LED stage lights use light-emitting diodes and a mixture of red, green and blue hues to produce light of any color along the visible spectrum. The three main types of LED stage lights are PAR cans, moving head and strip lights. PAR cans use a parabolic aluminized reflector lamp and are used extensively in theater, music concerts and motion picture production. Moving head lights are used for preprogrammed lighting effects because they adjust and change direction automatically. Strip lights typically stretch above the stage from left to right and across the floor downstage, better known as footlights.
Fresnel spots are the spotlights at the front of the stage used to create washes of light and mood lighting across the entire stage. Using a spherical reflector, the lens is adjusted by moving the lamp back and forth inside the light, producing a variety of soft-edge spotlights. For music venues, the best power for Fresnel lamps is 500 watts. Bigger venues such as theaters or large concert halls require more power, from 650 to 1,200 watts.
Prism convex spotlights, are stage spotlights that produce more intensity than Fresnel spots with an adjustable medium sized light beam. The range of beam size is greater than other close-lighting spots but is susceptible to developing holes in the center of the beam when the focus is at its widest. Pebble convex and plano convex are also referred to as PC spots and are used to flood the stage with broader beams of light.
Profile spots, technically known as ellipsoidal reflector spotlights, are used to produce a relatively small pool of light with a fixed beam from a long distance. This style of spotlight is commonly used in theatrical productions and is versatile enough to execute the majority of lighting tricks of the trade. The lenses on these spotlights can be adjusted to give a hard or soft edge, while keeping the width of the beam fixed. The profile spotlights are capable of a beam angle variation of 6 degrees, for a tighter more focused spotlight, to 50 degrees, better for softer light pattern washes.