YANQ - Yet Another Newbie Question

Is direct light essential?

It's a little hard for me to find growing info appropriate to my
situation (South-facing open, hard-roofed, second-floor balcony right
on Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg, Florida), so I thought I'd go talk to
one of the local purveyors. This particular place (Art Stone Company,
for any locals) has been there for years and is clearly the result of
hobby-gone-wild. Point is just that I assume the guy is fairly
knowledgeable.

Light levels in the shade are 500-2000 footcandles, depending on how
close you are to the front. Light levels out by the railing are, of
course, Florida-level, at 12-16000 footcandles. I also took
measurements in his greenhouse and the numbers were similar. His
brightest areas were a bit brighter than my brightest, and his darkest
were darker than mine, but all-in-all, quite comparable.

And yet, when I described my growing situation, which is this
hard-roof balcony, he seemed fairly pessimistic. I didn't have the
numbers in footcandles at that point, but I said the numbers were
about the same as home. He said that the indirect light didn't count
as much, and that my light levels were quite low. He advised Phals,
and said that while other orchids would grow, they would be unlikely
to bloom.

I've had a few orchids growing here for some months now and the leaves
have not gone dark green. No blooming, but that's as likely due to
other aspects of newbie husbandry.

So, what's the scoop? Is the guy right? I'll tell ya, for a
roofed-over porch, it's pretty bright! I actually had to move one
Phal back towards the back wall, as the leaves lightened up a lot.

Is direct light essential? As long as I get the light levels required
on the meter, is that "good enough" or not?

TIA

Gannet
St. Petersburg, Florida