Security Lighting Placement: Where Light Actually Stops Crime

Security lighting can either make your home safer or just make it brighter. Done wrong, it blinds your cameras, annoys your neighbors, and still leaves dark pockets where someone can hide. Done right, it forces intruders into visible, exposed paths and gives your cameras exactly the light they need.

This page focuses on where and how to place security lights around the home. If you are also working on camera positioning, it pairs well with the Driveway Camera Positioning and Avoiding Camera Blind Spots guides.

1. The Job of Security Lighting

Security lighting is not decoration. Its job is to:

• Expose approach paths to doors, windows, and the driveway.
• Eliminate deep shadows and hiding spots near the home.
• Feed cameras enough light to capture faces and movement.

If your lights do not do all three, you do not have security lighting—you have yard lighting.

Homeowner Scenario A

You installed a bright floodlight over the garage, pointing straight out. The driveway is lit, but your driveway camera is blinded as soon as the light turns on. You can see movement, but faces are washed out. The light is doing half its job at best.

2. Mounting Height and Angle

Proper height and angle matter more than brightness. Most lights are mounted too high and pointed too flat, which wastes light and creates glare.

General Placement Rules

• Height: 8–10 feet above ground for most floodlights.
• Angle: Aim lights downward at 30–45° instead of straight out.
• Coverage: Overlap beams slightly so there are no dark gaps near doors and windows.

Think of light as paint: if it is splashing into your eyes, it is also splashing into the camera’s “eyes.” Aim it down and onto the ground where people actually walk.

3. Light and Camera Coordination

Lights and cameras should work as a team. The biggest mistake is putting a light directly in the camera’s line of sight.

How to Pair Lights and Cameras

• Place cameras slightly offset from the light—on the same wall but a few feet to the side.
• Aim lights to illuminate the area in front of the camera, not directly at it.
• Use the camera’s live view at night while adjusting light angle to avoid bright hot spots in frame.

Homeowner Scenario B

Your side-yard camera misses a narrow path between the house and fence. You add a motion light on the same wall, but point it low and inward toward the path. Now the camera sees a clearly lit walkway, and the light doesn’t blast the lens. Same hardware, smarter placement.

If backlight and glare are already a problem for your cameras, the Handling Backlight and Glare article explains how to fix that before layering in more light.

4. Where to Place Lights Around the House

Focus on approach routes, not just random bright spots.

Front of the House

• One light covering the main entry and porch.
• One light angled across the driveway and vehicle parking area.
• Optional: a softer light near the sidewalk to discourage loitering.

Sides of the House

• Motion-activated lights covering narrow side yards and gates.
• Beams aimed along the length of the house, not into the neighbor’s windows.

Back of the House

• Lights covering patio doors and rear windows.
• Coverage on any path from the backyard to side gates.
• If you have a shed, consider a light there tied to a rear camera.

5. Motion vs Dusk-to-Dawn

Both have their place. What matters is where you use each.

Best Use Cases

• Dusk-to-dawn: Front entry, main driveway, primary camera zones.
• Motion-activated: Side yards, gates, rear corners, and areas where sudden light is a deterrent.

If you are already working with different light styles, the Motion Light vs Dusk-to-Dawn article goes deeper on choosing between them.

6. Avoiding Shadows and Hide Spots

Intruders look for dark pockets created by poor lighting angles. These are usually right under windows, behind bushes, and near corners.

Simple Shadow Test

• Go outside at night with all security lights on.
• Walk the perimeter of your home and stop anywhere you see your own shadow against the house.
• If that shadow is large and dark, you’ve just found a hiding spot.
• Angle an existing light to cut across that area, or add a small secondary light to fill it.

7. Don’t Create a Light Show for the Neighborhood

Good security lighting is controlled, not obnoxious. If your lights constantly trigger or spill into neighboring windows, people stop paying attention—which is the opposite of what you want.

Quick Neighbor-Friendly Checklist

• Adjust motion sensitivity so lights don’t trigger for every passing car.
• Aim beams down and inward, not across the street.
• Use warmer color temperatures where possible to reduce harsh glare.

8. Five-Minute Lighting Checkup

You can test most of your setup in one short walk.

• Turn on your camera live views at night.
• Walk your driveway, front walk, and side paths.
• Confirm faces are visible—not just silhouettes—under current lighting.
• Look for dark areas near doors, windows, and gates.
• Note any light source that creates a bright flare in the camera view and re-aim it.

Once your lighting is aimed to support both visibility and cameras, your home looks less like a target and more like a place where someone would be noticed immediately.

Next: Securing Yard Gates