Color Temperature and Landscape Lighting

Have you ever adjusted the colors of your photos to make them cooler (bluer) or warmer (redder) to correct for funky lighting? Lighting your yard requires similar techniques.

Choosing the color temperature of your outdoor landscape lights is an important part of any outdoor lighting plan. With modern lighting technology, consumers can choose not only the brightness of the light but also the color temperature. Measured in degrees Kelvin (K), lower temperatures tend to produce warmer, amber light, while higher temperatures produce cooler, whiter light.

Read on to learn more about how color temperature affects your landscape lighting choices!

Color temperature is how "warm" or "cold" your light is, or in other words, how "yellow" or "white" your light is. Using the correct type of lamp for various outdoor lighting applications is an important consideration. There are no hard and fast rules, so depending on the mood or effect you are trying to create, you may need to use different types of lighting for different parts of the landscape.

The optimal color temperature for outdoor lighting is really a matter of choice. Your best bet is the one that creates the effect you want.

Colloquial "warm" and "cold" light refer to human perception, as opposed to the measurement of degrees Kelvin. So 2700K is "warm" light, while 5000K is "cool" light similar to direct sunlight.

This actually makes sense when you understand how degrees Kelvin is determined. To measure degrees Kelvin, scientists determined the temperature at which an ideal black object would have to emit light in order to emit a certain mass of light. Imagine a piece of metal in a blacksmith shop. At first, the metal will give off a warm reddish glow. As the temperature increases, the metal turns orange, then yellow, and finally "white hot." So the lower the temperature in degrees, the "warmer" the light.

For the purposes of this discussion, we'll use warm and cool light in the colloquial sense, using only degrees Kelvin as a reference, since that's how bulbs are bought.

For nearly 130 years, the standard for household incandescent lighting has been the "soft white" bulb. With a color temperature in the 2700-3000K range, the "soft white" bulb emits a warm amber light that is eye-relaxing. The warm light from these bulbs is perfect for casual spaces like living rooms, dining rooms, and bedrooms.

The downside of "soft white light" is that its warmth affects our perception of color and contrast. For some applications, cooler, whiter light, more similar to sunlight, is preferable. In a vanity or bathroom, cooler, whiter lighting can make it easier to apply your makeup or perfect your clothing choices. In the kitchen, truer colors and contrasts make it easier to see the changing colors of ingredients as they cook together, or when concentrating on detailed tasks. Cold light is also great for reading or crafts that require good visuals, so sometimes an office or workshop may benefit from cold, white light.

Warm light in the 2700-3000K range is soft and relaxing on the eyes. When used with a wall sconce on the exterior of your home, it can bring a warm and inviting glow to your home. Cooler lights often appear harsh at night compared to the surrounding darkness.

In addition to sconces on the exterior walls of your home, you may want to add spotlights to accentuate specific features. Large pillars, skylights, cabin-style beams, or other unique architectural features. As with all outdoor lighting, you want to pay attention to where the light shines and avoid light intrusion. It's nice to highlight a skylight, but you don't want to light up the room behind it. Take care to aim objects so they don't hit the window directly.

If your home has a particularly tall or wide or tall facade, you may need floodlights to cover the whole thing. In this case, it is best to use warm light in the w 2700-3000K range. Rather than providing a natural and inviting glow, cooler floodlights can make a home appear as if it is illuminating a construction or crime scene.

Evening entertainment is a great way to use your outdoor space, especially during the warm summer months. You can use a deck, patio, or even a pool area as a great place to entertain guests, but you'll need some lighting to do that.

The danger of recreational lighting is that many homeowners tend to use too much lighting. You want to be able to see, especially if you'll be grilling or dining outdoors, but you still want it to feel like it's nighttime. After all, we don't want your patio to feel like your restaurant. We want to enjoy the outdoors.

When it comes to outdoor lighting, less is more. In addition to typical outdoor lighting fixtures, incorporating string or rope lights can provide just the right amount of light to enjoy the night.

When it comes to lighting fixtures around entertainment spaces, turning to very warm lighting is usually a good thing. At the lower end of the Kelvin scale, around 2000K, a warm reddish glow can mimic the light of a flame. This is the same light you get from candles, tiki torches, or a blazing campfire. For a romantic or rustic feel, you just need to place lights strategically in this range.

The color temperature of path lighting really depends on the lighting scheme around you and the mood you're trying to set. In most cases, soft, warm light is best for most landscape and outdoor lighting.

The general rule is that you want to avoid mixing lights of different temperatures. This doesn't mean that every light around your home needs to be an exact match, but at least maintaining an even hue within each illuminated area will provide a more harmonious and natural look.

The above briefly describes the relationship and importance of color temperature and landscape lighting. If you want to customize outdoor lighting with different color temperatures, please contact us.

TFB Lighting is a professional custom outdoor landscape light manufacturer. The company integrates design, development, production and sales, with strong technical force, advanced technical equipment, scientific management, and advanced concepts. TFB Lighting has always adhered to the quality of life for many years, strictly implemented the ISO9001-2000 quality management system certification standard, and instilled the concept of lighting as art to every employee, only better, not the best.