9 garden lighting techniques used by designers

Adding lights to your garden and outdoor areas can change the look of your house and make the space charming. They also allow you to use the outdoor space at night by making it safe. Incorporate some of these top techniques used by designers to light up your garden:

1. Uplighting:

Uplighting refers to lighting that is focused upwards towards an object. This type of lighting will be placed on a lower level, or at ground level. Uplighting can bring a dramatic effect to your garden by creating beautiful shadows on the walls. To incorporate uplighting, use spotlights to highlight a beautiful tree or water feature, or use a well light to add light to your lawn.

2. Downlighting:

Downlighting is used to focus the light towards an object placed below it. Downlights are mostly wall mounted, and are useful in bringing out the patterns and textures on the wall. Use downlighting to provide light to outdoor seating and dining areas, and to bring focus on flowering shrubs and unusual foliage plants.

3. Grazing:

Wall grazing is a lighting technique used to bring out wall details. If the house, garden wall or a pillar uses materials like brick, rocks or stucco, wall grazing can be used to bring out the texture of the material. The technique uses soft lights placed above or below focused onto the detailed surface, bringing out the texture through shadows.

4. Cross lighting:

Cross Lighting places two light sources on either side of the object to highlight it and remove shadows. For example, you can use cross lighting on a tree by using two uplights from either side of the tree. Cross lighting is a useful technique to highlight plants, trees and even statues.

5. Silhouetting:

In silhouetting, a light source provides light behind an object, making the silhouette stand out. A tree or shrub that is silhouetted will be more distinct, with the form of the tree contrasting against the soft white background created by the light.

6. Shadowing:

Shadowing uses lights to create shadows onto the wall or any other surface. Trees with unique shapes and leaves create beautiful shadows when lit this way. Shadowing can also be used to add more interest to an otherwise plain wall.

7. Moon Lighting:

A type of downlighting, the technique of moonlighting is used to create a light that resembles being under the moon. To create this, a light source is placed inside a tree pointing below. This will cause the light to hit the ground with shadows from the tree. This technique also works well with ponds and other water features.

8. Path lighting:

Path Lighting makes use of bollards, lamps and well lights to illuminate pathways. This ensures that the pathway is well lit while also emphasising the textures on the path. Path lighting also includes lighting steps in the garden and outdoor area, which can be done by adding light fixtures to the risers.

9. Wall-wash lighting:

Wall wash lighting is used to add light to a plain wall. This method uses soft lighting to wash over a surface and provide an even lighting without shadows.