[daytonians]

Chris,

Wrong. The intensity of the light never decreases, it just gets more spread out, which will register lower readings on a light meter the farther away from the bulb you get. That is why we can see stars that are billions of miles away. When photographing the moon, you use the exact same camera settings that you would for photographing outside on a sunny day here on Earth.

We are discussing what your eye sees though. That is totally different. Your eyes are like camera lenses. Not a zoom lens, but a standard lens. It has a fixed angle of view.

Take a solid white wall that is evenly lit. (Try to stay with me here) As you back away from it, the light is spread out, but your eye sees more and more of the wall. Standing 3" from a wall, you can only see about a 6" circle. Back off to 6" and you can see like a 12" circle.

So, the decrease of intensity is exactly matched by the increase in field of view. Light seen stays the same.