When thinking about exterior lighting you should focus only on three important aspects.  Your first and possibly most important consideration is security lighting.  Task lighting, or localized lighting would be next on the list to consider.  Last but by no means least, accent lighting can create wonderful exterior lighting effects in our gardens and significantly enhance the enjoyment we get from our outdoor spaces at night.

Taking them one by one.  Wherever you live in the world the local law enforcement agencies will tell you that a neighborhood that is brightly lit at night is a safer neighborhood.  Exterior lighting

photo credit: epSos.de

provides these brightly lit conditions.

If you have a barbecue on your patio or in your garden then there will come a time when you wish to use it after the sun has gone down.  You will know that when working around the barbecue area it needs to be clear of any hazards, but also well lit.  To create this type of exterior lighting you would need to install task or localized lighting.  In effect it would light the specific tasks you were undertaking.

Accent lighting is the use of exterior lights to light up interesting features in your gardens, such as large foliage plants, statues or water features.  This sort of exterior lighting is great for creating atmosphere in your outside space from which you can maximise the enjoyment of your garden.