This is a fun look at lighting categories.
It’s mainly for those who know what they want the lighting to look like in action, but have no idea what those type of lights are called, or which category they should be looking in to find them.
Our own categories and descriptions are at the end of this post if you want to skip straight there.
We were recently having a debate about categories of lighting and how to split the lighting up into different categories on our website.
Every website seems to have lights in differently named categories. Many lights are a crossover between categories too. It’s such a dilemma.
Some people obviously know exactly what lighting they are looking for, so can just put the name or type of lighting in the search bar.
Some have an idea of what they want but it isn’t in the category they thought they would find it.
This is often because so many lights these days actually fit into 2 or more categories, especially the ones they call hybrid lights.
And, of course, companies don’t like to add them into both categories.
I think they should, but it’s probably not good for the way the website works, or they think it will confuse people.
Personally, I think they should be listed as things like:
- Swivel lights
- Mood lights
- Long lights
- Fancy lights
- Swirly lights
- Bright stick lights
- Flashing lights
- All-types-on-one-bar lights
- Round sparkly lights
- Fireworky lights
Or even call them descriptive things we can all understand like:
- Patterned circles around the room lights
- Fluttery things around the room lights
- All-over-the-place lights
- Make your teeth glow lights
- Patterns on the dance floor lights
- Patterns up on the ceiling lights
- Brighten up the wall lights
- Light up the DJ or stage lights
- Things that go ‘whoosh’ lights
And of course, to make them look better – instead of faze, haze, smoke or fog machines, why not just – Smokey stuff
And then there are the various names for the same thing, for instance:
The Mirror Ball, Mirrorball, Disco Ball, Glitter Ball, Glitterball debate….all names for the same round twinkly glass ball that throws light around that we all know, as they have been around for decades.
It’s like all the various names for the tall rectangular things that lights stand on top of, which are called various things like:
- moving head stands
- lighting stands (not to be confused with with tripod stands)
- totems
- podiums
- truss stands
- plinths
- towers
And then there are the stand which DJ’s work behind, and these are called different things too:
- DJ Booth
- DJ Event Table
- DJ Façade
- DJ Screen
It is hard to know what to put in a search bar to bring up the thing you are really looking for with all these different names, but in lighting it is especially difficult.
So there is no real answer to our debate, because some people will think a light will be in one category, but it may be in another, depending on where each company decides to actually put them on their website.
We’ve tried to keep it as simple as possible and decided to just use 3 actual lighting categories.
Moving Heads – these are the lights that twist and twirl and send gobos (images) all over the place
Spotlight, LED Pars and LED Bars – these light up areas with multiple colour changing lights in various ways
Effect and Deco Lights – these are lights that create an effect, or decorate the room, or are multiple types of lights
plus
Haze, Faze, Smoke and Fog Machines – they all create various depths of misty fog to make the lights look more atmospheric
We have pictures and videos of all the lighting to help you decide which ones you would like to hire, but often it is best to just ask us if you have no idea what you are looking for and we will be only too pleased to advise you.
p.s. And, of course, you can just use my personal descriptions of the type of lighting you want, or your own descriptions.
For instance, if you want ‘the lights that give patterned circles around the room’, then please just ask for that and we will know exactly what you mean.