With a variety of outdoor landscape lighting fixtures to choose from, it can be challenging to know which is best suited to light up an outdoor space. Two outdoor light fixtures, flood lights and up lights, might appear similar, but are in fact, very different in terms of their design and application. The difference between these outdoor landscape light fixtures will affect the overall lighting design and its effect on an outdoor space.
Use this week’s blog post as a quick guide for flood lights, up lights, and deciding whether flood lights or up lights will best enhance a particular outdoor space.
Key Elements of Flood Lights
Living up to its name, outdoor garden flood lights are able to illuminate a large area. Garden flood lights are smaller versions of the flood lights used for security or industrial purposes.
Flood lights have a rectangular or oval shaped head. The beam angle of flood lights range between 45 degrees and 120 degrees. The wide beam allows for a broadly diffused, non-directional light that produces softer shadows. The light provided by flood lights is uniform over a short distance and has a shorter throw range. Because they provide broad coverage, flood lights typically consume more energy than other types of outdoor landscape lighting.
Use flood lights to provide a large area with uniform light. They are especially useful to blend landscape lighting elements together. For example, use flood lights to light up dark areas in between up lights.
Flood lights provide the perfect soft wash of light to any outdoor space.
Understanding the Basics of Up Lights
Up lights are outdoor landscape lights with a directed upward beam of light. The beam angle of uplights is narrow, between 25 degrees and 45 degrees. A narrow beam of light allows for a more focused light projection. Because the light distribution is narrower, the shadows produced by up lights will be sharper.
Up lights usually have round head fixtures and glare guards. They produce a high-intensity light with a longer throw range. Glare guards protect against light intruding into places into unwelcome areas, such as the neighbor's yard or people’s eyes. They typically consume less energy than flood lights.
Use up lights to highlight the unique elements of an outdoor space, such as statues, archways, fountains, or tall trees. They can be used to create drama between light and shadows, resulting in attractive visual effects.
Up lights are the perfect outdoor light fixture to bring attention and drama to an outdoor space’s unique features.
Shop Flood Lights and Up Lights at LightCh8in
The variety of outdoor landscape lighting can make the process of choosing which outdoor light fixtures to install a bit daunting, especially if they share similarities such as flood lights and up lights. Knowing the difference between these two lighting fixtures will help decide which outdoor lighting fixture will work best for a particular outdoor environment.
Explore a wide range of flood lights and up lights in all sorts of styles and designs with a LightCh8in account. Our fixtures are made from brass and with an IP65 rating, these outdoor landscape lights are built to last and transform an outdoor space into the oasis it was always meant to be.