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Thread: First Dance Lighting?

  1. #1
    Casual77's Avatar
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    Default First Dance Lighting?

    I've done about ten gigs now over the past few months and the lights I've got have served me well and been appropriate to the parties I've done.... But, I haven't done a wedding gig yet. It's looking likely that I will be doing my first on the 25th July and it has got me thinking what lighting I would use for the first dance. Having thought about it I'm not sure anything I've got would really fit the bill.

    So, can anyone suggest any reasonably priced lighting units that work well for first dances?

  2. #2
    Imagine's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Casual77 View Post
    I've done about ten gigs now over the past few months and the lights I've got have served me well and been appropriate to the parties I've done.... But, I haven't done a wedding gig yet. It's looking likely that I will be doing my first on the 25th July and it has got me thinking what lighting I would use for the first dance. Having thought about it I'm not sure anything I've got would really fit the bill.

    So, can anyone suggest any reasonably priced lighting units that work well for first dances?
    Let's start at the beginning then

    What lighting are you currently using? Can it be made to run on a static colour at all?
    The most important thing I've found is to speak to the B&G, and probably more importantly the photographer (they don't normally like a lot of dots and it's one of the most important photos they do..)

    For my part, I use an Equinox booth dressed in white with a starcloth underneath which is set to static during the first dance, two aluminium podiums which are uplit to the B&G's preference of colour (again static). These have on top my pair of Spherions (the only "dots" I use for the first dance) and if needed, a little colour wash from some LED PAR's - that's literally it.

    A big NO-NO is smoke/haze - it makes the TOG's flash act as a filter unless you've got a really good quality TOG there. If not, 9 times out of 10 they'll have their flash bounce back off the haze and no photos.

    Once the first dance is over, it's obviously open season for everything to flash and spin as normal

  3. #3
    Sapphire Disco's Avatar
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    I use this in static bright white light setting.

    http://www.thomann.de/gb/cameo_multi...ing_bundle.htm

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    Casual77's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Imagine View Post
    Let's start at the beginning then

    What lighting are you currently using? Can it be made to run on a static colour at all?
    The most important thing I've found is to speak to the B&G, and probably more importantly the photographer (they don't normally like a lot of dots and it's one of the most important photos they do..)

    For my part, I use an Equinox booth dressed in white with a starcloth underneath which is set to static during the first dance, two aluminium podiums which are uplit to the B&G's preference of colour (again static). These have on top my pair of Spherions (the only "dots" I use for the first dance) and if needed, a little colour wash from some LED PAR's - that's literally it.

    A big NO-NO is smoke/haze - it makes the TOG's flash act as a filter unless you've got a really good quality TOG there. If not, 9 times out of 10 they'll have their flash bounce back off the haze and no photos.

    Once the first dance is over, it's obviously open season for everything to flash and spin as normal
    'Flashing', 'Spinning' and 'dotty' describes the bulk of my lights in fairness and I realise I need something a bit more sedate. I've got an Equinox MegaBar and a pair of adj tri pars which will do static colour but I haven't used either on gigs yet because they seem a bit uninspiring. Besides them I've got Chauvet GigBars, Chauvet Mini Kintas, Acme 25 Spins, Chauvet 4play, Chauvet Swarm 5fx, adj inno pocket spots, Acme butterfly quads, Kam 3d laser, adj freq5 strobe.... Which are all good in their own ways for birthday gigs but not subtle and classy enough for that first dance moment (unless there are settings that would be suitable that I don't know about?)

    Should I have something that will act as a slow moving spotlight? Some kind of gobo projector maybe?

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    I've thought about buying a pair of Sperions but the cost of the truss plinths have put me off that idea because it seems that they will cost more than the lights.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Sapphire Disco View Post
    I use this in static bright white light setting.

    http://www.thomann.de/gb/cameo_multi...ing_bundle.htm
    Is a static bright white light enough on its own in your opinion? I would have thought that there would need to be something else to provide a bit of gentle movement.

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    If anything, I tend to just put my GigaBar on a static or slow colour change program & leave it at that. Togs seem to like it - they have the option of getting pictures where light is hitting things if they want, but since the room I play in the most is glass roofed without blinds... it's pretty much daylight til long after the 1st dance anyway.

    Before the light nights, I absolutely wouldn't switch the boss' Revos or lasers on for the 1st dance until the photographer gave me the nod that they were finished. FWIW those were the only lights he put in there so it was all or nothing - and I chose nothing.

    Wayne is spot on about recommending you don't use fog or haze until after the 1st dance.. flash bounce will ruin any chance of getting good photos. Even if the photographer has an extensive setup they won't thank you for hazing the place out.

    Don't underestimate the power of wash lighting. Too many DJs (and venues) do still forget about it & I find that disappointing. Yeah it's 'old' and 'boring' but it's also the easiest way to achieve the biggest change in ambience in a room - next to moving head gobos gliding around the place easily the classiest IMHO. With reflected light off walls & ceilings you can hit a way bigger surface area than dotty effects can.

    If a gigabar can do static colour(s) or a nice sedate colour fade, get it doing that.

    Get your inno pocket spots doing a slow sweep around the place too maybe.

    For when the dark nights arrive I've got some DMX programs up my sleeve.. my gigabar will be on a (dimmed) slow colour change in keeping with the colour theme (or static) - and my scanners going around the dancefloor in a figure 8 nice & slowly.. in a static colour with a suitable gobo. Assuming the 1st dance is a 'romantic' number that is.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Casual77 View Post
    I've thought about buying a pair of Sperions but the cost of the truss plinths have put me off that idea because it seems that they will cost more than the lights.
    There's more than one way to mount a Spherion... atop a speaker, from a clamp on a speaker stand, on the top of a tripod...

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    Ezekiel 25:17 funkymook's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by juski View Post
    There's more than one way to mount a Spherion... atop a speaker, from a clamp on a speaker stand, on the top of a tripod...
    and hanging down from a T-bar, one on each end, that’s how I do mine when not using the plinths.

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    Quote Originally Posted by juski View Post
    If anything, I tend to just put my GigaBar on a static or slow colour change program & leave it at that. Togs seem to like it - they have the option of getting pictures where light is hitting things if they want, but since the room I play in the most is glass roofed without blinds... it's pretty much daylight til long after the 1st dance anyway.

    Before the light nights, I absolutely wouldn't switch the boss' Revos or lasers on for the 1st dance until the photographer gave me the nod that they were finished. FWIW those were the only lights he put in there so it was all or nothing - and I chose nothing.

    Wayne is spot on about recommending you don't use fog or haze until after the 1st dance.. flash bounce will ruin any chance of getting good photos. Even if the photographer has an extensive setup they won't thank you for hazing the place out.

    Don't underestimate the power of wash lighting. Too many DJs (and venues) do still forget about it & I find that disappointing. Yeah it's 'old' and 'boring' but it's also the easiest way to achieve the biggest change in ambience in a room - next to moving head gobos gliding around the place easily the classiest IMHO. With reflected light off walls & ceilings you can hit a way bigger surface area than dotty effects can.

    If a gigabar can do static colour(s) or a nice sedate colour fade, get it doing that.

    Get your inno pocket spots doing a slow sweep around the place too maybe.

    For when the dark nights arrive I've got some DMX programs up my sleeve.. my gigabar will be on a (dimmed) slow colour change in keeping with the colour theme (or static) - and my scanners going around the dancefloor in a figure 8 nice & slowly.. in a static colour with a suitable gobo. Assuming the 1st dance is a 'romantic' number that is.
    I'm wondering if the pair of ADJ Tripars linked with some kind of rotating wedding gobo (any suggestions for a suitable gobo projector?) and the adj inno spots might do the trick then. I could set those up on my overhead bar along with my other lights or maybe just swap the tri pars after the first dance is out of the way for something a bit more dynamic like the Mini Kintas.

    I've just put a photo of my setup on the gallery section and would welcome any suggestions based on modifying that.

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