Learning about lighting

[DyFamCont]

Evening all,

I've had a few discussions recently that have made me realise that I know nothing about lighting. Does anyone have any recommended resources or courses? I'm talking about between the bulb and the eye, rather than the DB to bulb bit, such as positioning, angles brightness etc. Arty stuff rather than technical.

At the moment I'm just suggesting stuff I like to fit and looks OK, but I'd like to be able to offer decent advice.

Cheers

 

[littlespark]

You don’t need to know much about lighting…. You just need to make the customer think you do.

A few big words usually help.

“Lumenescence” is always a good one.


Lighting design is all down to what the area or room is being used for.
Warm white for cosy living room feel…. Daylight white for car showrooms when paint colour is the selling point…..

And for restaurants…. As little light as possible.

 

[Rockingit]

It's a broad subject, but I know my way around pretty much every flavour - ask away!

Some things to consider as starting points:
1) we don't see 'light', we see the affects of it's reflection on something according to the R,G & B receptor cones in our eyes, hence it is subjective to the viewer
2) a light emitting device is rarely even, there will always be a part of the dispersal that is 'hotter' (= brighter - term = Hotspot) than the surrounding corona
3) the 'colour' of light is measured in degrees Kelvin
4) if you place two identical light sources side by side, each with a different colouring (or colour temperature) you'll obtain a different 'amount' (luminousity [measured in Lux]) for each due to differences in the wavelengths.
5) A tungsten lamp produces light as a by-product of heat, and LED lamps produce heat as a by-product of light

6) - Edison patented the Electric Lamp, NOT the Electric Bulb - hence Lamp is the correct term!!

 

[DefyG]

There is plenty of useful information online.
A good place to start might be with recommended lighting levels (Lux, Lumens per sq m) etc. Most LED lamps have lm specified on the packaging so as a basic design its easy to work out No. lamps required to meet recommended lighting level - lm/m but there are many other design criteria to take into consideration.

 

[R-fur]

For some reason lamp diameters are measured in 1/8th of an inch.
so a T7 is a tube that is 7/8 of an inch in diameter
A PAR 38 is a polarised aluminum reflector that is 38/8 or 4 3/4 inch in diameter

 

[littlespark]

For some reason lamp diameters are measured in 1/8th of an inch.
so a T7 is a tube that is 7/8 of an inch in diameter
A PAR 38 is a polarised aluminum reflector that is 38/8 or 4 3/4 inch in diameter

But an R63 and R50 are metric 63mm dia. and 50mm

 

[DefyG]

And MR16 and MR11 are 50 and 35mm diameter respectively ........ makes sense eh?

 

[littlespark]

I actually think the T number on fluorescents is the distance between pin centres in mm, not imperial

Standard lamps, E27, B22 etc are millimetres diameters also.

I don’t have one at hand, but I expect a GU10 is 10mm between pin centres?


So we’ve got two measurements… pin or contact distance, and lamp shape. Also to add to power consumption and lumens.

 

[mainline]

You don’t need to know much about lighting…. You just need to make the customer think you do.

A few big words usually help.

“Lumenescence” is always a good one.

Not if the customer can spell,

 

[brianmoooore]

I actually think the T number on fluorescents is the distance between pin centres in mm, not imperial

Nope! R-fur's right on this one. T(tubular)8 tube is 1" in diameter.