When you start considering landscape lighting, the first decision should be what effect you want to create overall. Do you want subdued, understated lighting? Or do you prefer bright, visible lighting? Once you know just how much illumination you prefer, you can start to browse the different techniques that will help you achieve the overall effect you want to create.
Here are three main categories that most landscape lighting falls into.
- Up Lighting
- Down Lighting
- Path & Step Lighting
Each category contains its own different techniques, so using a combination of the techniques will help you achieve a gorgeous and secure outdoor environment. Let’s start with Up Lighting…
1: Up Landscape Lighting
When choosing your lighting, you can dramatize your current outdoor features such as the landscape and architecture from below.
What is Up Lighting? It is one of the techniques most commonly used to accent certain focus points of the landscape or to create shadows on a wall. Suppose you have a potted plant outside? You could illuminate the plant with several spot light fixtures surrounding the pot angling upwards. Up lighting doesn’t only apply to plants; sculptures, garden statues or structures. Even boulders can be accented with Up lighting.
The intention of Up lighting is to draw attention to something. Fixtures are aimed a certain direction to avoid a direct glare from onlookers and are typically camouflaged by being put near shrubbery, which provides a more natural landscape design.
Our next post (part 2) will go into illuminating something from above with Down Landscape lighting.
Proactive Landscaping – Your Broken Arrow Landscape Lighting Professionals
For a free consultation your landscape lighting project, contact Proactive Landscaping today.
