Landscape Lighting

As intimated in the last installment of landscape lighting, smart use of basic lighting theories and tools widely used by professionals will transform your property into an inviting interplay of light and dark with intrigue, magic and mystery built in.  Without having to acquire an advanced PhD in Photometrics, anyone can master these simple techniques with outstanding results.  The one overriding rule of thumb is to conceal the source of light in such a way as to create an assortment of effects that capture the imagination.  Glare is the enemy of a well crafted lightscape.

Table of Contents

• Path Lighting
• Uplighting
• Step and Wall Lights

It Starts with Path Lighting

There is a certain amount of trepidation in all of us when it comes to blindly stepping into the dark and for good reason.  Enter the path light.  Path lights are most commonly used to open up an illuminated accessway from here to there.  This was the original intent, and to this end, they performed this function beautifully.  But in reality, path lights are far more versatile than just highlighting the location of your next footfall.  

At night, our eyes instinctively start at our feet and move outward. Path lights can be used to lead our guests’ eyes anywhere we wish. There are few straight lines in nature, and we should keep this in mind when positioning path lighting. A wandering, meandering pathway creates an element of intrigue, inviting further discovery.

Indirect Lighting: Path lights circling the border of a patio or scattered in the surrounding garden provide ample light as they spill illumination onto the paving stones, permitting ease of movement without creating glare or intrusiveness. 

Path lights can also add dimension to the flatness of night when thoughtfully positioned in a garden near shrubs or trees where access was never intended. Foreground and background now come alive with hidden light pools, drawing our vision to shadows, forms, and textures that otherwise do not exist during daylight hours.

Backlighting a masonry wall is another form of interplay with light and shadows favored by many professionals. Silhouetting an object using a light source behind it lends a further quality of mystery dimension and form.

Path lights come in many different designs and heights, each creating its own special effect, both on the ground and the silhouette of its own shape.  It is important to keep in mind path lights come both 12 volt and 120 volts with the 12 volt variety being more decorative-the 120 volt systems more functional.

Uplighting

Uplighting, accomplished with either well lights or an assortment of adjustable bullet lights, dramatically changes the downward quality of path lights into a stunning explosion of upward patterns.  Illuminating the underside of branches of trees, foliage, and large bushes is a favorite technique one should not overlook.  Every nightscape should contain several of these fixtures strategically placed to anchor the corners or to frame edges of illumination. 

Beam angles are an important consideration when placing uplights into your design.  Narrow spots (45 degrees) are perfect for illuminating specific pieces of art or creating a hot zone in your plantings.  Wide floods (120 degrees) will cover wider areas with slightly less dramatic softer effect.

Step and Wall Lights

The advent of LED lighting has greatly improved step and wall lights by allowing for small pinpoint concentrations of baffled light in areas critical for passage.  One hidden step quickly becomes a disastrous misstep while ascending/descending a set of deck stairs.  Advances in this technology and design now offer an affordable solution, creating one more layer of lighting in your overall lighting scheme.

Theories of Landscape Lighting — When Too Much is Too Much

If there is ever a time when ‘less is more’, it is in the design stage of landscape lighting.  Too much, and walkways become runways, while backyards become ball fields.  The objective is to not drown out the night with a blaze of stadium lighting (unless, of course, night sports are your thing).  A sweet spot exists where this amazing interplay of light and dark infuses the flatness of night with the proper mixture of assorted landscape lights.  Finding and hitting that spot is the key.  When done correctly, a transformative sculpted depth of field comes alive with hidden colors bursting out of the night in both front and rear yards.

Think of landscape lighting as a landscaper designing plantings- low in the front, medium height in the center and higher in the back. The higher the light source (pole lights) the greater the spread of light but similar effects can be achieved with indirect lighting or working smaller fixtures into the design.  Too much lighting can spoil the effect and can even be dangerous.  An example is misaimed up-lighting around the front; instead of providing illumination of the steps, your departing guests are blinded by the glare.

Methods: The Four Types of Lighting

• Security – Flood lighting, still the greatest deterrent to crimes at night
• Access – Path lights connecting one area to another while preventing injury
• Accent – Adds drama, often achieved with well-up and down lighting
• Task – Where greater illumination is required as around the barbeque

Objectives Before You Start. What Is Important to Illuminate?

• Observe other landscape lighting for those features that appeal to you.
• What is it you wish to highlight?
• Stay within your budget, you can always add on later.
• Identify select features in your landscape worthy of being part of your nightscape.
• Bring areas or items alive that normally go unnoticed in the wash of daylight.
• Be cleaver-combine more than one of the four methods (security, access, accent, task) together for striking results.
• Enhance the mystery by concealing the light source and not the lit object.
• Entranceways require specific attention and inviting lighting techniques.
• Positioning-keep wall washing up lights on your house away from windows

Remember-attractively illuminated areas not only draw attention, but they also draw foot traffic.  Be sure a safe means of access (path lights) is in your plan.  A well-lit gazebo needs an equally attractive means to guide your guests to and from.

Landscape Lighting Help With Lippolis Electric

Reach out to our team to transform your yard into a dream space and become the envy of the neighborhood!