Surround Brightness: Key Factor in Viewing Projected Pictures

The lighting of areas where projected pictures are viewed presents a number of specialized problems to the lighting engineer. However, these specialized problems involve factors of lighting design rather than any particularly unusual visual factors. Basically, projected pictures are visual tasks upon which the eyes and attention of the viewers are concentrated for extended periods. Since the viewing of projected pictures is a seeing task, two distinct objectives are suggested: (1) providing maximal visibility of the task; and (2) providing maximal visual comfort and case of seeing. These are fundamental objectives that must be satisfied in order to obtain optimal seeing conditions in any visual situation. This paper is confined chiefly to the second objective and to those factors which determine whether the area in which projected pictures are viewed is visually satisfactory. The screen is introduced only insofar as it influences or is influenced by the environmental factors.

Print ISSN

0898-042X

Published

1951-09

Content type

Original Research

DOI

10.5594/J11334