4 techniques to highlight the color of your furnishings, artwork, plants, wall hangings, and wall textures.

1) Silhouetting: Place a floor spotlight with a broad-beamed bulb behind a sculpture or plant, one foot from the wall pointing straight up on the wall. This provides backlighting for a silhouette effect, particularly effective on bronze sculptures, bonsai, and dense plants.

2) Shadowing: Place a plant light inside the plant just behind the trunk pointing straight up to throw leafy shadows on the ceiling or put the light 3 in front of the foliage to see shadows on the wall. This uplighting technique is most effective with sparsely foliated plants and unique branching patterns.

3) Moonlighting: This effect is achieved using recessed lights in the ceiling with soft incandescent reflector bulbs shining down through plant leaves sprinkling shadow patterns on the walls or floor. Incandescent lighting (regular household bulbs and PAR bulbs) brings out reds and yellows while halogen lighting (PAR bulbs) will intensify blues and purples.

4) Grazing: This technique is used to bring out the texture of an interesting wall such as stone, silk, or flocked wallpaper. Place the light source 2-3 inches from the wall surface, pointing straight up. A series or floor uplights can create a scallop effect along the wall.

Shades of Light 2005