In the first part of this little collection we discussed selecting bright projectors (or as bright as you can afford) and using multiple projectors to get as much light for your image as possible.
So you've got your 7000 lumen laser projector - brilliant. That's a lot... until you remember that a single Source Four Jr HPL575 outputs almost 15,000 lumens, over a smaller area.
Stage lighting can easily wash out most projectors, and it's more of a problem in smaller stages as you can't usually get the actors (and therefore light) far away from your projection surface physically.
Lighting with Projection
Projection is, after all, just more light with a different purpose and it all has to compete when it falls on your projection surface and bounces back to your audiences' eyes.
The reality is there will there will always be some compromises here unless you have a huge budget for bright projectors or a huge stage to achieve the impossible level of separation that is needed (if you can, keep your actors a few metres from the projection surface and most of these problems go away - but I was working on a stage a little under 5m in depth)
I speak from recent experience when I say how disappointing it is to see your beautiful colourful imagery end up washed out the second you turn on even the slightest stage wash!
So, let's accept the limitations here and discuss what we can do about it. Light only has a few properties that we can control (brightness, angle, colour, shape) and they can all be manipulated in our favour.
A (not so) bright idea
Let's start with brightness. Turn the lights down if you can. When competing with projection every bit of light that hits the screen or whatever you're projecting on that didn't come from the projector will dilute the brilliance of your projected art, so the first thing to do is reduce it.
Again, a common 'problem' with amateur lighting in my experience is the desire to turn them 'on' and 'off' resulting in lots of fixtures at, or near, 100% intensity. With modern retina-burning LEDs and even the humble HPL575 this is rarely neccessary.
The eye perceives differences in light, and adjust to lower levels well. A show that is lit with a maximum intensity of 30% might feel 'dark' at first if you've just walked in from outside, but if you let the house lights fade out slowly and keep the audience in the dark for just a little longer when the lights fade up then you can achieve a 'bright' day on stage with far less light than you might expect, and this will help your projections 'pop'
We are fortunate enough to have LED fixtures, so there's no issue with the colour temperature shift which can cause dim scenes to feel overly 'warm' even with cooler gels. In my recent show/experiment, no front light fixture went over 40%, and the play didn't feel 'too dark'.
Sidelight is your Friend
This cannot be understated, and unfortunately I wasn't able to incorporate it much in the finished design for the show I was working on due to other constraints, but it makes a huge difference if it works in your space.
If you light entirely from the front, you hit your projection surface. From above, even with a matt black dancefloor, the reflections still hit the projection surface, whatever you do it seems, light will hit the projection surface.
If you can put some wide profiles or fresnels on booms in the wings far enough off-stage then these can provide most of your general lighting, but you'll still need some light from other angles of course.
Barndoors, Shutters, and Foil Tape...
Focus fixtures to keep as much light off the projection surface as possible - profiles (with shutters) and fresnels (with barn doors) are a lot more useful in this respect than pars or floods which offer little in the way of shaping controls.
Start by trying to keep all the light off the projection surface, and see if your cast can remain lit (work with the director and adjust blocking as required). If you can't, then open up shutters and barn doors just enough to light the tallest actor at the furthest upstage point and soften the edges.