The Basics of Churches Lighting
Selecting the right lights for churches lighting is extremely important for the architecture of the churches. You must use the lights in churches in such a way that they do enhance not only the beauty of the place but also provide the proper illumination. A well-lit church is an excellent help to the worshippers as well. Moreover, light is used in many passages in Bible. This tells us how important the lights are in religion. For all of these reasons, it becomes essential to light up the churches properly.
Want to know more about churches lighting? This article will tell you everything you need to know about lighting up the churches adequately. Stay tuned.
Why Is Churches Lighting Important?
Churches lighting is essential for many reasons. The proper lighting enables the sense of vision of the people and provides a lot of other benefits as well. Let’s take a look at some of the advantages below.
Illuminates the Stage
The primary function of church lights is to enable the audience to see the stage and the people on the stage. If the audience cannot see the people clearly, they will not understand anything that is going on. For this reason, church lights must be used to illuminate the entire stage and the people on the stage. It is not difficult to light up a small church. But, when the place gets bigger, you need to make sure that you use the correct lighting.
Sets the Mood
It is crucial to set the mood of the people who attend the church services. It will help them connect to the sermon and other performances on a deeper level. In addition to highlighting and illuminating the people on the stage, church lights can also set the people’s mood in the congregation. Using bright lights will not only set a cheerful mood but will also make the church look larger. What’s more, you can even add some colored lights to match the mood of the musicals or the sermons taking place in the church.
Keeps The Focus of the People
Keeping the focus of the people throughout the service is extremely important. This is where church lighting can aid you. You can use these lights to establish the focus of the audience. People are drawn more to brighter colors. So, you must use bright lights if you want people to focus more on you. Moreover, using bright lights will create less distraction among people as well. If you’re going to convey the transition from one part to another, you can cut off the lights on one part and illuminate the area where you want the people to focus. This will convey the message to the congregation that they should now look on the other side of the stage.
Creates the layers
A captivating church performance has many layers. You can add layers to the performance with the help of church lighting. You can easily use church lights to paint a picture on the stage. In this way, you will not need to use any props either. All you will need to use are the excellent lights, and you are good to go. Furthermore, you can even use it to create a landscape or an environment if you do not already have prepared scenery. This is why it is imperative to use the proper church lighting.
5. Pure Aesthetics
Another reason that the church lighting is essential because it helps in creating aesthetics. The lights add depth and visual interest to the things taking place on the stage. You can achieve pure aesthetics by a technique called backlighting. It helps the key subjects stand out from the background by outlining them with a brighter light. Moreover, you can even add colors on the stage to bring the visual interest of the people present in the congregation. You can even illuminate the architectural features of the stage by using different colors. This is why the proper use of church lighting is so important. It sets the entire atmosphere of the church and helps people focus.
Top Essentials for Modern Churches Lighting
Lighting is an integral part of churches. Versatile lighting will help you see what’s going on the stage and enhance the worship experience of the worshippers. Modern churches lighting is a bit different from the traditional churches lighting. For this reason, you must know all the essentials of contemporary church lighting. Want to learn more about these essentials? Let’s check them out below.
1. LED Fixtures
The most crucial role of any churches lighting is to ensure that everyone can see everyone on the stage in the congregation. Apart from this, it is also vital that the people on the stage are brightly illuminated for live streaming. This is where modern LED fixtures step in. Until previously, the lights that were used drew a lot of power and produced a great deal of heat. But, this is not the case with modern LED fixtures. They produce better lights than traditional lights. What’s more, they are perfect for showing the natural skin tones of the people on the stage.
2. Wash Lights
Apart from modern LED fixtures, colored wash churches lighting can significantly impact the environment of the church. These lights provide a vibrant background that helps the people in the church to worship and preach. Thus, using key lights alone is not essential. You must use wash lights to set the environment of the church as well. You can mix the LED colors in the LED fixtures with different intensities. It will create limitless shades and hues. You can use these different shades and hues to match the mood of different songs and sermons in the church.
3. Beams and GOBOs
The next important essential for modern churches lighting are beams and GOBOs. You can enhance the atmosphere and aesthetics of the stage with the help of these lights. Also known as moving headlight fixtures, these lights are used to create a pattern on the stage. Moreover, you can generate GOBO patterns on the walls and ceilings of the church as well. If you use these lights with haze machines, you can even create a pattern through the air. If you want to use a single model that provides both beams and GOBOs, you must go for the latest hybrid models.
4. DMX LED Lighting
A lot of churches are now using DMX LED lighting technology. These lights help the churches cover house lighting duties. Wide-angled wash fixtures are used to light up the charge before and after the service. It does not only light up the church but provides easy control of the house lighting as well. Moreover, these lights are incredibly flexible and creative. As a result, they offer to light up all parts or the central part of the church with any color at any time you want. This lighting technique also extends to the seating area connecting the congregation to the people on the stage.
5. LED Video Panels
Live streaming is a part of almost all the churches’ worship service these days. You need to have crisp and bright video lights so that the audience can see what’s going on the stage. Some small churches cannot afford projectors as they are pretty expensive. This is where LED video panels can help them. These video panels are highly affordable to be used by small and medium-sized churches. These video panels are not only affordable, but they offer exceptional brightness and contrast. This ensures that everyone can see the proceedings of the stage without the need to strain their eyes.
Different Churches Lighting Position for You
There are different positions in which you can use the lights in churches. It all depends upon your creativity and ideas. But, most of the churches focus on the five central positions. Let’s check out these five significant positions below.
1. Front Lighting
Front lighting is the primary source of lighting in churches. These lights are positioned explicitly in the rigs to provide visibility to the people in the congregation. Mostly, the lights are hung in the front position of the church, such as beam positions, trusses, or over the head of the people in the congregation. But, make sure that you do not place too many lights in the front. Otherwise, it will flatten out the other three-dimensional shapes. This is why it is crucial to balance the front lights in the churches with other lights. It would be best if you used enough lights to make the people on the stage visible, but you need to balance it with different angles.
2. Back Lighting
The lights that are hung behind the people on the stage are known as backlighting. Backlighting is helpful to create an impactful environment in the church. It also gives depth to the people on the stage by helping them stand out from the background. If you use the backlights alone, it creates a halo effect on the stage. If you mix other angles of lights, such as side and front lighting, you will make the objects on the stage pop out from the background with the backlights.
3. Side Lighting
Side lighting is another critical churches lighting position. This position is used to give shape to the people on the stage. There are different types of side lighting as well. Some common side lighting examples are High Sides, Low Sides, and Dance Sides. High Sides is the lighting position that gives the designers an excellent hybrid system to provide both visibility and shape to the people in the congregation. Low Sides, also known as Pipe Ends is a standard angle positioned at the end of the stage. This position is used to free up the middle of the batten space. As a result, the top and backlights get more coverage. Dance Sides is a lighting position where the lights are hung on vertical booms at the side of the stage.
4. Down Lighting
Down lighting is also known as foot lighting. This lighting position is one of the oldest positions that are used in churches. Earlier, candles were placed on the stage to light it up. Some people even placed the candles behind the jar of colored water to give the colored light effect to the stage. Nowadays, down lights are used to illuminate the area on the stage with a soft or harsh light.
5. High-Side Lighting
High-side lighting is also a significant lighting position. This enables the people in the congregation to see the facial expressions of the performers easily. This is why it is one of the most crucial lighting positions used in churches. It allows the congregation to connect on a deeper level with the people on the stage.
Some Common Churches Lighting Problems and How to Fix Them
Is the lighting in the churches’ streaming not looking as good as it does in person? If you want to fix the problem, then all you need to do is make some adjustments to the equipment and the fixtures instead of adding more lights. It will help you achieve the effect that you want. We have discussed some typical churches lighting problems below, along with their solutions. Let’s take a look at them.
Faces in the Shadow
If you frequently notice the faces in the shadow, such as under hair, noses, and brows, then there is a chance that overhead lights cause the shadows. When the overhead lights shine directly down, they cause the shadow on faces. This is why you need to make a slight adjustment to these lights. You must adjust them to an angle toward the pulpit to make them work correctly. This will eliminate the problem of faces in the shadow. You can also fix this problem by adjusting the lower lighting in front.
Dark and Light Images
Another common problem that you may face during the churches’ streaming is too dark and light images. But, you don’t need to worry anymore. There is a straightforward solution to this. If your stream is coming out too dark, then you need to widen the aperture in the camera’s lens. Another thing that you can do is slow down the shutter speed. Make sure that the shutter speed is twice the frame rate. On the other hand, if the images are too light, then you can narrow down the aperture in the camera’s lens. Moreover, you can also speed up the shutter. Just keep experimenting until you find the perfect balance of light.
Dark Spots on the Stage
Are you frequently facing dark spots on the stage? These dark spots are caused when there is not enough lighting or when there are lighting gaps. To fix the problem of dark spots on the stage, all you need to do is reposition the lights. It would help if you moved them in such a way that they cover the churches’ stage more evenly. You can even add additional fixtures to your stage. This will fill additional gaps in the lights.
Different Colors of Light
If you are using bulbs of different color temperatures in the church, then there are chances that they will produce various shades of lights. A lot of people deliberately use bulbs of different color temperatures to get a dramatic effect. If this is not what you are looking for, then there is a very simple thing you can do to fix this problem. Just make sure that the bulbs you use are all of the same colors. When you use bulbs of the same color temperature, you will not face different light colors.
No Separation between People and the Background
If you cannot differentiate between the people and the background, then there is a very simple solution to this. All you need to do is use backlighting, and you will see the results for yourself. A lot of people make the mistake of positioning all the lights in front, side, or overhead. As a result, the people present in the church flatten in the background. So, when you add a backlight to the podium, it will create separation between the people and the background.
Some Common Tips for a Successful Churches Lighting Project
Did you recently get a churches lighting project? While the church lighting may look a bit complicated to the first-timers, this is not the case. All you need to do is follow some basic lighting tips, and you are good to go. Let’s take a look at these tips below.
Keep the Location in Mind
Location is a significant factor to keep in mind while handling the church lighting project. For this, you need to keep two things in mind. It would help if you placed the fixtures over the seating area. This will allow people to read easily. Apart from this, you must space the fixtures based on light coverage and spacing of the windows and any other architectural elements.
Consider the Mounting Height of the Fixtures
The mounting height of the pendants is another critical factor that you need to consider. It would be best if you suspended the pendants in such a way that the distance between the floor and the bottom of the fixture is approximately 1.2 times the distance between the fixtures. So, make sure that you consider the mounting height of the fixtures while dealing with your church lighting project.
Use Lights According to the Performance
When there is a performance taking place in a church, you need to adjust the lights according to the performance. It would help if you used dim lights for slower songs. On the other hand, brighter lights are more suitable for fast songs. So, make sure that you use the lights according to the performance taking place on the stage of the church.
Do Not Use Two Saturated Colors Together
Another critical thing to keep in mind while dealing with the church lighting project is avoiding two saturated colors together. For example, you must not use red and blue color lights together. It can easily distract people. Not only this, but these lights are not suitable for worship or a Sunday song.
Avoid the ‘Green Goblin’ Look
Apart from avoiding red and blue lights together, you must also avoid the ‘Green Goblin’ look. This look includes using yellow and green lights together. Not only do these lights look unattractive, but they are not suitable for a church event as well. These types of lights are only ideal for a special concert or a youthful event.
Final Words
Churches lighting is no doubt important. A well-lit church is not only great for worshippers but also enhances the beauty of the place. For this reason, you must follow the above guide for your churches lighting project. Looking for more information? Contact us now!
