Nuts and Bolts of Lighting
 

And clamps and stands etc.

Does anyone know of a good book or other resource that focuses on the physical aspects of setting up lighting? I think I have enough of a library on how to light for artistic effect, green screen etc.

What I'm looking for is something that will give me an education on rigging or setting up the lighting instruments, so I can plan what I need to buy in addition to the lights themselves.

Well, if it doesn't plug in, then it's probably considered "grip" equipment. Stands, mounts, dollies, cranes, camera cars, flags, scrims, diffusion - all fall under the grip department, and hence to find more info on those matters, look for "grip" as opposed to "lighting." It'll cover a lot more than you're asking, but a great resource is Michael Uva's "The Grip Book." Uva's books are the bibles of griptionary, and that particular book covers the various tools of the trade... and will probably leave you with the (correct) assumption that you should buy every mount, stand, widget, gadget ever made that could cleverly solve a possible situation. The cool and sometimes scary realization about gripping is that if you encounter a strange mounting situation, there's probably a tool you don't own that can solve it. One more thing to buy. That said, a grip is also a problem solver... like an on-set engineer - so don't think that you're limited - if you make it work safely, then you're doing it right.

Hope that answers your question?

Jason,

Thanks for the lead. I'll follow up on it.

Set Lighting Technicians Handbook by Harry C. Box. Published by Focal Press. This book is used as a text book by many organizations in the film and TV industry.

"Set Lighting Technician's Handbook":
http://www.amazon.com/Set-Lighting-T...8919620&sr=8-2

"The Grip Book":
http://www.amazon.com/Grip-Book-Thir...8919620&sr=8-1

And for good measure, "The Camera Assistant":
http://www.amazon.com/Camera-Assista...8919620&sr=8-4

All three books have full table of contents you can read on line, so see if they cover what you want. All three are excellent.

Thanks again for the suggestions. I have the Box book and it has a lot of good info on power, cabling etc but I didn't find enough on the mechanics of rigging the instruments which is what prompted the question. I think The Grip Book looks like a winner though.

I'm not going to get into any really heavy duty setups (at least not yet!) but want to be smart enough to be able to know more about what kind of clamp or stud will fit what kind of light, how to actually hang the lights so they don't fall down, etc.

I ordered it last night.

here is a great DVD, it is mostly for ENG style shoots, but if thats what you shoot, you are in luck. this video is awesome.

http://www.vortexmedia.com/LightingDVD/LIGHTING.html