“I hate that cold, ugly blue looking LED lighting!”
I hear that pretty often, and can’t agree more. Most people still think of LED lighting as that cheap Christmasy looking light: blue-ish and without warmth no matter what the application, and that was very much the truth in the not-so-distant past. But LED lighting has come a long way recently, and there are many more options available that can quickly dispel that ugly notion. Still, cut-rate LED lighting is indeed almost always UGLY.
We actually conducted a test for one skeptical client. We placed two LED products in their landscape along with their other halogen lighting and did not tell them where we put them. We left them there for three whole months, and they could not tell where these lights were! They were quite surprised when we informed them that one of the lights was illuminating their front door entry, and the other was shining on their white garage wall, right next to a halogen fixture. Needless to say, we ended up converting their whole system to LED.
There is no doubt that light color has a significant effect on mood and ambience, and many articles have been written and studies performed linking color with emotion. In the outdoor setting, typically, the preference always leans toward the positive effects of warmer, more amber toned illumination over the cooler blue-green hues than cast an unfriendly appearance primarily on skin tone. To site a couple of these articles:http://www.randallwhitehead.com/news/emotion_light.php
or
http://psychology.about.com/od/sensationandperception/a/colorpsych.htm .
In the landscape lighting industry we now have several options for lighting color as some high quality LED lighting manufacturers have finally perfected their products. At last, we have LED products with the same color as the warm and welcoming halogen lighting we all love. Also available are LED products in the same color as natural moon light, which can look stunning in the landscape when done well. A warmer color light can really make darker colors look wonderfully inviting, while a cooler color light can make blues and whites really pop in the landscape. An experienced outdoor lighting designer knows how to use light color to add interest and depth to the project, bringing out the best in the landscape and architecture.
Lighting color is measured in Kelvin units referring to temperature. In most outdoor lighting applications, we use the warm 2700-3000K color of halogen in our designs. But the best LED products that produce this color CONSISTANTLY are not cheap. Please notice the word consistently. I make a special point of this because there can be a wide range of light color coming out of the same factory if they don’t adhere to very strict standards. The process of “binning” to produce the desired and consistent color outcome will be covered in another post.
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