Nothing compare to the haunting beauty of tree lighting, by Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville

When many homeowners begin to venture into the realm of outdoor lighting and the many ways it can benefit not only the safety around your home, but also the aesthetics and beauty, they don’t take into consideration the importance of having an outdoor lighting professional design and install the lighting. A professional has the knowledge, the foresight, the creativity, the skill and the experience to add lighting in areas that can enhance your home and landscape in ways you never dreamed possible. Tree lighting is one such example of creative outdoor lighting design. Tree lighting allows you to capitalize on the multi-layering  aspect of outdoor lighting and uses the mysterious illusion of light that trees naturally provide. Using tree lighting within an outdoor lighting application can produce breathtaking as well as haunting effects.

Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville realizes that trees bring an element of nature into the landscape and  are important in any outdoor lighting design. The regal majesty of the tree deserves to be illuminated with the best design strategies and equipment. We have completed many outdoor lighting applications that have encompassed adding the beauty of tree lighting into the scenario and it has resulted in stunningly beautiful effects. With professionally installed tree lighting there are many choices and details to take into consideration. Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville focuses on those choices of the good, the bad and the ugly of tree lighting.

Large , mature trees with sprawling canopies make the best candidates for tree lighting

Many types of light can be used in tree lighting, one of which is low voltage lighting. Low voltage lighting can result in lighting that is subtle to intense, depending on the wattage you use to illuminate a particular area. When using low voltage lighting you usually only have to go up about 30′ into the tree. This will shine a radius of light of approximately 15 to 18 feet. Depending on how intense you want the light itself to be, we generally start off with a 20 watt flood light. This will produce a subtle “moon lit” look. To achieve more intense light, we would extend the light up to 35 feet or 50 feet’. If you are using the light to define an area where you spend a lot of time, for example a horseshoe game pit, then you want to use a much brighter light to define the area more clearly.

Halogen lights can also be used in tree lighting. Halogens are great to use if you want to add a “tint” to the exuding glow, because you can add a tinted lens to the halogen fixture to achieve a myriad of effects with tinted lighting. Another up and coming light we are using more frequently in tree lighting is LED. LED is becoming more and more popular in tree lighting because of the longevity of the LED bulbs. They require less maintenance because they last so long and don’t have to be replaced as often as other lights, plus they are super energy-efficient.

The majestic sprawling branching of the Hackberry tree

Since tree lighting requires the installer to actually climb the tree to install the lighting, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville always keeps the safety of the technician in the forefront, as well as the integrity of the tree itself. We use proper equipment that will not scar or damage the tree making it vulnerable to disease and parasites. We also have experience and knowledge as to which trees are good for tree lighting. With any tree you are considering lighting, the lights should be able to be placed  in a fairly clean shooting lane, trees that are thick and dense, such as magnolias do not make good candidates for tree lighting for this reason. Trees like pines and other evergreens are not ideal for tree lighting either because of the lack of limbs available to achieve drama and effect. Trees such as a Hackberry and oaks tend to have sprawling limbs, and can make ideal candidates for tree lighting.

The ethereal illumination of proper tree lighting using multi-layering throughout the trees canopy

To achieve maximum effect from tree lighting it is ideal for the limbs of the tree to hang over a large surface area. You don’t want super thick foliage to snuff out the light. Shining the light down through some foliage is good and will create a haunting, dappled effect, but too much foliage is not good. Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville feels the best effect is achieved when the light is shining through a different tree’s canopy, with the light shining through to a limb about 8 feet below you will achieve the most stunning effect using multi-layering of light. It is also advantageous to have the capacity to use a limb that hangs over the target point of the area or item you are illuminating. Since this is not always the case we can use light to go off the tree, at an acute angle coming straight down to achieve results. As with any lighting scenario you never want the light placed where if can shine into a person’s eyes. We also use tree lighting to light patios and walkways by throwing the light through foliage for a dramatic effect.

In a perfect world, the trees within our homeowner’s landscapes would already be perfectly placed to accommodate tree lighting. As this is not the case, Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville uses experience, knowledge and design expertise to create stunning lighting effects with whatever mother nature has placed before us.

John Groce - Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville

Contact Outdoor Lighting Perspectives of Nashville to find out more about tree lighting. We can set up a nighttime demonstration for your property to show you the stunning results professional outdoor lighting can achieve at your residence. Call (615) 373 – 0638 or email us at olpnashville@outdoorlights.com

You can also see more dramatic outdoor lighting effects, including tree lighting in our photo gallery by visiting http://nashville.outdoorlights.com/local/gallery/landscape-garden-lighting.html