Lighting Season: Creating the Perfect Autumnal Aesthetic!

With Autumn in our midst, it is a great opportunity for landscapers to carry out garden maintenance and prepare for the upcoming winter months. As the days get shorter and darker, lighting becomes vital to a landscaper’s design plan. There are various things to consider when it comes to lighting options, such as highlighting features, rather than just drawing attention to what’s directly in front of you, establishing focal points and experimenting with perspective, as well as considering the quality of lighting and direction. Lumena Lights stocks a variety of 12V and 240V outdoor light designs and colours to suit your every need and create the perfect Autumnal aesthetic!

Lighting is a crucial component for setting the mood, ask any photographer or filmmaker! When the sun sets, the same principle applies to landscapes. Lighting extends the normal day, allowing people to enjoy more of their evening outside by ensuring safety and establishing focal points. A thoughtfully considered lighting scheme will add a whole new dimension to an outside space and design plan. By blending various lighting types and fixtures, seating areas, pathways, and foliage can be transformed to create a magical atmosphere and depth, all while ensuring their space is fully functional and safe.

Elevate your design by choosing from various materials and finishes, techniques, and colours. Lumena offers a range of finishes, some of which blend the source of light in with the surroundings at night, bringing all attention to the main attraction. During the daytime, if the light fittings are noticeable, they must look the part too! Lumena has created the perfect balance with attractive finishes to blend in or stand out accordingly.

Access Lighting using the slimline Smartpost Cocoa (anodised aluminium)
Access Lighting using the slimline Smartpost Cocoa (anodised aluminium)

Alongside your choice of finish, there are five main garden lighting techniques to consider: ornamental, amenity, task, access, and security. These are fulfilled by using various lighting effects to enhance your design such as downlighting, uplighting, grazing, moonlighting, mirroring, washing, accent lighting (or spotlighting), steplighting & vista lighting, silhouetting, spreadlighting, backlighting (or halo effect), shadowing, crosslighting, area lighting, and floodlighting.

For example, a really effective and functional technique is spreadlighting (ornamental & access). Generally, spreadlights, such as the Charleston Cobra Spreadlight (pictured), are low-level, glare-free luminaires,

Spreadlighting Technique – Charleston Cobra Spreadlight
Spreadlighting Technique – Charleston Cobra Spreadlight

creating a pool of light designed for illuminating pathways, steps, and planting areas.

 

Another popular technique is uplighting (ornamental). This is a great technique for highlighting focal points in the garden design. These lights are usually situated at ground level, aimed at the architecture or foliage, and can help enhance texture.

The AlvaLED Spike Spotlight is the ideal light for uplighting. It can be installed within a 240V circuit, or alternatively, as part of Lumena’s Versa 12V Plug & Play range, the extra low voltage option for self-installation! This option is perfect for autumn as it is rated for use outdoors in all U.K. seasons and is particularly suited to damp conditions.

The AlvaLED comes in 5 finishes: Black, Cocoa, Green, Titanium, and 316 Marine-Grade Stainless Steel. Each finish can be used to achieve different aesthetics. The

AlvaLED Twin Spike option with Warm white lamps and a Dichroic Green Lens.
AlvaLED Twin Spike option with Warm white lamps and a Dichroic Green Lens.

AlvaLED in a Cocoa finish (anodised aluminium) is the perfect option for fitting in with the perfect Autumnal aesthetic! It is designed to blend in with earth, wood, and bark in traditional and contemporary settings, with a touch of class, similar to copper in appearance but at a fraction of the price. It is a great choice for uplighting greenery with the ability to blend in with its surroundings but looks stunning in daylight too. When paired with a warm white lamp (maximum 2700K), you can ensure a less disruptive design for wildlife, such as bats, whilst creating the perfect cosy feeling and aesthetically pleasing glow.  Additionally, Lumena offers a variety of different dichroic coloured lenses (purple, red, orange, yellow, green, moonlight, and blue) which can be used with the AlvaLED to enhance autumnal tones and the appearance of plants, trees, or ornaments within your design.

 

Another perfect design for that autumnal aesthetic is Lumena’s Radiata Range! The Radiata Path Light Range is created with sustainably sourced solid radiata pine timber, which is then CNC machined by a top FSC-certified timber supplier, specifically to incorporate our luminaires. These stylish wooden path lights are sleeper and post styles, built to withstand all weather conditions and heavy duty in structure. This is a natural material, which will weather, although the Tanalith E preservative treatment applied helps increase the moisture levels which, in exchange, reduces the cracking of the wood.

 

Radiata Range
Radiata Range – Sleeper, Pacaman and Radiata Post (Slatlite & Eyelite)

 

Autumn is the best season to install these wooden posts as the sun is less intense and reduces the risk of rapid drying, preventing immediate cracking. The Radiata range offers various designs that enrich your landscape plan with warm tones; a great example is the Radiata Post. This post light offers two designs, the Eyelite and the Slatlite, available in an Aged Silver finish or a Rustic Bronze finish. Rustic bronze is the ultimate autumnal tone, with both the timber and luminaire seamlessly blending in and complimenting one another. Aged silver adds a slightly more contemporary feel with a luminaire that stands out from the timber.

Lumena Lights offers a variety of finishes and light temperatures which will work perfectly with any Autumnal colour scheme; not only enhancing it but completing it by creating the perfect Autumnal aesthetic. There are a number of outdoor lighting solutions to fit all needs and aesthetics.

To find out more about our high quality ranges and how we can assist you with your projects, head over to our categories page or contact us today on 01327 871161  /  sales@lumenalights.com.