Brightness

Brightness is an attribute of visual perception in which a source

appears to be radiating or reflecting light.[1] In other words,
brightness is the perception elicited by the luminance of a visual
target. It is not necessarily proportional to luminance. This is a
subjective attribute/property of an object being observed and one of
the color appearance parameters of color appearance models.
Brightness refers to an absolute term and should not be confused
with lightness.[2]

The adjective bright derives from an Old English beorht with the
same meaning via metathesis giving Middle English briht. The word
is from a Common Germanic *berhtaz, ultimately from a PIE root
with a closely related meaning, *bhereg- "white, bright".
"Brightness" was formerly used as a synonym for the photometric
term luminance and (incorrectly) for the radiometric term radiance.
As defined by the US Federal Glossary of Telecommunication Decreasing brightness with depth
Terms (FS-1037C), "brightness" should now be used only for non- (underwater photo as example)
quantitative references to physiological sensations and perceptions
of light.[3]

A given target luminance can elicit different perceptions of brightness in different contexts; see, for
example, White's illusion.

In an RGB color space, brightness can be thought of as the arithmetic mean μ of the red, green, and blue
color coordinates (although some of the three components make the light seem brighter than others,
which, again, may be compensated by some display systems automatically ):[4]

Brightness is also a color coordinate in HSL color space : hue, saturation, and lightness, meaning here
brightness.

With regard to stars, brightness is quantified as apparent magnitude and absolute magnitude.

Brightness is, at least in some respects, the antonym of darkness.

Contents
New meaning
See also
Notes
External links
New meaning
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has assigned an unconventional meaning to
brightness when applied to lamps. When appearing on light bulb packages, brightness means luminous
flux, while in other contexts it means luminance.[5] Luminous flux is the total amount of light coming
from a source, such as a lighting device. Luminance, the original meaning of brightness, is the amount of
light per solid angle coming from an area, such as the sky. The table below shows the standard ways of
indicating the amount of light.

SI photometry quantities
Quantity Unit Dimension
Notes
Name Symbol[nb 1] Name Symbol Symbol[nb 2]
lumen The lumen second is sometimes called
Luminous energy Qv[nb 3] lm⋅s TJ
second the talbot.
lumen (=
Luminous flux, lm
Φv[nb 3] candela J Luminous energy per unit time
luminous power (= cd⋅sr)
steradian)
candela (=
Luminous cd
Iv lumen per J Luminous flux per unit solid angle
intensity (= lm/sr)
steradian)
Luminous flux per unit solid angle per
candela per
cd/m2 (= unit projected source area. The
Luminance Lv square L−2J
metre lm/(sr⋅m2)) candela per square metre is sometimes
called the nit.
lux (=
lumen per lx
Illuminance Ev L−2J Luminous flux incident on a surface
square (= lm/m2)
metre)
Luminous
lumen per
exitance,
Mv square lm/m2 L−2J Luminous flux emitted from a surface
luminous
metre
emittance
Luminous
Hv lux second lx⋅s L−2T J Time-integrated illuminance
exposure
lumen
Luminous energy
ωv second per lm⋅s/m3 L−3T J
density
cubic metre
Luminous
lumen per
efficacy (of K
watt
lm/W M−1L−2T3J Ratio of luminous flux to radiant flux
radiation)
Luminous
lumen per Ratio of luminous flux to power
efficacy (of a η[nb 3] watt
lm/W M−1L−2T3J consumption
source)
Luminous
efficiency, Luminous efficacy normalized by the
V 1
luminous maximum possible efficacy
coefficient
See also: SI · Photometry · Radiometry
 1. Standards organizations recommend that photometric quantities be denoted with a subscript "v" (for
"visual") to avoid confusion with radiometric or photon quantities. For example: USA Standard Letter
Symbols for Illuminating Engineering USAS Z7.1-1967, Y10.18-1967
2. The symbols in this column denote dimensions; "L", "T" and "J" are for length, time and luminous
intensity respectively, not the symbols for the units litre, tesla and joule.
3. Alternative symbols sometimes seen: W for luminous energy, P or F for luminous flux, and ρ for
luminous efficacy of a source.

See also
Brightness (sound)
Luma (video)
Luminance (relative)
Luminosity

Notes
1. Merriam-Webster.com (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bright) Merriam-Webster
Dictionary definition of bright
2. [1] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tq2y2BseUaE) Brightness vs. Lightness
3. “Brightness (http://www.its.bldrdoc.gov/fs-1037/dir-005/_0719.htm)” in Federal Standard 1037C, the
Federal Glossary of Telecommunication Terms (1996)
4. What are HSB and HLS? (http://www.poynton.com/notes/colour_and_gamma/ColorFAQ.html#RTFTo
C36), Charles Poynton: "The usual formulation of HSB and HLS compute so-called "lightness" or
"brightness" as (R + G + B)/3. This computation conflicts badly with the properties of colour vision, as
it computes yellow to be about six times more intense than blue with the same "lightness" value (say
L = 50)."
5. "Shopping for Light Bulbs" (https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0164-shopping-light-bulbs). United
States Federal Trade Commission. Retrieved March 13, 2017.

External links
Media related to brightness at Wikimedia Commons

Poynton's Color FAQ (http://www.poynton.com/ColorFAQ.html)

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Brightness&oldid=1010294478"

This page was last edited on 4 March 2021, at 19:29 (UTC).

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