What option would look best on the my hedge (last photo) wash lights or uplights? How would you space either option?
Hi, Rachel. If you’ve read any of my previous responses, you probably remember that I routinely say there’s no one ideal way to create a lighting plan. IOW, your opinion as to what looks more appealing or compelling is as good as mine or anyone else’s. Having said that, if you don’t have a specific goal in mind and you have the luxury to just enjoy making art…if I were you, I would have fun with that long blank green wall you have to paint on with light. Let your imagination run wild. Let’s say you choose to use spotlights or well lights to create pools of light on the hedge (as opposed to flooding the hedge with light in a way that fully illuminates the hedge). Consider all the different ways you could configure your lights to fill up the length of your hedge. You could arrange your spotlights in a row evenly spaced with the same size beam spread in every spotlight. Or you could alternate between larger and smaller beam spread spotlights.You could arrange your lights so that there’s five feet of darker areas between each beam spread. Or you could go the other way and position your lights and beam spreads close enough that their beam spreads overlap (which would give you a pattern of alternating projections of brightness along the length of the hedge). Also, if you have a goal like illuminating that driveway, you could easily accomplish that by lighting your hedges a little brighter than I usually recommend and then allowing the reflected or bounced light from the foliage to brighten that area. If you want to show more detail in the foliage or you want projections from your beam spreads to be sharper, opt for clear lens in your fixtures. If you want to dial back the amount of detail or you want the edges of your beam spread projections to be more muted, go for frosted lenses (which will give your lighting a softer look overall). HTH and I haven’t overwhelmed you with options.
