A method of controlling one or more luminaires arranged to illuminate an area covered by at least one presence sensor, the method comprising: receiving from a user a selection of a lighting scene to be rendered; controlling at least one of the luminaires to render the selected lighting scene; determining a timeout duration for the luminaires based on the selected lighting scene; using the at leastone presence sensor to monitor the area for presence indicators when rendering the selected lighting scene; and automatically switching the luminaires to a low-power mode if no presence indicator isdetected in the area for the determined timeout duration when rendering the selected lighting scene.