Landscape Lighting, Outdoor Lighting

The primary reason for installing landscape lighting is to increase security and safety around your home, but the other main reason why you install landscape lighting is to assist you in showcasing your home and its grounds. When establishing where to install landscape lighting, you should generally select two focal points, or centers of attention, to show off. By focusing light on the attractive features you've chosen, you make them easier to view, more attractive, and the end result is that they stand out in your domestic landscape.

The rest of your home's landscaping is, then, set to surround your central focal point. The rest of the space is regarded as working to complement the central point, and all the elements will work together harmoniously. If you are trying to illuminate walls, gazebos, or garden ponds, then you are likely to choose floodlighting, which is the most effective way to brighten a large or wide landscape feature. For illuminating pathways, driveways, or other more narrow areas - particularly those which serve a definite function and need to be very visible - path lighting is the best choice.

Generally speaking, there are five kinds of landscape lighting that work to flaunt the virtues of your landscape.

The first type is the area fixture. This is an indirect lighting source that spreads a large sheet of light on the ground or upon the chosen surface. This type of lighting is often used for lighting driveways, for highlighting isolated planters, or to brighten the perimeter of a landscape.

The second type of landscape lighting is the directional fixture. This type of light throws light into one direction and can be aimed very specifically like a stage light. A directional light is often used for flood lighting (to illuminate signs, walls, hedges, and to generally increase home security) and for spot lighting (to illuminate installations such as flagpoles or statuary, or to flaunt particular plantings).

A third type of landscape lighting fixture is the compact fluorescent. Compact fluorescent lighting has received a lot of media attention lately because of its "green" qualities. The Environmental Protection Agency recommends compact fluorescent bulbs because they save energy and money. They use 2/3 less energy in comparison to traditional (incandescent) lighting fixtures, and last much longer. Compact fluorescent bulbs can be used in many lighting fixtures inside the house, and more and more people are realizing that as they save money on their indoor lighting, they can also save on their outdoor lighting by using compact fluorescent there too. The light emitted from an outdoor compact fluorescent fixture is very soft and wide-angled; you would use this for flood lighting or general lighting purposes (say, to illuminate a parking area or a deck). It is an extremely effective lighting choice.

Path fixtures, a fourth lighting option, are light sources that emit a smaller amount of light than area lighting. These are generally used to illuminate finite outdoor areas, such as alleyways, the area between a house and a garage, or a doorway. They can also be used for showcasing specific landscaping elements (a particular shrub or planter). A path fixture provides lighting in transitional areas that are otherwise neglected by larger lighting fixtures.

The last category of landscape lighting is the specialty fixture. These are lighting fixtures that are installed in unusual places. They may be hung from architectural details on a house, or placed on a flat surface outside the home, to add light for visitors walking around the grounds and play up the details on a house. A domestic garden with a water feature may have specialty lighting installed to bring attention to the feature (and prevent strollers from falling into the feature in the dark). Other specialty fixtures that are familiar to homeowners include step lighting and brick lighting; these are fixtures that are installed at front entrances, patios, and at other entryways to the home that may have poor visibility after sundown.

As different rooms in the home have different lighting needs, so too does the exterior of the house have varying lighting needs. Everyone's primary concern is personal safety: no one enjoys stumbling in the dark. But when pragmatic concerns are taken care of - once you have established where you need lighting installed to assure the safety of your family and your guests - light installation then becomes a matter of evolving aesthetics. Use lighting fixtures to accentuate your landscape's beauties and you will enjoy your home all the more.