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Outdoor lighting landscape you can use for your garden or backyard.

There is a variety of techniques you can use for outdoor lighting landscape. Three of the most popular are uplighting, downligting and spotlighting. Downlighting uses a light that shines down on a plant or tree from above. This is similar to moonlight. Uplighting uses a light that shines up on a plant or tree from the bottom. This displays the plant or tree at night.

I think that uplighting is more popular because it is easier to install but downlighting provides a more dramatic effect. Spotlighting usually directs a light from the side of the plant or tree and can also create shadow of the object. Spotlighting is also easy to install.

 

Practical outdoor lighting techniques

Other popular techniques for outdoor lighting are more practical than esthetic, but still look enchanting at night. Step lighting is designed to illuminate the stairs for safety reasons. This is similar and has the purpose of lights on an airplane or movie theater isle, to provide safety. Step lighting can be mounted on a post or recessed on the stairs themselves. It’s a good idea to look at the different styles of lighting reviewed on this site and your application to decide the best light for your needs. I’ve seen rope lights installed on steps that look quite nice.

A path light has the same purpose of a step light - to provide safety - but it usually a different style of light. Like a step light it directs the light down and not in your eyes. It is usually slightly elevated to provide a greater illuminated area. On this site you can also find recessed lights that are good for driveway marker lights or paths.

For both step and path lights, low voltage landscape lighting is a good choice. This is because low voltage lighting is easy and safe to install. Low voltage lighting is different than line-voltage systems. This is because instead tapping power from your house wiring you plug a low voltage transformer into your outside outlet. Also, because it is low voltage, the wiring is thinner and easier to hide. It’s a good idea to have an outside outlet close to where you want your transformer and you should probably have an electrician install a weatherproof outlet box with GFCI protection if one isn’t already available.

 

 
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