Outdoor Lighting Types

Outdoor lighting varies in type depending on what you want to accomplish. In most cases, the lighting is there to enable you to see things, and the type of light will vary depending on what you need to be seen. In other cases, though, the light can be purely or at least largely decorative and meant to draw attention to itself. This article will discuss some of the types of lighting that are available and what those types can be used for.

Down Lights

Just as the name implies, down lights shine down. Their purpose is to provide illumination for the ground below. Often they are placed along the side of a wall or fence.

Up Lights

If down lights shine down, obviously up lights shine up. But where do they point? Lights shining directly up would serve little purpose except to blind people who are walking above them. Up lights are angled up, but also toward something such as a wall so they can illuminate the whole thing. Up lights may also be placed under a tree to spread light into the tree branches, creating an artistic effect.

Well Lights

Well lights are recessed in the ground in order to provide illumination for a garden or pathway. They shouldn't shine too brightly if people are going to be walking near them. Otherwise they can have a blinding effect. But they can provide a small amount of light that helps define a path or the contours of a garden. Placed next to a shrub, they can function as up lights to bring out the beauty of the plant.

Path Lights

If you really want to mark a path, well lights aren't the way to go. Path lights are raised up on short poles so they can direct their light downward at the path they illuminated. They're shielded on top so they won't blind the walker. This makes it easy to see where the path is beneath one's feet and where it's headed off in the distance.

Step Lights

Step lights are like path lights, but are meant to illuminate steps. They need to be carefully placed so that the shadows created don't obscure the height or depth of the steps.

Spotlights

Spotlights are meant to focus bright light on a single, well-defined area. Perhaps a statue, a birdbath, or a shrub would make a good focus for a spotlight. When used this way, their purpose is primarily decorative. But spotlights can also be used to point out potential hazards such as stones or rough ground.

Flood Lights

Flood lights are meant to bathe a large area in light. They aren't particularly decorative, but they may be helpful for a backyard barbecue that goes into the night.

Safety Lights

Safety lighting is powerful lighting that comes on when a sensor detects motion. Garish and blinding, there is nothing decorative about this lighting. It should be used only where and only when necessary.

Decorative Lighting

That leaves little lighthouses, garden frogs that glow, and all sorts of other lights that don't really shine on anything else. But they light up from within to show themselves off and add to the look or yard or garden.