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Home Decorating Lighting Design Dilemma

What color LED track light bulbs are best for this artwork?

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

a local artist painted this for us and now that it is on the fireplace, I feel like the light bulbs are too warm, but I'm not sure if I am correct. Also, I know, the mantel is hideous, I'm working on getting a new one.... gotta do one thing at a time. ;)

Anyhoo- do I do 'bright white' or "daylight" LED bulbs to make the artwork look its best? I think there are soft white bulbs in there at the moment. THANK YOU!!

Featured Answer

Andie
Original Author

4 years ago

so I bought 5000K bulbs to replace what was in there and it looks different in person, but not so much when looking at the photos. But the colors are much more authentic when I look at them with the new colors. But do they even make 4000K track light bulbs?

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Comments (11)

PRO
RL Relocation LLC
4 years ago
what type of track head, bc start with are you trying to focus in on the artwork. I know this room, but right now you are just lighting the whole space, the better answer might be a different track head to start with. this ultra white (crap) lol is washing out your whole room, so first I think you need warmer
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
LEDs in 4000K are a good choice for all lighting and especially where keeping colors true is concerned I actually have good overall lighting and don’t bother with special lighting for our art. That piece will look awesome with a dark thick mantel BTW
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The Aculux housing in that link is a premium fixture. It comes with a stippled clear uniformity lens to eliminate striations without altering beam spread to help smooth out hot spots as you requested. It has better lamp positioning, too. Use a good lamp like GE constant color. FNV lamps are about 55 degree beam spread if you need it wider. EXN is the 40 degree normal flood everyone stocks. Almost no one stocks constant color so you might have to order. Philips is supposed to have a comparable constant color lamp but I've not tried them side by side. One reason recessed is so popular compared with track is that track adds visual clutter with the strip of track and fixtures hanging down from the ceiling. Many object to recessed fixtures with anything sticking out of the ceiling as some trims do. 4" or 3" low voltage reduces the aperture size for less of a hole in the ceiling. It is not uncommon to use a slot aperture trim and have them painted to match the ceiling for minimal ceiling interruption. For insulated ceilings use IC airtight housings and fully insulate around/above them to minimize energy losses. In the Aculux line there is a lensed wall washer that helps spread the light. It has photometrics listed to work with. This link shows the slot aperture style trim. Here is a link that might be useful: Juno Aculux oval slot adjustable
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ok let me really help you with this. use 4'' recessed low voltage cans. that take mr16 bulbs. these bulbs come in beam spreads from 10 degrees to 60 degrees. Use what I call a flop, rather than an eye ball, the flop can be more precisely angled at what it is lighting as . for the larger piece that is long you will want 2 cans to focus on that with two bulbs at tighter angles. the light will naturally spread as it gets further away from the source so this is why trying a couple beam spreads will help determine what works bes. https://noralighting.com/product/nl-470/ You do not want to over light, so sometimes this is trial and error with the bulbs. Now if for some reason you can not do recessed we are into using a rail system from tech lighting, with the same bulb i am talking about. Or if you want more options for the lighting. These use the same bulbs and can be moved around on the rail to get optimal placement. Also you can put the rail as far or close to the wall as you like since it has a remote power source. http://www.techlighting.com/Gallery
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I do know that specialized dimmers for LED bulbs are a must. CostCo sells them for a reasonable price (IMO). I’m just trying to figure out what a 4000K light source will look like when it is dimmed. I was afraid that the answer would be multiple light sources. Cans in the family room with 4000K and table lamps with 2700? Cans in the bathroom with 4000K and sconces with 2700? Cans in the kitchen with 4000K and under-counter with 2700k? I’m wondering if 3000K or 3500K would work for all needs when on dimmers? Not quite daylight at full strength, but much closer than 2700K. Not quite 2700K when dimmed, but closer than 4000K. ??? I’ve also taken note of the new(er) LEDs that can change temperature from 2700 to 3000 to 3500 to 4000 to 5000 and even 6000! However, I think the CRI on these are low. Do you think this technology will improve? One does not really need all those levels – something like 2700 / 4000 (cri 90+) would be plenty (IMO) on dimmers of course. :-)
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PRO
R S W / Studio - Custom Lighting Design
4 years ago
The two art galleries I used to have my artworks at had warm white lighting (2700-3000K), IMO daylight (from bulbs) is terrible for artworks, daylight is mostly used for hospitals, offices and such.
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
4 years ago
Yes, I have also lit, a historical museum, and several professional art galleries, never used 4k,

lighting art is not about "true color" it's about highlighting the right portion of the art and pulling the colors out, for example, if a painting has a lot of warm tones, I want to enhance those not make them stark.. also its not always about lighting the whole painting, sometimes you can use a very narrow beam spread and just hit the sunset portion and let the little bit of over light cascade like the picture was intended.......IMO as well. This 4k craze..........
PRO
Patricia Colwell Consulting
4 years ago
last modified: 4 years ago
Of course they do I have them all over my house. I replaced all my halogens both MR16s and GU10s with 4000K bulbs and I hung art in a gallery for a long time before LEDs and we used halogens to keep the colors as true as possible. Art is produced in a space with good natural light that is how the artist chooses colors and to add yellow cast from a 2700K bulb is not how you want to see the colors the artist chose.
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
4 years ago
What type of track head is it?
Andie
Original Author
4 years ago
it is a basic track attached to the ceiling.
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
4 years ago
LOL no, I know what track is, I'm asking what kind of bulb and fixture you are using.....
Andie
Original Author
4 years ago
the fixture is a basic ceiling mount rail that holds 4 GU10 bulbs. it's just a white track that blends s:
PRO
RL Relocation LLC
4 years ago
ok so its not low voltage and its running a bulb with not that many options. so I personally would get a halogen to light the art and try to find one with a narrow beam. the reason is you want the light bulb that lights the art to penetrate the light in the rest of the room, thus high lighting the artwork.

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