I've used the same plant for all 3 images so that colour can be seen changing in the different types of light and the different white balance settings
Mid-Day Sun
Image 1a)
White balance set to Daylight
Image 1b)
White balance set to Cloudy
Image 1c)
White balance to to Auto
Adjusting the white balance of the RAW file to Daylight has slightly warmed the image from auto - this can be seen in green of the grass and the colour of petals. I think my eyes recorded the image as something between image a) and c). Image b) appears to have been warmed further and in fact too much as it has yellowed the grass and completely changed the colour of the flowers. I think I prefer to Auto setting here
Shade
Image 2a)
White Balance set to Daylight
Image 2b)
White Balance set to Cloudy
Image 2c)
Here again I can see that both the daylight and more so the cloudy white balance settings have warmed the image. The daylight setting I think is the more natural image of the three, its the one I prefer and its also the most reflective of the actual scene recorded by my eyes though the reality of what my eyes saw may be nearer between daylight and cloudy
Sun Close to Horizon
Image 3a)
White Balance set to Daylight
Image 3b)
White Balance set to Cloudy
Image 3c)
There is of course an expectancy that the Daylight and Cloudy white balance settings will warm the image. In the light of the setting sun the colour of the light was visually the warm orange colours. The Auto setting above has neutralised the light, the daylight setting has warmed the image but not to the degree my eyes recorded. The Cloudy white balance setting has given the better and more realistic image in terms of the light visible at the time to my eyes
Lessons Learnt
a) Blue is surprisingly a higher temperature colour than Red. However visually the opposite is true
b) White balance setting of daylight warms the image, the cloudy white balance setting does the same but warms the image further than the daylight setting. This could be good in portraits when wanting to warm skin tones
c) Adjusting the white balance settings will impact colours captured in the image. This can be easily seen in the grass colour in the first set of 3 images
d) The Auto white balance setting appears to give the light a neutral colour
e) Use of White Balance can enable the RAW file image to be amended to reflect the image that was visible to the eyes at the time. Of course the visual cooling or warming of light and colours can be used to create the effect the photographer may have visualised
f) This has been a good exercise / experiment and I was rather surprised at the results and of course learning in this way ensures the learning remains
Posted 24/5 some time after I wrote up this exercise
g) I had been thinking about Michael Freeman's comments about how red and orange colours appear warm and blue colours appear cold but in reality the actual colour temperatures are reversed. It then came to me! If I considered the colour of stars where the young and hotter stars are actually of white and blue colours and the same for the type of light they give out, the cooling yellow and orange stars and somewhat cooler getting toward the red and dying stars like Betleguese. This has helped me now to fully understand colour temperature
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