A Questionnaire Survey on Using High Dynamic Range Photography for Lighting Design

摘要

This study explored whether high dynamic range (HDR) photography could potentially help lighting designers improve lighting design analysis. A questionnaire was sent out to 40 lighting designers without prior experience of using HDR photography and six college students who recently learned how to use HDR photography to assist their lighting design. It was found that most designers and students thought the luminance map and the luminance gradient magnitude map were helpful in aiding their design practice. Most designers did not but most trained students did think the luminance map filtered with lower threshold values and the luminance gradient direction map could assist in design practice. The majority of those professionals and students thought the filtered luminance gradient magnitude map and the 3D luminance gradient map were difficult to use. Conclusively, the camera-aided imaging method could be useful for trained beginners to evaluate an environment in a couple of hours to assist in their design practice, which otherwise would take years of experience accumulated in a work environment. Experienced lighting designers may have empirical design insights gained over years that do not rely on the technical information revealed on the HDR images.