ABSTRACT
Contrast is a broad and important subject in the world of stage, television, film, and photography lighting, as well as for evaluating display screens and projectors. This chapter concentrates on contrast in lighting and leaves screen and projector contrast evaluations for a later chapter. Contrast ratio is defined. The use of the light meter to measure incident or reflected light levels is introduced and explored, as are the essential units of lighting intensity measurement, foot-candles and lux, along with the important concept of f-stops. Several of the characteristics of light that contribute to contrast are examined, including how color, angle, and intensity are able to add or diminish visual contrast.
