I guess this is a good time to review for beginners the light requirements of the most common families.
Phalaenopsis -(moth orchid) low light - usually grown indoors year round since they only need about 1500 foot candles of light to flower (noon summer sun in most areas will be around 10,000 foot candles)
Paphiopedium ( Lady Slippers) - not a common beginner plant, but the next step for many, is even lower light doing well as low as 900 foot candles - If you grow African violets put these right next to them.
Oncidium alliance and intergenetic hybrids - This is a large group of orchids with long thin leaves. Because of the thin leaf they do not have as much water reserve as other orchids and can burn when the light levels are much above 2500 foot candles. They do best in a garden if they are sheltered mid day with some morning or afternoon sun. Growing them under heavy tree cover usually fits their needs
Dendrobiums - one of the easiest families to grow- they have so many plants in this family there is one for any light level, but as a generalization the common types you find in most stores like a higher light level 2500-3500 foot candles
Cattleyas - the corsage orchid - The flower everyone things of when they say orchid. These like 3500 foot candles to flower. This is about half day sun with maybe some extra protection around noon if you are in a very southern area.
Vandas - often sold in baskets - these require very high light levels 6-8000 foot candles and large amounts of water.
Correct light levels are necessary for flowering. Plants will live with much lower levels, but often fail to flower.
You can easily measure light with a camera.
Measuring light levels with an SLR camera