Why measure light?

One important factor why we measure light is for safety reasons with road and runway lighting being the priority. Lighting along roads and runways primarily assists routing of traffic, these areas should not be dimly lit. Drivers need enough visual information in order to proceed safely, see ahead, respond to signs and maneuver appropriately. Lighting should be of adequate brightness in order to achieve such functions. In order to determine adequate brightness of lighting along roads and runways accurately, instruments such as luminance and illuminance meters are used.

Some other uses of light measurements are for developing energy efficient light sources, ensuring the consistency of light emitting from LED screens, enabling living spaces to be adequately lit up, etc.

Why measure color?

Color sells! Especially for the food industries, it communicates freshness, flavor and quality. Color is a visual quality indicator for food. Nowadays, consumers expect consistency in products’ color, because color inconsistency represents poor processing, a change in recipe or outdated ingredients.

Another industry where color is important is medicine, it is highly regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. Color measurement can be used to check for product contamination.

Consistency in product color is an indication of a brand’s quality. For color measurements, chroma meters and spectrophotometers can be used.