Top 4 Swimming Pool Lighting Techniques
The 4 most popular swimming pool lighting techniques, courtesy of Creative Nightscapes’s design team, are:
- Ambient Lighting
- Task Lighting
- Accent Lighting
- Light Layering
Poolside lighting not only ensures that your swimmers are safe and adds character and value to your home. The right outdoor pool lighting techniques can make a world of difference in your pool’s aesthetics and safety!
Technique 1: Pool Ambient Lighting
Ambient lighting creates a comforting atmosphere when your guests or family gather. It provides spacious illumination without detracting from your pool’s current lights. Ambient lighting is used to set the space and the mood while lighting key areas of the pool to avoid trips and falls.
Ambient lighting provides confidence and is easily attainable. Downlights from nearby trees or your home’s eaves will cast a gorgeous light from the sides of the pool. This blanket of light is enough to brighten the space while not overpowering or creating a glare on the water’s surface.
Technique 2: Pool Task Lighting
Task lighting is used to suggest movement or action. Task lighting is focused on a particular area without being overpowering. Examples include path lighting, accent lighting over outdoor grills or tables for food, or spotlights over sitting areas.
Technique 3: Pool Accent Lighting
Accent lighting is used to capture the eye by using well-positioned lights to bring attention to different architectural or landscape elements. For example, if you have a statue near your pool, accent lighting (such as a well-light or a spotlight) will bring attention to this singular element in your yard without detracting from the pool.
Accent lighting can also be used to show off pool water features, nearby trees, or the house itself. Accent lighting can be used more than once to highlight multiple elements of your home and create a dramatic contrast between the light on those specified objects and the shadows around your pool.
This can help create a sense of unity between the pool and the surrounding landscape, making it bigger, bolder, and immaculate. This technique is perfect for both large and smaller yards.
Technique 4: Pool Light Layering
Nobody wants a flat backyard around their pool. While accent lighting can create a multi-dimensional feel with light and shadow, layering is a technique that fully embodies this idea.
Layered lighting combines two of the previously mentioned ideas. For example, accent lighting and task lighting can be used to accentuate the shadows around the patio or deck of your pool, bringing attention and focus to the path for safety, without losing that mystifying feel of the darkness around it. These shadows are then used to bring the whole yard, pool, and patio together, creating a cohesive whole instead of individually lighted parts.
Contact Creative Nightscapes & Put the Shimmer On Your Pool
One of the most important parts of landscape lighting that our experts always stress is just the right amount of light. Too much light can make a backyard, pool, or landscape feel flat, empty, and too bright.
When it comes to creating a swimming pool area with the perfect amount of lighting, the team at Creative Nightscapes has your back! Contact our team today for more information on our lighting services or to schedule a consultation with our design team! Don’t settle for mediocre when your pool or landscape has the potential to be spectacular.
