Lighting Engineer Job Description

Lighting Design

Lighting Designers plan and design lighting. They work with a lot of people, including interior designers, engineers and architects. The lighting design can be used in a variety of spaces.

A Lighting Designer is usually a member of a collaborative team. They work for lighting companies, architecture or interior design firms and service clients, but sometimes they work for a large venue and are in charge of designing lighting for the venue's events. The Lighting Designer must travel to the site to assess and analyze it in order to effectively design lighting systems for a given site.

They communicate with the customer to understand their needs. A team of electrical engineers will travel to the site. The Lighting Designer designs a lighting plan for the site according to customer specifications, the assessment of the site itself and safety concerns, including state and local energy and building codes.

They act as a liaison between the client and engineering departments during the design process, balancing client desires and aesthetic concerns. A lighting designer needs to pay attention to their budget. They need to make sure that the lighting system they are designing is within the client's budget, because they are usually working within the financial constraints of their client.

They collect all the receipts for expenses. Once the lighting and electrical systems are approved, the Lighting Designer will join a team of people to install them. They hang and focus all lighting devices and install proper electrical lines.

Experience and Pay in the Lighting Industry

Experience is a huge factor in the salary of lighting engineers. Many jobs are on a short term basis, and it is common for the person who is doing the job to be paid a daily rate. The pay is influenced by the type of production.

There are many qualifications for aspiring lighting engineers at the University and College level. Experience is important in the industry so don't rely on qualifications alone to get a job. Depending on the type of production being worked on, the environment of a lighting engineer can vary a lot.

Work can be done in a television studio, outside at an open air concert or in a theatre. The hours are usually long and are done on 12 hour shifts. Heavy equipment and the physical nature of the job make it tiring.

The Salary and Experience of a Production Lighting Technician

Lighting technicians work on all types of programmes and may cover productions inside or outside of a studio. The lighting team's work is important, as lighting creates the right atmosphere to set a scene and evoke an audience's response. You will usually work in a team, as technicians need to carry out heavy lifting and may need to work at heights to correctly position the lighting.

You must always be aware of health and safety requirements while setting up lights, changing them over, and running cables. Depending on the production and experience you have, salaries can vary a lot. The average salary for employed lighting technicians is around $36,600 per year, but you may need to start on a lower salary in order to secure work and gain experience.

Most new entrants are qualified electricians who have obtained skills through training courses such as those offered by City & Guilds. After their studies, they gain practical experience in production lighting. You can become an electrician through an apprenticeship.

The industry body ScreenSkills has more information qualifications. Pre-entry experience is essential. Look for experience with a specialist lighting company or lighting equipment hire company.

Try searching for film and TV companies using listings such as Pact - Find a Member or The Knowledge. Try to work on a student or community film project while at college. You can join a drama society to learn more about lighting and the technical aspects of the job.

Developing an Engineer's Skills

The skills required to be an engineer include both hard and soft skills. They allow an engineer to perform the labor of the position and also work with coworkers to operate as a unit efficiently. Strong problem-solving abilities are a crucial skill an engineer can possess.

An engineer is responsible for assessing a situation, identifying problems and then finding solutions. Employers want to see that you can handle obstacles in your daily work. Even if you are working in a field of engineering, you will likely need to use computers to do your job.

Programming is a skill that is appealing to prospective employers and is valuable across a broad range of engineering disciplines. A hiring professional needs to be able to determine if you are capable of performing as an engineer in the field of the company for which you are applying. If you don't have direct experience in the field, highlight your skills in your previous engineering positions.

A candidate needs to be reliable under stress. By highlighting your ability to deliver in difficult situations, you can make yourself more appealing to potential employers. Few engineering projects will see an engineer working alone.

It is important that you have the skills to work together and perform to your highest ability. When working in a field that is important, such as engineering, an individual must have a strong attention to detail. Financial losses and potentially dangerous situations can be caused by small errors in the drafting or execution of technical plans.

Communication in Engineering

Engineering is an exciting field that offers a lot of personal satisfaction and significant earning potential. Depending on the engineer's focus, there are many different jobs to choose from. You could study computer hardware engineering, electrical engineering, or dozens of other engineering disciplines.

Not everyone can be an engineer. Skills and knowledge are very demanding. Education and training requirements are included in all engineering roles.

Communication between colleagues is very important in engineering. You will have to communicate with people outside of the field, such as clients and the general public, who do not have a technical background. It's important that you can translate your knowledge into terms that your department can understand.

Communication is one of the most challenging soft skills for engineers. Complexities must be broken down into simpler words for your peers and managers. Engineers often manage teams and have to integrate with auxiliary departments to meet deadlines.

Many engineers go on to become CEOs and thought leaders because of the administrative demands they have to meet. Engineers that need project management skills can get a project management certification. Engineers can get certified in project management with some companies.

Design and Implementation of Stage Lighting

There are a wide variety of styles for lighting. The holder for the light source is the most important function. Some are very functional and others are pieces of art.

It is possible to use nearly any material, as long as it can tolerate excess heat and is in keeping with safety codes. Light fixture wall-plug efficiency is an important property of light fixture and is measured in kilowatt hours per watt. A fixture using replaceable light sources can have its efficiency quoted as the percentage of light that goes from the "bulb" to the surroundings.

The higher the efficacy, the more transparent the lighting fixture is. The light will usually decrease efficacy but it will increase directionality and visual comfort. White light sources use color temperature in their applications.

The color temperature of a white light source is the temperature in kelvins of a theoretical black body emitter that is closest to the lamp's characteristics. The color temperature of an incandescent bulb is between 3000 and 2800 kelvins. The yellow and red part of the visible spectrum has more energy in the lower color temperature lamps.

For critical inspection or color matching tasks, the color temperature of the lamps will be selected for the best overall lighting effect. The portable or table lamp is the most common fixture in homes and offices. The desk lamp is considered task lighting, while the standard lamp and shade that sits on a table is general lighting.