What effect does colored light have on the color of objects?

Question

What effect does colored light have on the color of objects?

Answer 1

The color you perceive with your eyes is of the wavelengths reflected from the object. when you use white light - it contains all wavelengths, some will be absorbed and some reflected.

If you use colored light that contains the wavelengths that are to be reflected from the object, its color won't change. but if you use colored light that contains wavelengths that are to be absorbed by the object, it will seem black, because it wil not reflect any light.

Answer 2

nothing, just the way you percieve it is different. if you have red light and there is a red ball you will have difficulty seeing it.

Answer 3

Pure light (sunlight, for example) contains all the colors of the spectrum.  When you shine "pure" on an object, it absorbs certain colors of the spectrum, and reflects the remaining light.  A red apple, for example, absorbs all the yellow and blue light and reflects back the red light.  

Your eyes only perceive the difference between the surrounding colors and the colors that specific objects are reflecting.  In pure sunlight, everything appear vibrant because you are seeing objects relative to a full spectrum of light.

Red light shining on red apples will have the effect of washing out the colors, make the apples appear bland and colorless.  This is because there are no other colors for the apple to "absorb" so you don't see any contrast between the apple and the surrounding light.

In short, its all about contrast.  You only see things in relation to the background.

Answer 4

If the light is just one color then it will affect the appearance of an object (it may appear black if the object adsorbs that particular color well.)

If the light has all the colors but is biased in some way then the brain is very good at working out what the true color is. It does that because the color temperature of sunlight (and in shade) varies at different times of the day and it would be awkward if something changed color significantly according to the time of day (Color is important in noticing ripe fruit)

Indoor lighting tends to have unusual color temperatures as well. You may have noticed that photographs taken in florescent light tend to look yellow, even though the colors looked fine at the time - this is because the film doesn't correct for color temperature (digital cameras do to an extent, but they aren't perfect)