What You Need To Know About Landscape Lighting
Apr 19th 2024
Installing landscape lighting is one of the best ways to transform your backyard from basic to bling. It boosts your property’s visual appeal while highlighting the structural characteristics like plants and trees. When it comes to landscape lighting less is more. This is because lighting everything up washes the yard out, as well as increases your power bill.
Good landscape lighting should create contrast and shadows using the plants and structures in your yard. During the night, you need a reliable lighting system that illuminates the walkway around your yard. For these reasons, it is important to know which type of lighting best suits your yard and which features in your yard you like and want to illuminate.
Types of Landscape Lighting
Some of the common landscape lighting you can use for your backyard include:
- Piermont Lights
These are made to install on top of a structure or post. They are more commonly used for gates, entries, around the deck or on fences to make the architectural design of these features more appealing.
- Step and Deck Lights
These add safe passage to dimly lit or dark stairs, as well as accentuating architectural designs. They are directly installed into a yard’s decking or hardscape. Step and deck lights can also be used to light up entertainment spaces and for washing light down the stone walls.
- Spotlights
These are hands down one of the most sought-after landscape lighting options today. They can be used to highlight various outdoor features such as buildings, architectural and sculptural details, as well as plants and trees
- Path Lights
Path lights consist of small posts that are capped diffuser and built-in lights. They have many uses including being used to frame out a feature or space in the yard. They can also be spread out along a walkway to add an illuminating appeal, lined down around a pond, down a path or along the outline of your driveway.
Ways of Lighting up Your Landscape
Now that you know which lights you can use in your landscape, it is important you understand which lighting effects best suit which structures. Discussed below are some of the lighting effects you might be interested in trying:
- Silhouetting
This is best applied to highlight dramatic shapes that are usually hidden in the daylight. To have a beautiful silhouette, put the source of light behind the structure while illuminating toward the main vantage point. Make sure the light source cannot be seen for the best results use spotlights or well lights.
- Moon Lighting
This is very effective especially when you have larger trees in your yard. In moon lighting, the light source should be placed high up in the tree looking down, shedding light on the ground below. Moon lighting best works with open-branched trees and with spotlights as the light source.
- Up Lighting
This technique is used when one wants to create drama with a tree or any other taller structure. You can decide on highlighting the underside of the canopy smaller trees or the trunk of larger trees. Up lighting best works with well lights or spotlights.
Before proceeding with your landscape lighting plan, it is best if you consult with a professional like the team at Fitz’s Fish Ponds to learn more about your landscape lighting options.
