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Picture lights for artwork help you display your favorite photos, paintings and more in your home. With them, you can achieve museum quality lighting to show them off beautifully. In this article, we’ll discuss how to use picture lights for home gallery artwork.
Why Good LED Art Lighting Matters
When an artist creates a piece, they do so with a vision in mind. For many, that vision ends with the people who will eventually view that art, and how they can communicate a message to them. Being able to view your artwork clearly helps you make the most out of the artist’s vision.
Beyond that, you simply want to be able to clearly see the art that you have curated. It is an expression of your tastes, style, and sometimes, even your personality. By ensuring it is well-lit, the art will show off who you are, and integrate beautifully into your home.
Good lighting is essential for showing off the details of the art itself, free from any shadows or glare. LED lights for paintings is especially important, so you can see everything from accurate colour to the texture of the brush strokes.
Choosing the Right LED Picture Lights
Different art mediums do best with different types of lighting. Proper art lighting with LEDs comes down to knowing which lights are going to work best for each type.
Paintings
Lighting acrylic and oil paintings requires you to avoid creating any direct glare. Ceiling mounted picture lights tend to work best for these paintings, as you can adjust the angle and distance from which the light shines overhead. This will allow you to avoid shadows or glare while also highlighting the brushstrokes of the piece.
Photographs
Due to the usually glossy nature of a photograph, you will notice that they reflect light in an abrasive way if not properly lit. In order to avoid glare, you can use soft, diffused illumination with wall mounted picture lights. Having diffused lighting will prevent glare while preserving the integrity of the image.
Glass
By placing the fixtures properly, you can prevent glare and shadows from distracting from glass artwork. This even includes the glass covering of a frame. You may be tempted to choose non-reflective glass frames, but be mindful; oftentimes, this type of glass can dull the colours of the painting. It is best to simply play around with the lighting to find the angle that works best for the glass.
3D Art and Sculptures
Sculptures work best with modern LED picture lighting that shows off their form and their depth. By choosing adjustable LED picture lights, even those shining from different angles, you can achieve this. Position lights in various ways to cast purposeful shadows and enhance the details of the sculpture. By playing with shadows, you can create more depth and dimension for the work.
Benefits of Using LED Picture Lighting Solutions
LED lights are growing increasingly popular as the years go on for all kinds of applications. Picture lights are one of them. LEDs boast many benefits as artwork lighting that you won’t find with traditional incandescent or halogen bulbs.
- ENERGY EFFICIENCY. When you use energy efficient picture lights, you can lower the stress that they put on electricity. LEDs use 80 percent less energy than halogen and incandescent bulbs. By converting all of its energy directly to light, it saves on electricity.
With less energy being consumed, you may notice a reduction in your energy bills. Beyond that, the reduction in energy usage is also better for the environment.
- LONGER LIFE. LED lights are rated to last between 20,000 and 50,000 hours, opposed to the 1,000 or so hours of traditional bulbs. A longer life means having to replace them far less than other bulbs.
- COST SAVINGS. Alongside the lowered energy bills, LED lights can save you money on upfront lighting costs. With their longer life, you won’t have to replace them nearly as often, saving you cash.
- VERSATILE ILLUMINATION. LED lights come in a number of colour temperatures, which is important to consider when lighting artwork. Alongside the warm or cool lighting options, there is also the colour rendering index (CRI) to consider.
CRI ratings indicate how accurately a light depicts the colours of the items it shines on. Having a good CRI rating of 80 or above ensures that the colours of the artwork are properly displayed in your home.
How to Light Art Without Damaging It
One of the biggest concerns when it comes to choosing the best LED picture lights for home galleries is maintaining the physical integrity of the art. After all, no one wants cheap lights ruining the artwork you love and want to display.
Fortunately, contemporary picture lights allow you to light your art without fear of damage. Whereas traditional lights run the risk of damaging art with both heat and UV rays, LED lights do not pose that issue. LED lights, especially wall, surface mounted and recessed ceiling picture lights, are designed to allow you to safely display your art.
LED lights do not emit heat the way that traditional bulbs do. This is because LEDs instantly turn all of their energy to light without first having to create heat to generate illumination. Plus, LED lights emit no UV radiation. This makes them the safest option for long-term art illumination.
Natural Lighting for Artwork
When you’re planning your lighting scheme, it’s important to take the natural light in a room into account. Natural light is almost guaranteed to be present in some amount, so you can work with the existing illumination to better highlight your art.
That said, you want to make sure your art is not hung in the path of any direct sunlight. Sunlight, and its UV rays, have the potential to damage art. Sunshine can “bleach” your art, lightening the colours or even potentially warping the medium.
When possible, it is best to hang your lights out of the way of direct sunlight, and rely on artificial picture lights instead.
Angling Your Lighting
Considering the position of illumination coming from your slimline LED picture lights is crucial. The right angle will help you avoid causing glare or creating shadow. In general, it is recommended that you position your lights to shine from above at an angle between 30 and 35 degrees. Such an angle prevents reflections or glare when viewed at eye level.
This works due to the nature of light reflection. Light will bounce away from the opposite direction that it came from. Having light shining from the ceiling will ensure it is reflecting the light down onto the floor at the same angle, instead of causing a glare and reflecting it at eye level.
Conclusion
Getting picture lighting right can enhance the appearance of the art being displayed in your home. In this article, we’ve shown you how to use picture lighting to your advantage to create a beautiful home gallery. Keep this article close as you begin curating your art and building your gallery.
Picture Light Ideas
Display your favorite paintings and photos with the LWA525 6 Watt 500mm Wide LED Picture Light. This slimline picture light hangs over the top of the artwork. It shines 600 lumens of 3000K warm white light down onto the art piece. With its acrylic diffuser, the light is softened to help prevent glare and shadows. This aluminium picture light comes in your choice of black, or black and anodized gold, to suit your tastes. It measures 500 millimeters in width.
Enhance the art on display in your home gallery with the LWA528 11 Watt 800mm Wide LED Picture Light. This ultra wide picture light measures 800 millimeters in width, making it ideal for larger paintings. It generates 1100 lumens of 3000K warm white light which can be bright enough to light more than one piece. The acrylic diffuser softens and spreads the light to prevent glare. It is built to last out of premium aluminium in a finish of iether black, or black and anodized gold.
Show off your favorite art pieces with the LDC701 5 Watt LED Dimmable White Recessed Downlight. This downlight features a movable head that can be rotated 350 degrees around. You can also tilt the head up to 60 degrees. This light generates 450 lumens of illumination at a 24 degree beam angle. It is fashioned out of aluminium and finished in white. The fixture measures 92 millimeters by 92 millimeters in size.
The LSP226 5 Watt GU10 Hexagonal LED Track Light is an ultra modern track light system that is perfect for lighting artwork. It features hexagonal shaped light heads that can be adjusted to shine in your preferred direction. It is fashioned out of durable aluminium finished in your choice of white, black or silver. Each lamp generates 400 lumens of light at a 30 degree beam angle, making them ideal for gallery art. Overall, they measure 210 millimeters by 104 millimeters by 90 millimeters in size.
