Landscape Lighting Placement Basics

Good landscape lighting is placed by effect, not by fixture count: you are lighting the tree, the wall texture, the walking surface — never the viewer's eyes. Layout happens on plan and then gets confirmed at night with test leads before anything is buried.

The core techniques

• Uplighting: fixtures at grade washing up into canopy or trunk. The workhorse for trees and architecture.
• Path lighting: low, shielded fixtures spreading pools of light on walking surfaces.
• Wash lighting: wide-beam fixtures set back to evenly graze walls, hedges, and screens.
• Moonlighting: fixtures mounted 20-plus feet up in a mature tree aiming down through branches — the most natural effect on the menu, worth selling on any property with big canopy.
• Silhouette and shadow: light behind a specimen against a wall (silhouette) or in front, throwing branch shadows onto the wall (shadow play). Cheap drama with one fixture.

Rules that separate pro work from the box-store look

• Light the destination, not the journey — a runway of forty path lights reads like an airstrip. Fewer, better-placed fixtures with dark intervals create depth.
• Hide the source. Shrouds, glare guards, and placement behind foliage; if you can see the LED from the patio or the street, move it or shield it.
• Keep color temperature consistent: 2700K warm white for plant material and residential architecture; reserve 3000K for stone and contemporary facades. Never mix on one property face.
• Aim at 30 degrees or less off vertical where possible; steeper angles throw light and glare into windows and eyes.
• Do not light everything. Choose three to five hero moments per elevation and let the rest fall dark — contrast is the design.
• Respect the neighbors and the bedroom windows: no fixture should throw light off the property or into glass.

Layout process

1. Mark hero elements on plan: specimen trees, entry, facade features, water, destination seating.
2. Assign a technique and fixture count to each from the table above; add path and step safety lighting last, minimally.
3. Sum fixture wattage for transformer sizing (see the transformer reference) and plan wire runs while the trencher is already mobilized for irrigation if possible.
4. Demo at night with test leads and alligator clips before burying wire — walk the client through it. Night demos close upsells that daytime plans never will.
5. Aim and lock every fixture at night after install, then re-aim once more 30 days later after settling.

Start every lighting sale with the demo kit, three techniques, and one transformer sized with headroom for the phase-two fixtures the client will ask for in the spring.