kelvin from my studio key
00:30:31
light now let's talk about ambient light
00:30:33
so ambient light is the light coming
00:30:35
from other sources in a church setting
00:30:37
it's most commonly the windows that you
00:30:39
have within your worship center that can
00:30:42
become an issue sometimes especially if
00:30:44
you're trying to have more of the wall
00:30:46
washes and the atmospheric lighting
00:30:49
effects that have color and the problem
00:30:52
is if you have a ton of ambient light
00:30:54
coming in the room those lights aren't
00:30:56
going to do a whole lot because all the
00:30:58
ambient light is washing out everything
00:31:00
i think if you're in a more traditional
00:31:01
church with big stained glass windows
00:31:03
and you have lots of ambient light
00:31:05
that's fine it you'll just add light to
00:31:08
the front light and maybe a kick light
00:31:10
so that your subjects subjects can be
00:31:12
seen more clearly and generally you're
00:31:14
going to be lighting them a decent
00:31:16
amount brighter than any ambient light
00:31:18
coming in the room but if you're in a
00:31:19
more modern church setting and you you
00:31:21
want to have more control over the color
00:31:24
wall washes or atmospheric washes and
00:31:28
effects and have a hazer that's when
00:31:30
you're going to have to work on some
00:31:31
sort of ambient light control situation
00:31:34
because if you don't then all that
00:31:36
ambient light is going to wash out all
00:31:37
the color and effects and you won't even
00:31:39
know that they're there my favorite
00:31:41
solution to this is using something like
00:31:43
a solar shade so you can contact local
00:31:46
blind supply or shade companies in your
00:31:49
area usually they have options for solar
00:31:51
shades i like solar shades because
00:31:54
they're black they kind of are pretty
00:31:56
minimalistic especially if you roll them
00:31:57
all the way up you just barely can tell
00:31:59
they're even there and then when they're
00:32:01
down you have different options of
00:32:03
having one percent open shades to five
00:32:06
to ten percent um so
00:32:09
you know you could probably get away
00:32:11
with anywhere from i'd say five to one
00:32:13
is what i would prefer we have one
00:32:15
percent in our studio here so we have
00:32:17
big windows over here but you wouldn't
00:32:18
be able to tell because the shades are
00:32:20
only letting in one percent of that
00:32:22
ambient light but then i can still see
00:32:24
outside um so i really like that because
00:32:27
you still get the view of a window
00:32:29
obviously it's a different type of view
00:32:31
because you're looking through that that
00:32:32
shade or that screen
00:32:34
but in a lot of churches that could mean
00:32:36
a lot because i was in a church one time
00:32:38
that has some beautiful stained glass
00:32:39
windows they let in a lot of light so we
00:32:42
put some nice you know sleek shoulder
00:32:44
solar shades um at the top of the the
00:32:46
windows and then you know before our
00:32:48
modern contemporary service we put the
00:32:50
shades down and we just did manual
00:32:52
shades because it took about 30 seconds
00:32:54
to do and then that really controlled a
00:32:56
lot of the amount of ambient light
00:32:58
coming in but then as a congregant you
00:33:01
could still enjoy the the beautiful
00:33:03
design of the stained glass because it
00:33:05
was still coming through at one percent
00:33:08
through that shade so solar shades i
00:33:10
love them i'm always a big advocate for
00:33:12
those especially for churches if you
00:33:13
want to still see out the windows and
00:33:15
have the feel that you have windows i've
00:33:17
seen motorized curtains at churches i've
00:33:19
seen motorized garage doors there's all
00:33:22
sorts of solutions out there but just be
00:33:24
mindful of ambient light in whatever
00:33:27
church situation you find yourself
00:33:29
finally i want to talk about the most
00:33:30
common mistakes to avoid when it comes
00:33:32
to lighting in a church setting
00:33:35
here they are not enough front light or
00:33:38
key light so people just aren't being
00:33:40
lit adequately enough um having no back
00:33:43
or kick or kicker light at all
00:33:45
having no hair light so the image just
00:33:47
looks really flat and the subjects are
00:33:49
not standing out from the background not
00:33:51
having beam control basically these
00:33:53
first three problems are so common and
00:33:55
these are the exact ones that i showed
00:33:57
you back at grace church so you have a
00:33:59
bunch of maybe front lights but they're
00:34:01
just washing over the entire stage they
00:34:03
were never aimed intentionally anywhere
00:34:05
you don't have barn doors or shutters on
00:34:07
those fixtures so the light just goes
00:34:09
everywhere
00:34:10
and then complex lighting control this
00:34:13
is another very common thing where
00:34:14
someone at some time purchased the big
00:34:17
fancy theatrical lighting console for
00:34:19
your church it's completely overkill
00:34:22
nobody knows how to run it it's really
00:34:23
frustrating and just makes you want to
00:34:25
pull your hair out and you just hope
00:34:26
that nothing breaks and you cross your
00:34:28
fingers so
00:34:29
we're going to be talking about
00:34:30
simplifying your lighting control with
00:34:32
lightkey later on in the course and then
00:34:34
finally another very common mistake is
00:34:36
using inexpensive low cri fixtures which
00:34:39
we talked about earlier of trying to
00:34:41
save a buck you get cheap fixtures and
00:34:44
then everybody just looks they look
00:34:45
sickly it looks purple or
00:34:48
just looks very strange especially on
00:34:51
camera so these are the common mistakes
00:34:53
to avoid if you avoid these your
00:34:55
lighting's going to look amazing by just
00:34:58
avoiding these common mistakes so that
00:34:59
concludes this lesson on lighting theory
00:35:02
in best practices
00:35:04
please please implement the four steps i
00:35:07
talked about earlier in order and keep
00:35:10
these steps in mind as we go about
00:35:12
thinking about the anatomy of a lighting
00:35:14
system as you design your system and
00:35:16
then you actually start working in your
00:35:18
control software come back to these
00:35:21
re-watch the lesson if you need to
00:35:23
because you are going to be using these
00:35:25
in whichever church lighting context you
00:35:27
find yourself and that concludes this
00:35:30
lesson
00:35:31
thanks so much for watching this video
00:35:33
if you want more in-depth lessons on
00:35:35
implementing the best gear and software
00:35:37
in your ministry check out
00:35:39
worshipministryschool.com
00:35:41
not only do we have a comprehensive
00:35:43
course library on all of the subjects
00:35:46
when it comes to audio visuals lighting
00:35:48
automation and broadcast but you can
00:35:49
also get one-to-one coaching from one of
00:35:52
our team members and there's even an
00:35:54
option where we can come to your church
00:35:56
to help you optimize these things in
00:35:58
person within just a few days so go to
00:36:00
worshipministryschool.com
00:36:02
apply to join our program and we'll talk
00:36:04
soon thanks for watching i'll see you
00:36:06
next time
00:36:16
you