Photometry is a branch of the wider field of radiometry. One might call radiometry the measurement of electromagnetic radiation independent of the detector that is used in the measurements, whereas photometry refers to the measurement of electromagnetic radiation when using the human visual system as a detector.
Photometry is essential, both in visual science and in lighting engineering. To deal with matters of lighting and vision in a scientific way, the first thing is to quantify light. For this purpose, the quantities of and the units of the light are strictly and precisely defined and described in the International Lighting Vocabulary that is published by CIE. This vocabulary is based on the ISO-Standards of Weights and Measures.
When light strikes the eye, a sensation of light is provoked. The intensity of the light stimulus is called the photometric quantity, and the sensation produced by the stimulus is called brightness. The energy of electric radiation can be expressed in watts. However, only the wavelength range between about 400 nm and 800 nm can produce a sensation of light and colour.
Fundamentally, photometry is nothing else but photon counting. Each photon is counted, and weighted according to the photopic spectral luminous efficiency curve. In this chapter the different photometric quantities and units are described, and so is their measurement. We begin with the luminous flux, followed by the luminous intensity, the illuminance, and the luminance. The mathematical aspects of the luminance concept are discussed in the next chapter. In chapter 5, the measurement of light is discussed. This chapter is based to a considerable degree on Narisada & Schreuder (2004, chapter 14) and Schreuder (1998, chapter 5).
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(2008). Radiometry and photometry. In: Outdoor Lighting: Physics, Vision and Perception. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8602-1_3
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