Phantom Lighting System

Retail Display Lighting constitutes a very complex science and generally requires the help of a lighting designer or retail display expert who can help you choose the right fixtures, bulb types, voltage settings, and lighting controls for your store. Any online query will quickly produce an endless array of retail display light fixtures that can quickly overwhelm your senses and your pocket book if you are unsure of what you need. While specialty lights will always have their place in the world of design and merchandising, it is normally not necessary to buy a different type of fixture for each separate display in your store. In most cases, custom-built linear lighting strips can be mounted in a variety of environments and provide optimal, safe, efficient, and high quality luminance that will place your products in the best possible light.

Under Cabinet Light
Under cabinet fixtures are often used for retail display lighting anytime a shelf beneath a cabinet offers sufficient room for merchandising. Linear strip lights are usually the best source of illumination in these cases because they tend to blend more with the under belly of the cabinet that do puck lights and fluorescent under cabinet fixtures. Also, they can be fitted with any number of bulb types that are both dimmable and free of ultraviolet light—something fluorescent lights are notorious for producing.

For rich, dark colors, you might want to use retail display lights fitted with energy saving LED light bulbs. Phantom LED lamps have a warm color temperature, that is close to incandescent lamps.

Window Display Light
Retail lighting here has to be cost effective before it is anything else. Some window displays are left on 24 hours a day and can run a light bill straight through the roof if low voltage and cost effective lamping technologies are not utilized to offset power consumption.

Any number of linear strip lights for retail displays can be fitted with low voltage transformers to curb electrical usage. The Phantom Linear Lighting Strip, for example, can be custom manufactured as either a 12V or 24V fixture, and it can operate incandescent or xenon festoon bulbs at much lower costs than line voltage puck lights, flex lights, or even overhead fluorescent panels.

Even better, consider investing a little more on the front end to fit your retail display lighting fixtures with LED festoon lamps. Even on a line voltage system, LED bulbs use only 20% as much power as incandescents and xenon. On a low voltage window lighting strip, there is an exponential multiplication of power savings.

Display Cases
Virtually any type of accessory case can be fitted with linear retail display lighting fixtures. The only exception to this rule is any case with a mirrored back plane. Linear strips contain many small festoon lamps that will appear like white or golden dots along the top of the mirror, ruining the aesthetic of the display. However, if the case is made from clear glass, or even better, has a dark backing or cloth on which the merchandise is laid, linear strips provide some of the very best display lighting for retail display cases you can imagine.

The type of low voltage lighting you choose really should depend on what type of merchandise will be showcased your display. Toys look great under incandescent light because it makes them glimmer slightly with a cheerful, white aura. Ladies clothing accessories such as hats and scarves look better under xenon. The slightly golden aura it casts about the items makes them look well worth the price tag.

LED lights can be fitted to retail display light strips to create a near equivalent effect to either incandescent or xenon. This all depends upon the color of the bulbs used, and it also depends on the sophistication with which the festoon lamps themselves are designed. Phantom linear strips use a patented lamping technology that combines LED bulbs into a radiant output equivalent to that of incandescent lamps.

In cases where very expensive fabrics colored with highly sensitive dyes are showcased, it is best to use LED cabinet lights because any ultraviolet output from other bulb types could cause the color and material to degrade over time.

Jewelry displays can be lit with virtually any type of bulb. The colour temperature and lighting levels, however, should be carefully adjusted to match the types of precious metals and stones that compose your selection. For more information on retail jewelry display lighting, click here to read our full-length article on the subject.

For any other questions, information about Phantom Lighting or to place a custom order call toll-free at 1-800-863-1184. You can also visit our helpful and informative lighting blog "Tips from the Manufacturer" to see first hand hand our low voltage lighting products.

Our lighting manufacturing facility is located in Houston, Texas with professional lighting sales agents located throughout the United States that enable us to service all 50 states including Washington DC, Nashville Tennessee, Reno Nevada. Portland Oregon, Oklahoma City Oklahoma, Phoenix Arizona, Los Angeles California, Atlanta Georgia, and Culver City California.

To be truly effective, exhibition picture lighting needs to address major elements of the artwork itself. It must render color at a fine level of detail, and it must support perspective within the scene regardless of the angle of incident or the distance the viewer stands from the work.

The interplay between light and shadow found in almost every picture must be enhanced, not diminished, by exhibition picture lighting.

While it is the case that photography and painting have perspective and shade in common, beyond this, they diverge into vastly different arenas that carry their own unique sets of requirements for truly effective and supportive illumination.

Photography
Photography as art has gained enormous popularity, and it continues to rise in prestige and demand.

It represents a very unique form of art because of the way it challenges our perceptions of reality as a fixed absolute.

Photography allows for any scene in real-time to be captured as is, but subtly altered by the perceptions and emotions of the photographer.

Photography is often exhibited in black and white, where perception within the mind and the facts of the world surrounding the observer intersect at the points where light and shadow converge.

Black and white forces us to question our sense of absolutes by moving us beyond duality into multitudinous shades of gray.

Picture lights used to illuminate photographic exhibitions must support this artistic intention to be truly effective. Picture lighting in a black and white photography exhibit must be precisely adjusted to avoid diminishing the subtle variations in gray scale.

Many galleries showcase photography using halogen lights that come in “expo” mounting kits. These fixtures usually consist of a mounting bracket that attaches to the wall, an adjustable arm, and a halogen bulb that directs light onto the picture from an optimal angle of incident.

Halogen is a very bright source of exhibition picture light, and it is ideal for rendering both colors and any black and white scene where stark contrasts define artistic tone.

Without special lenses and filters, though, halogen bulbs are rather limited in their ability to properly support special affects photography.

Halogen-sourced low voltage lighting is often too bright for special effects exhibits, many of which showcase pictures taken at night using infrared cameras that add surreal shades of red to the backdrop of a dark, ominous landscape.

Paintings
Expo picture lights can also be used for painting exhibitions, provided they are either UV-filtered to protect the paint and canvas, or if they are used for only a short period of time in a very temporary setting.

Many civic centers, public schools, community colleges, and libraries will exhibit pictures painted in watercolor by local children, and these organizations can find a number of affordable expo lighting kits to accommodate a temporary, “gallery” type setup.

A less expensive alternative for exhibition picture lighting at general community events is the use of battery-powered, LED over-the-picture-lights. LED technology by lighting manufacturers is extremely sophisticated in two respects. Its power-saving design requires only 20% the electricity as halogen light and therefore provides much longer lamp and battery life. It also produces no ultraviolet radiation and is safe to use over oils and acrylics.

Over-the-picture LED lights are also ideal for exhibitions where local artists move from location to location to sell their work. They can be removed, transported, and reinstalled quickly; and they come in a variety of finishes that make local talent stand out exquisitely.

Formal Exhibitions Generally require projectors for picture lighting
Recessed lighting projectors reside in the ceiling above normal horizontal viewing angles. They also provide the most advanced filtration and adjustment mechanism to precisely “fine-tune” the light to the exact dimensions, color rendering, depth and shadow, and overall tone of the piece.

Click here to learn how projector technology works from the world's leading art lighting manufacturer and artwork lighting experts.