For trade show lighting, one of the first things I do when I’m drawing up a lighting plot for an exhibition booth is to pull out some photometric data sheets. These tell an LD how much candlepower and beam spread they can get from a typical lighting fixture. Say I have to light a six-foot-by-12-foot banner from a distance of 30 feet. I will look on this sheet to find the lens that will give me enough beam spread to cover this item, whether I’m using a PAR, Fresnel or Leko. The smaller the degree lens, the brighter the beam. Most lighting shows use dimmers to control the amount of light from a fixture. So I always opt for the brightest, tightest lens to cover a product fully. But I always bring plenty of spare lenses, because I don’t always get it right on paper.
—Nook Schoenfeld, from LD-at-Large, PLSN, Jan. 2009
