Wow, it's kind of amazing that the human eye can see stuff that's 1000x dimmer than a moonlit scene.
andrewdotwang
What's the difference between luminance and illuminance? Could we use illuminance to describe the brightness of a computer screen?
Staffgabby-delforge
@andrewdotwang, I think of it this way:
Illuminance is the light received by a surface. This is why there is a sharp falloff, and why the illuminance we get from starlight is only 0.0003 even though stars are very bright - very little of that light actually reaches us.
In contrast, luminance is associated with a ray of light - either emitted from a surface, bouncing off of that surface, or passing through it.
In your example, you would use luminance to describe the brightness of a computer screen, and illuminance to describe how much light from the computer screen (and your surroundings) falls onto your face.
Wow, it's kind of amazing that the human eye can see stuff that's 1000x dimmer than a moonlit scene.
What's the difference between luminance and illuminance? Could we use illuminance to describe the brightness of a computer screen?
@andrewdotwang, I think of it this way:
Illuminance is the light received by a surface. This is why there is a sharp falloff, and why the illuminance we get from starlight is only 0.0003 even though stars are very bright - very little of that light actually reaches us.
In contrast, luminance is associated with a ray of light - either emitted from a surface, bouncing off of that surface, or passing through it.
In your example, you would use luminance to describe the brightness of a computer screen, and illuminance to describe how much light from the computer screen (and your surroundings) falls onto your face.
thank you, gabby!