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setups. Though fine to work with as a starting point, if we always use the same
colors for sunlight in our renders then we are taking a definite step towards killing
off variety in our lighting. Working with a range of colors in this area tends to be
a much better idea.
One big set of questions we should be asking during our observation and reference
gathering sessions would be a consideration of just how much the color information
coming from the sun itself is affecting our perception of the colors found on objects
in the environment around us.
For instance, in the preceding photograph of a rose, look at what happens on the
right as we remove yellow tones from the color information found in the image. Our
perception of the color tones or hues present alters quite a bit, as does our feel-
ing regarding the type of environmental/lighting conditions under which the image
was shot. What clearly started out as golden morning or afternoon sunshine now be-
comes a bit more ambiguous, perhaps looking more like a crisp autumn day.
The skylight color
Of course it isn't only the color of sunlight in an environment that we need to give
attention to. Going back to our analogy of a child's drawing, we will often find that the
sky is also depicted as a solid color, typically a light or pale blue. As we have already
noted in our interior exercises though, block or solid colors can't really capture the
variety of tones that come from skylight. Indeed often, the dominant color in a sky,
depending on the time of day (and weather conditions of course), may not even be a
shade of blue at all. Reds, purples, oranges, yellows, in fact pretty much every major
shade available in the color spectrum may at some time or another be present as a
component in the color tones of the sky.
Knowing when and how to introduce some or all of these hues into a particular piece
of work will be part of the skillset that we are looking to build. We also need to keep
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