As you customize your home lighting plan, you may come across the terms aiming and focusing. But does it even matter for your home? Does your recessed lighting need to be aimed or focused? The good news is that not all lighting needs such precision. For example, ambient lighting rarely needs to be adjustable. However, we’ll delve into the use cases where focused and aimed lighting can be essential.
What is Aimed and Focused Lighting?
Aimed lighting is when you have a fixture that can adjust in angle and orientation. The adjustability gives you greater flexibility on how evenly or concentrated the lighting is in your home. This adjustability ensures precise alignment with multiple fixtures next to each other. Having several lights washed against a wall at different heights would look awkward!
Meanwhile, focused lighting can sharpen or concentrate a single light in a certain area. This can adjust the harshness of the light’s edge or the beam’s size.
Here are a few instances where you should consider an adjustable or focusable fixture in your home.
Task Lighting
Task lighting delivers bright, concentrated lighting to bring light to specific areas where you work. Work can include cooking, working at a desk or reading a book. In a kitchen, having lights directly above your island would mean you block the light when you lean forward. Instead, you’d want lights in front of you that are aimed at the kitchen island. That way, your workspace stays illuminated even if you lean forward.
On the other hand, a dedicated reading area would also benefit from aimed and focused fixtures. For a comfortable reading area, you’ll want a light fixture on the track aimed at your preferred reading spot. Then, the fixture’s focus would be adjusted to concentrate the light beam where you’ll hold the book. This will maximize the lighting on the book, ensuring comfortable reading with plenty of light.
Presenting Artwork
Lighting can help you present your best artwork, but aimed and focused lighting will create a captivating display that showcases your art at its best. Paintings on the wall can be beautifully framed with in-ceiling lighting fixtures. If you have multiple art pieces on the same wall, you’ll want the fixtures aimed so that the wall wash is equal.
Moreover, the focus of the lighting can significantly impact the presentation of your artwork. You can sharpen the focus to create a more harsh edge to your lighting. Alternatively, you can decrease the focus to soften the harshness of the edge of the lighting.
Picking The Right Lighting
It can feel overwhelming to pick the right lighting for your home with so many options out there. If you want guidance and help designing the perfect home lighting plan, Lighting By Design can help you discover a lighting plan that fits your lifestyle and budget. If you want to learn more about your lighting options, give us a call at 415-883-7700.
