Much as an electrical lamp transforms electrical energy into heat and light, the visual “apparatus” of a human being acts as a transformer of light into sight. Light projected from a source or reflected by an object enters the cornea and lens of the eyeball. The energy is transmitted to the retina of the eye whose rods and cones are activated. The stimuli are transferred by nerve cells to the optic nerve and to the brain, man is a binocular animal, and the impressions from his two eyes are translated into sight — a rapid, compound analysis of the shape, form, colour, size, position, and motion of the things he sees. Photometry is the science of measuring light. The illuminating engineer and designer employ photometric data constantly in their work. In all fields of application of light and lighting, they predict their choice of equipment, lamps, wall finishes, colours of light and backgrounds, and other factors affecting the illumination of premises or scene to be rendered, in great part from data supplied originally by photometric laboratory. Today extensive tables and charts of photometric data are used widely, constituting the basis for many details of design. Although the lighting designer may not be called upon to the detailed work of making measurements or plotting data in the form of photometric curves and analyzing them, an understanding of the terms used and their derivation form valuable background knowledge. The perception of colour is a complex visual sensation, intimately related to light. The apparent colour of an object depends primarily upon four factors: its ability to reflect various colours of light, the nature of the light by which it is seen, the colour of its surroundings, and the characteristics and state of adaptation of the eye. In most discussions of colour, a distinction is made between white and coloured objects. White is the colour name most usually applied to a material that diffusely transmits a high percentage of all the hues of light. Colours that have no hue are termed neutral or achromatic. colours. They include white, off-white, all shades of gray, down to black. All coloured objects selectively absorb certain wavelengths of light and reflect or transmit others in varying degrees. Inorganic materials, chiefly metals such as copper and brass, reflect light from their surfaces. Hence we have the term “surface” or “metallic” colours, as contrasted with “body” or “pigment” colours. In the former, the light reflected from the surface is often tinted. Most paints, on the other hand, have body or pigment colours. In these, light is reflected from the surface without much colour change, but the body material absorbs some colours and reflects others, hence, the diffuse reflection from the body of the material is coloured but often appears to be overlaid and diluted with a “white” reflection from the glossy surface of the paint film. In paints and enamels, the pigment particles, which are usually opaque, are suspended in a vehicle such as oil or plastic. The particles of a dye, on the other hand, are considerably finer and may be described as colouring matter in solution. The dye particles are more often transparent or translucent.
Read the sentence and infer the writer's tone: "The politician's speech was filled with lofty promises and little substance, a performance repeated every election season."