Lighting Lights

Lighting Lights

Retail Lighting Options

Changing the look of your retail store can be as easy as changing the lighting. Lighting can make a big difference in the look and feel of your store. It can also make a difference in your customer’s buying mood and impression of your inventory.

Track lighting is really the most versatile and effective lighting product on the market today. You can illuminate displays, store fronts, window displays and more. Many retailers use track lighting inside of their glass display cases as well. Cash register areas and important signage can be accented with track lighting.

Track lighting can be hung on a track from the ceiling. With adjustable heads, they are versatile tools for lighting up wall displays. They are high up, small and almost completely out of sight, so they do not detract attention from the products you are highlighting.

New trends are leaning towards single lights that hang down on a wire. With these, you can use decorative or contemporary heads to help distinguish yourself from the competition. Task areas and counters can be illuminated and decorated at the same time. These types of lights are referred to as pendant lights. They make usable light in low-light areas. Art glass and other decorative covers make pendant lights a wonderful addition to just about any store.

Lighting can also help with promotions. Our eyes are naturally drawn to areas of different lighting. That display back in the corner may have been overlooked before, but if you come up with a lighting scheme that accents this area, you could be seeing your customers become interested again. This enables you to draw attention to areas that need it and help your items suddenly look more attractive.

Lighting also works well for theft prevention. Shoplifters need to feel secluded and secretive when they are doing their deeds. Dark corners and dim lighting are their friends. Lighting up areas that you suspect may be inviting to a thief will help deter them from getting comfortable enough to steal your merchandise. Extra lighting in your dressing room areas is also helpful in theft prevention.

There are all kinds of track lighting and specialty lighting products on the market today. You can choose from high efficiency fluorescent or metal halide lamps. You can choose low or line volt lights. The possibilities are endless when it comes to lighting and a little money goes a long way. This inexpensive upgrade to your store can help you to promote items, improve the look and feel of your store and at the same time, deter shoplifters from targeting you. Lighting could be one of the most important store fixtures that you consider in your store.

About the Author

About the Author: Ron Maier is the Vice President of S & L Store Fixtures, a leading provider of retail store displays and store fixtures, including slatwall accessories, mannequins and more. For more information, please visit www.slstoredisplays.com.

What are the best lights for lighting a movie shot in mini DV format?

I think that one is pretty self explanitory. If you've got some good brands for me to check out, let me know. Also, if you know of any good books on the configuration of lights for this purpose, throw it out there. Any answers are appreciated! Thanks! Also - Try and answer my other question in Do It Yourself asking "How do I get a bar?"

Don't worry about brands of lights. Light is light, and it doesn't matter who made the instrument. What you really need to worry about is how many lights you can get, what you're pointing them at, and who's going to be in charge of setting them up? Since you're working with little/no budget you have to make the most of your resources. Have you considered using *no* lights? If you've never heard of Dogma films, then take a while to read about them.

http://www.google.com/search?q=dogma+95&start=0&ie=utf-8

The Dogma films prove that quality movies can be made with no outside lighting at all, and it's definitely worth a look.

If you're determined to use outside lights, then you're going to have to get them from somewhere. Borrowing or renting is the way to go, as buying them will be prohibitively expensive. If you go the rental route, be sure to mention that you're a student / indie filmmaker. Many rental houses will cut you a break now in hopes of keeping your business later.

The next key thing to worry about is who's in charge of the lights. A competent cinematographer can do more with four well-placed lights than an amateur with a truck full of equipment. Get someone with experience shooting on DV, and take full advantage of what they know. Make sure they can shoot *your* kind of movie, as well. Someone who's shot twenty horror films and nothing else might be completely useless if you're making a romantic comedy.

There are a million books on cinema lighting, and I can't really say that there's one best one out there. If you don't have much of a background in lighting then the most basic place you should start is reading up on three-point lighting.

Google for "three-point lighting"

http://www.google.com/search?q=three+point+lighting&start=0&ie=utf-8

A clear explanation of 3-point for computer-generated scenes. (It's still the same theory)

http://www.andrew-whitehurst.net/3point.html

Last but not least, read a little about color temperature, color correcting gels, diffusion, and the tools you need to cut & shape lights (flags, silks, nets, cookies). Those fine touches are what separate amateur lighting (which looks doubly worse on video) from professional level work.

"Shedding Some Light" on Lighting Technologies