Lighting
Lighting is the illumination of an area, usually by artificial sources such as a lamp or flashlight.
Natural indoor lighting is by windows and skylights.
Artificial indoor lighting is by lamps, today usually electric lights, but previously by gas, candles or oil lamps. Lamps today very frequently have a base a light bulb and a lampshade. Lighting equipment is part of furniture. Modern portable light is a torch or flashlight on batteries.
Street lighting is a part of the street furniture. In built-up areas streets often have lighting, usually by lamp-posts, other roads may or may not have lighting. Light pollution is of growing concern.
Vehicles often have white or yellow lights in front, to illuminate the part of the road, etc., in front, traffic signs, etc., and to make the vehicle more visible, and red tail-lights in the rear to quickly alert one driver about another's direction of travel. In the image to the right, the top (white portion) of the tail light is the backup lamp, which when lit, is used to indicate that the vehicle's transmission has been placed in the reverse gear, warning anyone behind the vehicle that it is about to move in that direction. In addition to their useful purpose, automobiles increasingly feature ornamental lighting. In the late 60s and early 70s, manufacturers would sometimes backlight logos and sometimes translucent panelling. In the 90s, a popular trend was to customized vehicles with neon lighting, especially underneath the body of a car. In the first decade of 2000, neon lighting is increasingly yielding to digital vehicle lighting, which feature bright light emitting diodes (LEDs) which are operated by a controller which can be customized and programmed to display a whole range of variable colors.
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