I'm asking about street busking. I realize busking means something different in stage lighting. But on the street, at night I'm looking to light performer(s). I'm not looking for special-effect lighting, so I'm thinking soft-edges and minimal shadows.

I have limited experience with stage lighting and DMX control, but I am not looking for anything near as complex as that.

I need battery-powered lights, and fortunately LED's make that quite practical. However, I'm not sure how to use them properly.

I understand the basic light is the PAR. I've used lots of PAR cans on a truss in the past. For my current application, I could just get a couple of Chauvet battery-powered RGBA PAR64's and put them on stands and point them at performers. But is this the right thing? I see them being used more often for wash applications.

I don't have any training in stage lighting, just hands-on practical experience. So nobody ever explained the theory of it.

Ellipsoidals are probably the next most common after PAR's. I understand how they're more adjustable, but I'm not sure they offer any advantage I can put to use on the street. They seem more fit to working in a complex environment.

I don't have any experience with LED stage lights yet. I see them used all the time, but my limited experience pre-dates them. What I do believe is LED tends to have a narrow beam. Narrow beams work against me on the street because it puts the light at greater distances from the performer which increases the footprint which is not something we want busking.

Fresnels usually work well for flood lighting with a soft edge.

Other options I've seen that come out of the photography and video market are LED Lite Pads, and Soft Lites. In particular, the Neewer 160 LED light panels look like they might do what I want, and for real cheap.

I need something simple that can sit on the ground or fit on one or two small stands, but that doesn't look like just a flashlight shining up on the performer.

Get some 1x1 Daylite Panels. This is probably the most cost efficient and portable option. They have some that run off power and some that have an optional V-Clip Battery pack. The battery is pretty expensive for these.

If you're in a major city you can usually rent these from a photo or video production rental house like CSI or VER.