Lighting Terminologies

Luminous Flux
Luminous flux is the total light quantity emitted by a light source. This is the power of the light supplied by a source
and it expresses the quantity of energy given off in the unit of time in the form of visible radiation.
Unit: Lumen (Lm) Symbol:

Luminous Intensity
Luminous intensity describes the amount of light emitted from a light source in a particular direction.
Unit: Candela (Cd) Symbol: I

Illuminance
Illuminance indicates the amount of luminous flux ( ) from a light source falling on a given surface. It is the ratio
of the luminous flux to the area of this surface. The unit of illumination in SI system is Lux, and in the FPS system
it is foot-candle. One foot-candle is 10.76 Lux.
Unit: Lux (Lm) Symbol: E

Luminance
It is the luminous intensity of any surface in a given direction per unit area of that surface as viewed from that
direction (Brightness of the surface).
Unit: Candela/ sq.m Symbol: L

Beam Angle
The Beam Angle is the angle at which the luminous intensity of the luminaire falls to half the maximum luminous intensity.
light source

beam angle

0.5 * Imax Imax 0.5 * Imax

Accomodation
Accommodation is the process by which the eye locates and focuses on an object. The
nearer the object, the more convex the lens of the eye will be. The farther away the LENS

object, the flatter the lens. Prescription glasses compensate for the inability of the lens to Lens rounded for near vision
change shape sufficiently to provide clear vision.
LENS

Lens flattened for distant vision

Luminous Efficacy
It is the ratio of the total luminous flux emitted to the total input lamp power (lamp wattage).
Luminous efficacy = Luminous flux/ Wattage

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Adaptation
Adaptation involves the size of the pupil opening and sensitivity of the retina. The pupil of the eye
opens wide in low levels of light and gets smaller as the light level increases. A change also occurs
in the photochemical substances of the retina. It takes longer to adapt from light to dark - like
going into a movie theatre in the daytime than it does to adapt from dark to light.

Reflection Butterfly is
Reflection from a Flat Mirror

really here... but it looks

like it is here
Reflection of light is the most familiar property of light, since it is what enables us to see objects around
us. Light from a source, such as the sun, or a lamp,travels in a straight line until it strikes an object, at
which point it may be either absorbed, transmitted, or reflected. Actual light
path to eye
The eye thinks
Silver or white surfaces reflect the most light. A highly, smooth and flat silver surface acts as a mirror, this is the light
path
Eye
reflecting perfect image of the world around it.
Flat Mirror

Refraction
Light that is transmitted through a medium will usually be deviated somewhat from the Refraction at Surface of Water
straight path it was previously following. The phenomenon is familiar with transparent
Light ray bend (refract) as
objects such as glasses and lenses - objects seen through them appear larger, smaller or they go from water to air
To eye, object
Eye
appears to be
distorted, place a stick partially into water and it appears to be bent at the surface. here

Light path
from object
Actual position
of object

Inverse square law

As a surface that is illuminated by a light source moves away from the light source, the
0.5 m 0.5 m
surface appears dimmer. In fact, it becomes dimmer much faster than it moves away
from the source. The inverse square law, which quantifies this effect, relates
illuminance ( E) and intensity (I) as follows:
E=I/d^2
Where d = the distance from the light source.
For example, if the illuminance on a surface is 40 lux at a distance of 0.5 meters from the light source, the illuminance decreases to 10 lux
at a distance of 1 meter, as shown in the figure above.

Colour Temperature
Imagine a piece of metal heated to a high temperature: it glows. At high enough temperature, it will give off light ( or
incandescence). Higher the temperature, whiter the light . We can use this idea to describe the color of a light source
It is given by its Color Temperature. Light sources with a color temperature of up to 30000 K give a warm impression, of 40000 K
a neutral and of 50000 K and higher a cool Impression.

Colour Rendering Index

Color Rendering Index is a measure of the quality of color rendering properties of light emitted by a lamp, compared to a reference
source that has a CRI 100. In simple words, it is the ability of a light source to show the true color of the object.
Higher the CRI of a light source, the more “natural” colors will appear under it. Light source with a low CRI will distort colors. Note
that we say “natural”, meaning as seen in daylight or sunlight.

Photometry
In standardizing the light sources and luminaries, using them and in assessing the adequacy of lighting for various tasks it has been
necessary to develop a scientific system for the measurement of light which is known as Photometry.
Thus Photometry is a basic, indispensable branch of Illumination engineering, ranging from the very exact measurements carried out in
the laboratory by standard institutes while calibrating reference sources, to routine measurements in research and quality control of
sources and for field measurements, which sometimes can be very exact but very often only needed to give a global impression of
R
existing lighting levels.