Newbie question-light meters

[etex]

Hi everyone! I received a Hydrofarm Digital Light Meter as a Christmas present.The results I received are puzzling. For each plant stand I measured light with the wand in front of a plants leaves in direct sunlight and a leaf out of direct sunlight in the same stand.For example:Sunroom peaked at 7960(sun)/1200(not sun),lowest reading 4010/270. I would think the radient light would not allow this much difference in the same stand. The back does not look like it is deep shade and is a foot deep front to back.Does this mean I need to rotate plants here back to front? Do these readings sound right? Any tips?? I use this stand for my catts and they do well here,but not at the readings of 270! Thanks for any input as I am quite confused about the reading range. Thanks! Diane