Exercise - Judging colour temperature

Here we see 3 photographs of the same scene. One in late morning when the sun is high, the second midday in the shade and the third late evening when the sun is low.

The morning shot clearly shows the white of the building as a brilliant white and the red door also look exactly the right colour.

The second shot midday, under cloud (shade) things are very flat and grey quite dull in fact and the whites aren't white at all, more a bluey grey.

The third shot is pleasing. The low sun casts a lovely orange glow over the grasses yet the white painted building remains dark, it would be orange too if not were facing the sun but as it sits shade side it remains just off white to blue.

This exercise demonstrates the strength and direction of the sunlight makes for dramatic changes in both colour temperature and impact on any given scene.