Why do colors look so different in various lighting?

Answer 1

Lightbulbs create light by heating a metal filament or exciting an inert gas inside a vacuum tube. For instance, the metal filament in a household (incandescent) bulb is tungsten which gives a golden yellow glow as it is heated. Street lamps use mercury vapour, which casts a purple glow. Standard fluorescents use argon/neon, and are green/blue.

Different light bulbs emit different "colour temperatures" (from warm red to cool blue and everything in between) and although we generally can't detect this with the human eye, it is captured on film, and can distort the way we see colours. For instance, when we paint beneath incandescent light, our paintings will look too blue in daylight.

Answer 2

Because colors are basically the way your eyes interpret reflected light. If the light is from a different source, or is a different brightness, this is going to affect the way the light is reflected into your eyes. Therefore, creating a different color. Sometimes it might only be a slight difference, or it might be a completely different color. Like a blue car under a street lamp at night is going to appear purple. I hope this answers your question.

Answer 3

Basically because color is a property caused by the reflection of light. So if the light changes the color will as well. We usually don't notice this because our brain compensates the changes in light so that we recognize the object as the same we saw under a slightly different light.

You will notice how when you take a picture under a regular light bulb (without any filters) the colors tend to be warmer more yellowish. Under a fluorescent light, they tend to be colder, blueish.

Answer 4

Lighting has a huge impact on the appearance of colors. Incandescent light, like most home lighting, is warm with a yellow or orange bias. Most fluorescent light leans toward blue. When you view colors in daylight, then artificial light, you see these biases affecting the colors.