Blinding Glare from Landscape Fixtures

What Glare from Landscape Fixtures Looks Like

You sit on the patio or walk the path and look directly into bright LED bulbs mounted at or below eye level. The fixture is visible but its subject — the plant or surface it's meant to illuminate — is washed out or hard to see. Your eyes constrict to handle the direct light source, making everything around it appear darker by comparison.

Common culprits: pathway bollards with exposed bulbs, uplights tilted too far toward horizontal, and fixtures without shrouds or shields in direct sight lines from seating areas or the street.

Common Causes

• Fixtures aimed too high or at horizontal rather than at the intended subject
• Pathway bollards with exposed bulbs at eye level when seated
• Fixtures without glare shields installed in direct sight lines
• Over-specified lumen output — too bright for the distance to the subject
• Bare-bulb fixtures in locations that should use full-cutoff optics

How It Gets Worse Over Time

Glare problems worsen as landscaping changes. A shrub that once blocked a fixture's direct view is removed, suddenly exposing the bulb. Fixtures shift over time from irrigation or ground movement and drift from their intended aim. And once a system is installed with the wrong fixture choices for the location, there's no adjusting your way out of the problem — the hardware itself needs to change.

How We Fix It

1. 1Sight Line Audit — We walk the property at night from all normal viewing positions — the patio, the entry, the street — and identify every fixture that falls into a direct sight line.
2. 2Aim Correction — Many glare problems are solved by simply re-aiming the fixture. An uplight that's tilted 10° too far toward horizontal can often be corrected without any hardware change.
3. 3Shield Installation — Where aim correction isn't sufficient, we install barn-door shields or directional shrouds that block the direct view of the bulb while preserving the illumination on the intended subject.
4. 4Fixture Replacement — Where the fixture itself is the wrong type for the location, we replace it with a full-cutoff or shielded fixture appropriate for the sight line.

Why Choose Bright Arbor

Frequently Asked Questions