2 The nature of light

 

 

 

In this chapter we shall be discussing the fundamentals of light itself. We shall examine the nature of light, how it behaves, the ways in which it varies, the principles of color.

What is light?

Radiant energy is emitted from many natural and man-made sources, including the sun, radioactive ores, radio transmitters, electric lamps & It travels out through space in the form of electromagnetic radiation (waves of energy with associated electric and magnetic fields) at the incredible speed of over 186000 miles a second (3 × 1010cm/s).

Although we can classify this radiated energy by measuring the frequency at which it vibrates (in hertz or cycles per second), with light it is generally more convenient to measure its ...

Get Lighting for TV and Film, 3rd Edition now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.