{"id":1413,"date":"2019-02-19T19:50:31","date_gmt":"2019-02-19T19:50:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/?p=1413"},"modified":"2019-02-19T19:50:31","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T19:50:31","slug":"outdoor-lighting-designers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/outdoor-lighting-designers\/","title":{"rendered":"OUTDOOR LIGHTING DESIGNERS: NOT TOO BRIGHT?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The human eye is naturally drawn to the brightest spot in the field of vision. That\u2019s one of the most basic principles <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/\">experienced outdoor lighting designers<\/a> live and work by. Our designs and installations use this understanding to shape the overall impression a home or business makes at night. It\u2019s essential to maximizing the \u201cwow!\u201d factor. Ironically, though, experience and expertise produce smart designs which are&#8230; not too bright. Huh?<\/p>\n<h3>NOT TOO BRIGHT??<\/h3>\n<p>Brightness not only draws the human eye, it draws the rest of a person, too. In the darkness, we tend to go to where the illumination has drawn our vision. \u00a0That explains the logic behind the common practice of putting the brightest lighting at a home\u2019s front door. \u201c<em>This,<\/em>\u201d it announces, \u201c<em>is where to go<\/em>.\u201d Makes sense, as far as that goes.<\/p>\n<p>Too many residential outdoor lighting installations overdo the front door illumination. Too much light, far too bright. \u00a0While it surely does make it clear where the front door is, it unbalances the overall visual impression. Everything outside that illumination zone looks dark. \u00a0Hence, the only way to restore visual balance is with bright lights in the rest of the layout. The end result, if visual balance is restored, is a house and grounds lit as brightly as an air terminal. This isn\u2019t welcoming, or pleasing. It\u2019s harsh and confrontational. A visitor standing on the threshold feels like the proverbial deer in the headlights.<\/p>\n<h3>LAYERED LIGHTING<\/h3>\n<p>A better approach is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pooky.com\/inspiration\/all-about-lighting\/home-lighting-design-a-guide-to-layering-light\">light layering<\/a>. We can guide the eye and the person to a home\u2019s front door, or anywhere else on the property, without that institutional look. We create the lighting working toward the center, the front door, instead of starting there and working outward. Well-hidden fixtures and subtle illumination draw attention gently toward the front door, rather than grabbing it. Leaving a property\u2019s boundaries in shadows adds emphasis to its island of life, the home. \u00a0Minimalist path lighting and gentle wall washes add safety and visual texture. When this is properly done, the front door illumination will still be the brightest in the lightscape, as it should be. But it can now be much less powerful. An inviting, warm glow rather than a harsh, utilitarian floodlight. Welcome.<\/p>\n<h3>OUTDOOR LIGHTING DESIGNERS<\/h3>\n<p>Developers, builders, and <a href=\"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/outdoor-lighting-diy-professional\/\">DIY homeowners<\/a> often create (unintentionally!) fantastic opportunities for outdoor lighting designers. Through no fault of their own, to be sure.\u00a0 It\u2019s human nature to act as though \u201cif a little as good, a lot is great!\u201d. This holds for a lot of things, but not for outdoor and landscape lighting. In our profession, the golden rule is \u201cless is more\u201d.\u00a0 It\u2019s not hard to demonstrate the truth of this. That\u2019s what free nighttime demos accomplish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\t\tBrightness not only draws the human eye, it draws the rest of a person, too. In the darkness, we tend to go to where the illumination has drawn our vision. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1814,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[53,65,66],"class_list":["post-1413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-outdoor-lighting","tag-2019-outdoor-lighting","tag-lighting-design","tag-lighting-designers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/houstonlightscapes.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}