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So, What's Up with Modern Lighting?

So, What's Up with Modern Lighting?


By Chris Petry

Can we all agree that modern lighting fixtures have gotten a little out of hand? My primary vocation sees me visiting a lot of sales offices to shoot corporate video. Usually, I end up in a conference or board room, where there’s ample space to setup studio lighting and get distance between the camera and subject for depth of field. After you slide the conference room table and wheelie chairs out of the way you find yourself with a surprisingly-spacious studio space, with varied shot opportunities and angles. Then you realize that no matter where you’re positioned, there will always be one thing preventing you from getting a clean shot of the subject. That’s right, the oversized lighting fixture that now dangles right in the middle of the room. You see, it hangs that low so it’s positioned dead center on the conference room table. Fair enough. Conference rooms are designed for conferences, not video shoots. I usually remedy said inconvenience by pulling the main fixture as close to the ceiling as I can before clamping or zip-tying the wire to the structure itself, holding it in place up high. Out of the camera line of sight.
 
So, why am I ranting about this? Because it’s not just conference rooms! Lighting fixtures have also gotten mighty low in homes. According to Healthline, the average adult male in the U.S. is 5’9, females coming in at around 5’4. I am the average male and have lost track of the number of times I’ve whacked my head on ornate lighting fixtures in home offices, dining rooms, etc. So why are these lighting elements so low? Aesthetics.


 
Now, hanging light fixtures themselves have certainly lost popularity in recent years as recessed lighting has increased in prevalence. The other thing you’ll notice (surely, I’m not the only one) is that with the increased amount of recessed lighting, there’s been an increase in the number of light switches. Remember when you could flip a switch to the left or right of a given doorway and the room would be illuminated just like that? Those days are gone. The average square footage of an owner’s suite these days is around 224. That’s not exactly equivalent to a private honeymoon suite or anything so why are there 6 different light switches? Does each row of recessed LED lighting need its own switch?
 
Based on my research this all comes down to… surprise… aesthetics. Yep, there’s that word again. People like low hanging fixtures in offices, boardrooms and dining rooms because they look nice. Same reason they end up with 57 light switches in a 224 square foot bedroom. Each switch operates another track of lights or lights within a designated space in the room, increasing the aesthetic appeal of different spaces within the room or setting a mood for a different time of day. Or perhaps, they just want to single out a unique piece of décor.
 
So, I guess the other question we should answer is, are lights just not as bright as they used to be? You’d think if you had more lighting the room would be brighter, but one of the most common complaints you hear about LED is it doesn’t seem to have the same ability to illuminate homes. This is both right and wrong. Like all bulb types, there is a spectrum of lighting temperatures. Light temperature is measured in units of Kelvin. The lower the Kelvin score, the yellower the light appears. The higher the Kevin score, the bluer the light becomes. While the bluer light is closer to true daylight, the centuries long prevalence of yellow-tinted light has likely persuaded folks that yellow-tinted light is simply brighter.
 
LED bulbs in general lose brightness as they age. This is a process called “lumen degradation,” where brightness reduces gradually over time. Incandescents burn full before burning out but obviously have a much shorter lifespan and use more energy.


 
So where is lighting headed in 2025 and beyond? I’ve been trying to hold my excitement for a while now but it looks like space age lighting fixtures are on the way out! We’re going to see a return to more traditional lighting structures, albeit with more cost-effective energy-saving bulbs. The best of both worlds! Of course, I’m still advocating for candlelight and that ship sailed in the late 19th century. It just feels right when you sit down at the rolltop with your quill pin, right?