So you have completed your lighting design and decided on a fixture family to install your design. Now, you need to place the fixtures where the light sources will provide the effects you are wanting to achieve.

The type of fixture you use will determine that actual mount you use. Many of the MR-11, MR-16 type fixtures and many of the common path/area lights use mounts that are interchangeable. This is includes some PAR-36 type fixtures as well.

One of the most common mechanical connections to fixture mounts is via a 1/2″ pipe thread. Most of these require rotating the fixture and wiring to install/remove a fixture from a mount.

More advanced connections use a clamping screw that does not require the fixture to be rotated in or out of the mount. These clamp type connections often have a slot to allow the fixture wire to slide in/out. This allows an installed fixture to be quickly removed from the mount without needing to disconnect (aka cut) the wire to remove it.

I am going to let the pictures and captions tell most of the story.

Mounts for Above Soil Fixture Placement

These slip-in metal stakes are very strong and do not turn brittle in cold weather.

These plastic stakes are all screw-in type. The one on the left is for heavy and/or tall fixtures.

Mounts for Hard Surface Fixture Placement

These mounts are used when fixtures are to be mounted to a hard surface. They are commonly used when mounting to wood, stone and concrete.

Some examples of Surface Mounts in use:

Surface mount with 1/2″ pipe thread connection. Brass coupling and threaded nipple added to move fixture further from surface.

Surface mount with slip connection mounted on natural stone.

Path/area light fixture with short stem mounted to concrete coping of entry steps. Note: Coping was drilled to allow wiring to pass down into the wall.

Sub-Surface Mounting

Fixtures are mounted below a surface in areas where they may create a hazard if they were mounted on the surface, where they may be damaged by equipment (such as turf maintenance equipment) or where they do not want to be seen.

A plastic “well” can house a gimbal that accepts various light sources such as MR-16 and PAR36 types. Shown here with a PAR36 halogen incandescent light source.

Well lights can be open (as above) or covered. Covers vary depending on the purpose. If the well light is to be protected from leaves and litter then a glass cover may be installed. If it is to be protected from traffic (foot or otherwise) then a suitable metal grate may be installed.

Metal grates (such as this one) are durable enough to be driven over by passenger cars and light trucks.

Specialty Mounts

Some of the more common “special” mounts are gutter mounts and tree mounts. Gutter mounts attach inside a rain gutter. This allows a fixture to be aimed at architectural features that may not be properly illuminate from the ground. The rain gutter serves to hide and channel the wiring. Fixtures used for this purpose are chosen to be light and small.

The better tree mounts are designed with protection of the tree in mind. The use of stainless steel for mounting hardware reduces the possibility of causing diseases to the tree. Keeping an air gap between the tree bark and the mount helps prevent rotting due to trapped moisture.

Tree mounts require periodic maintenance. Typically every 1 – 3 years the mounting studs need to be backed out to maintain the air gap and prevent the tree from growing around the fixture mount.

Clockwise from 9 o’clock: Gutter mount-threaded, tree light mount with stainless steel studs-slip, threaded to slip adapter.

Tree lights, mounted.

Problems with tree light installations from lack of maintenance.

Short circuit caused by power wire getting pinched due to tree growth.

Tree swallowing fixture mount due to surface mounting and lack of maintenance.

Light Source Brightness

A little refresher will help this article provide more meaning. We have established the “Why” and the “What” of our lighting project and have raised our awareness as to the importance of “How” wide the beam spread will be for the different elements of our lighting “scene” that we are creating. We now use that information to help us choose a brightness level for each one of our light sources.

Remember that our “scene” is to provide a “visual path” for the viewer that will have zero glare and no “black holes”. In addition to these 2 BIG goals, we also want to provide even illumination with the intentional application of more or less intensity in selected parts of the scene. Higher intensity will draw more attention, less has the opposite effect.

So, how to chose …

There are several factors to consider when choosing a brightness level for each element.  Remember, we are working with reflected light. That is what the viewer will see. It is the reflectance of a surface that determines how much of the projected light from the light source is reflected back to the viewer.

Here are some major factors to consider:

• Color – Of course, lighter colors will reflect more light than darker colors. The color of the light in relation to the color of the surface has an effect as well. Warm white light has more red, cool white has more blue.
• Texture – The smoother the texture, the less shadowing of the surface. The coarser the surface, the more shadowing of the surface. So, a coarser texture will appear darker because of more and larger shadows. This attribute is pronounced when grazing is the lighting technique used.

Considerations specific to plant material:

• Coarse textured plants require higher brightness levels than fine textured plants. Magnolias will require more light than say, a Hemlock tree.
• Size – it seems to be obvious that large plants will require more light to illuminate. Illuminating plant material will be covered in more detail in a later post.

Okay, now what?

Now you need to make some decisions. Remember that your decisions are going to be limited to the light sources you have available to you. To keep it simple, think of brightness as “Xtra” low, low, medium, high and “Xtra” high. This is 5 levels of brightness with no number attached. Numbers can add confusion at this point so let’s keep it simple for now and add numbers later. These relative terms will help you focus on the scene you want to create and focus on the technical part, later.

Helpful Brightness Abbreviation List

• Extra Low – XL
• Low – L
• Medium – M
• High – H
• Extra High – XH

Decide where you want to draw attention in your scene. Maybe it is an entryway, a particular part of or element in a garden or an architectural feature of a structure. What areas may you want to play down or draw less attention to? Possibly a blank wall, an area that has some exposed utilities or a secondary entrance?

So, with your baseline sketch in hand, walk the project and make your notes on both beam angle and brightness for each element or part of an element you are illuminating.

Example (using beam angle and brightness abbreviations):

Fixture X: Beam Angle, Brightness

Fixture 1: M, M (Medium Beam Angle, Medium Brightness)

Fixture 2: XN, XB (Extra Narrow Beam Angle, Extra Brightness)

Fixture 3: W, Medium (Wide Beam Angle, Medium Brightness)

It is important to keep in mind that you are taking information about the intent of the project (the “Why”) and what information about the site (your walk-through, images, etc.) and beginning to narrow down your options for light sources.

No, you are not done yet!  The information you have gathered from the site walk through will form the framework of your lighting design and the plan on how to achieve it. There are other factors that will come into play as you make your final choices for the light source components of your lighting system.

Here are some of them:

Budget

Light Source Availability (stock)

Fixture Selection/Light Source Limitations

Ambient Light Level

How will this effect you?

OK, you have 5 different beam angles and lumen level selections in your notes. But, you find that the light source and/or fixture selection is going to limit you to 3 different lumen levels and 4 options on beam angle. What do you do?!

You make more decisions.

Once you have installed several systems and critiqued your design and component selection (and other decisions you made related to the light sources, fixtures and placement) the process will become easier. You will be able to bypass some of the steps and directly note what light source you will be using, what fixture you will be using and where it will be placed. Fortunately the learning curve is short and your lighting style will quickly develop.

Here are a few suggestions on making these decisions on light sources:

• More often than not you will find that “less is more” when it comes to lumen level. So don’t be too concerned if you wanted an “Xtra” Bright, “Xtra” Wide light source but only Bright, “Xtra” Wide is available in the line you are considering. The exception is if the area of concern is to be highlighted.
• If the overall design is effected by this design element requirement then you may need to add another fixture. Let’s say you have a gable end of a home that is 2 stories high, 18′ wide and has stone work that you want to be highlighted (extra brightness)  when viewed at night. But, you are not going to get the lumen level (brightness) you desire by installing two fixtures, one at each end of the gable wall. So, you can add a third fixture in the center. This will allow you to overlap the three light beams and “add” more light.
• If the design allows, narrow the beam angle to increase the brightness. While this does not change the overall lumen output of the light source, it does concentrate the overall available light (lumens) onto a smaller area. Thus increasing  the brightness (typically measured in candela) within this narrower beam.
• If the design allows, widen the beam angle to decrease the brightness.
• Use filters or lenses. Many fixtures allow room to add a filter or lens that can alter the beam intensity and/or beam angle. Most widen and soften such as optical spread or frosted lens filters. This is should be another blog topic but keep this in mind. Email me if you need info on this topic before a blog post is created.

Hopefully you have recognized that this article is mainly related to the use of “directional” light sources. Path-way lights typically have limited options on lumen output and the beam spread. But, there are some tweaks that may be made to alter the light output of a typically path-light. Sounds like another blog topic. What do you think?

This is the part of the process that requires you to make decisions on what your visualized design will look like once completed. This includes the considerations you have made about aesthetics, safety and security.

Now, I can normally do this with some notes on a sketch of the project area and a visual image in my mind.  An easy way to create a sketch is to use any of several sources of satellite images of the project area to get a feel for how the property is configured.  Such objects as the structures, walkways and driveways are of interest. The “drive-by” feature of modern, online mapping sites is an incredibly useful tool! Many items such as materials and colors of construction can be garnered from this tool.

So, using this information as a guide, create a simple sketch of the area of interest. I call this my baseline sketch. I find that making copies and using them for marking up with notes (and later with the lighting system components) is a time saver.

Baseline Sketch

Using a copy of the Baseline Sketch as a note pad, I do a walk-through of the project. Now, with the intended “Why” of the project in mind, I look for opportunities to reinforce the goals of the project. This includes not only “what” will be illuminated but “how”. The “how” will be detailed in later posts as this is the part of the process that involves component selection. And there are lots of options for components.

In my sample project (Jon Smith) the customer is looking for architectural lighting (aesthetic) . So, my focus during the walk-through will be mainly that. I say mainly because if a glaring safety or security issue can be solved with lighting, it becomes part of the tentative plan. If possible, the safety and security issue is solved by the clever application of the architectural lighting. The pros are really good at solving functional issues with elegant solutions!

Mark Up Of Baseline After Walk-Through

The Nitty Gritty

So, Mr. Smith is looking to show off his home’s architecture after dark. This is the big “What” of this particular project. This is “What” the lighting system will be doing. Now, as I do the walk through (with a preliminary peek from the mapping software in mind) I look at what features of the home are important to be illuminated so that the architecture is noticeable after dark.

Mr. Smith’s Lovely Home

This home has gables facing the street, timber frame accents on entryway gables, columns at the front porch, dry stack stone work on full gable ends and a distinctive object of art mounted on the garage wall (near the obnoxious, glaring spot light).

So here is the list of  the “What” items to be illuminated:

• The 2 gables with timber frame accents
• The columns at the front porch
• The dry stack full gable ends with emphasis on the one closest to the walkway, street and viewers
• The distinctive artwork

With my list of items to focus on, I will begin the process of “How” I will achieve illuminating these items while also creating a “scene” from the street. This scene will provide a “visual path” for the viewer’s eye to follow.

It may seem like a straight forward process of starting to put marks on paper and create a custom Lighting Design. The work actually starts before pencil hits paper. It is important to first establish the goals of the lighting design or plan. Is the lighting strictly for aesthetics or are there “trouble spots” that need extra attention? This is the time to understand the “Why” of the lighting project.

Aesthetics

It is not always the idea of having a home beautifully illuminated that is the motivation to add outdoor lighting. While this is the most common reason, there are others. Even if the goal is purely for aesthetic reasons, other reasons should be part of the consideration when penciling a plan. And the goals when creating professional outdoor lighting applies for all types of “whys”.

Safety

Many properties (especially here in East Tennessee) have elevation changes that require  steps, stairs or ramps to navigate the property.  Having lighting in these areas is paramount for making it safer to walk around after dark. Controlling glare can be a challenge as lights on higher steps may have light sources that are visible when walking up the steps. Glare is a no-no as it is blinding. Steps and stairs and glare are a bad combination. So part of your plan will be to eliminate glare or at least that should be your goal.

The following are examples of trouble spots that are dangerous even in daylight. So addressing these with conscientiously apply lighting is the humane thing to do. One of the worst situations is a single step in a dark area. This is a major fall hazard from either direction. This is normally done to correct poor planning in matching up the elevations of hardscape elements like decks, patios, walkways. Another situation is when too-tall risers and uneven riser spacing is used.

Where materials change along a pathway requires some thought.  A path that diverges may have a different material for a secondary route. Like paving stones branching off to crushed rock. If the secondary path is one that will be used after dark (like getting to your garden shed) then the material change may want to be highlight.

Security

One of my pet peeves is seeing a home that uses large flood lights as “security” lights. I’ll be the first to say that having some light is better than no light. BUT, if the light creates deep shadows then it is creating good hiding spots for sneaky people. AND if the light is shining in YOUR eyes you will not be able to see past the glare of the lights.

Annoying and Dangerous Glare

The BIG goals of Professional Outdoor Lighting are to have zero glare and no “black holes” (you will get tired of me stating this).  This is how you create effective, comfortable lighting that does not blind you or leave you guessing what is hiding in a shadow. This is very difficult to achieve with “security” lights aimed directly at you.

So, designing for security reasons requires the same careful attention to not creating glare as designing for aesthetics and safety.  An additional consideration would be to illuminate areas that could be pathways or hideouts for those sneaky people that are up to no good. Don’t place fixtures where the light from them would blind you, your neighbors or authorities. Don’t place fixtures that create deep shadows that could be hiding spots.