Dramatic Landscape Lighting Effects with Mirroring
Posted by Kathleen | Filed under Landscape Lighting Effects
You’ve most likely marveled at the beauty of a mountain scene reflected in a still lake or an architectural feature such as the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Memorial inverted in the reflecting pool. This stunning effect can be emulated in your own backyard and scaled up dramatically by incorporating landscape lighting.
The benefit of using landscape lighting to reproduce a mirrored image of a particular garden feature is that the result is even more dramatic at night. The absence of light on the water of a reflecting pond leaves it black and of apparently infinite depth. The trick is to illuminate the feature you want to mirror rather than the water in which it is to be mirrored.
The image at the beginning of this post, of the reflecting pool at the Tomb of Hafez in Iran, shows how beautiful illuminated architecture and trees appear when reflected in still water. A gazebo or decorative wall can be equally stunning but don’t forget statuary which can be dramatically set and lit to reflect.
As important as what you are lighting is how you are lighting it. Your objective is to illuminate only the feature or features you want reflected. In laying out your lighting scheme, do your best to minimize the amount of light that directly reaches the water feature. It should only be light reflected from the object that reaches the water.
Finally, as you layout your design and plan your mirrored pool, consider perspective. This is a striking lighting plan and it should be planned with striking impact in mind. Consider the flow of traffic through your garden or positions of view such as from a main window in the home, from a seating area in your garden or an approaching path that brings the stunning reflection suddenly into view.
Planning landscape lighting to mirror an object takes a commitment of time and the end result requires a commitment of space. A reflecting pool isn’t something you can just relocate on a whim so if you opt for this garden lighting strategy, you want to do your best to get it right from the start. The payoff can be the show-piece of your garden, day or night; something that guests won’t be able to help but notice and remember.
Tags: garden lighting, landscape lighting, lighting effects, mirroring, reflecting pond, reflecting pool
Hiding Undesirable Features with Outside Lighting
Posted by Kathleen | Filed under Planning Outside Lighting
As you peruse the posts here at Lighting up Landscaping, you’ll discover that we’re doing the best we can to take the mystery out of the process to help you create to-die-for landscaping. In the process we offer both practical solutions and focus also on the artistic elements. After all, anybody can just plant some landscape lights and walk away with an illuminated garden. But illuminated doesn’t necessarily translate into attractive. It pays to know what works and what the benefits are to better help you plan your creation.
Thinking logically about outdoor landscape lighting, you should have realized by now that you’re really only getting the benefit at night. But take a look around your garden during the day time and expand the depth of your vision beyond the confines of your garden a bit. What do you see that you don’t like? Looking out over my modest townhouse garden plot and beyond, I see telephone poles and power lines. I see the building across the street. I see taller vehicles such as SUVs and vans parked along the access road behind my garden. None of it adds to the visual appeal of my garden even in the best of circumstances.
Now bring your focus in and take a look around your garden. Stand in each corner and really “see” what you’re up against. Are there features inside the boundary of your wall or fence that detract from the overall beauty? In my own garden I see the AC unit, electric meters, two trashcans, a hose caddy and a grill. All of these are useful and I really can’t do without them but none are particularly attractive. Does your garden contain similar features you’d rather were invisible when hosting or entertaining?
It’s with these unappealing elements in mind where your landscape lights really have the opportunity to shine. Sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun. The point is that landscaping lighting trumps daylight for the simple reason that daylight illuminates everything. The ugly telephone poles, the power lines, the neighbor’s property and surrounding buildings, and anything else you wish weren’t visible and detracting from the overall theme and beauty of your prize garden.
Well planned outdoor garden lighting affords you the opportunity to feature only those elements that should “pop” while the absence of that brilliant bulb in the sky in the evening leaves those undesirable features conveniently hidden. It’s one of the reasons I’m such a fan of hosting events at night. Great features such as a pond, a beautiful tree accented by up-lighting, or a whimsically lit garden path serve attract the eye to what you want seen. Meanwhile, all the rest is hidden in the convenient blanket of the night.
So before you dig a trench for your conduit or purchase landscape lighting kits, have a good look around and think not just about what you want to highlight but also about what you want to hide. With outside lighting, it’s as much about what isn’t lit as about what is.
Tags: landscape lighting kits, landscape lights, outdoor garden lighting, outdoor landscape lighting, Outside lighting
