We have analyzed the colorimetric and spectral characteristics of 2600 daylight spectra (global spectral irradiances on a horizontal surface) measured for all sky states during a 2-year period at Granada, Spain. We describe in detail the chromaticity coordinates, correlated color temperatures (CCT), luminous efficacies, and relative UV and IR contents of Granada daylight. The chromaticity coordinates of Granada daylight lie far above the CIE locus at high CCTs (>9000 K), and a CCT of 5700 K best typifies this daylight. Our principal-components analysis shows that Granada daylight spectra can be adequately represented by using six-dimensional linear models in the visible, whereas seven-dimensional models are required if we include the UV or near-IR. Yet on average only three-dimensional models are needed to reconstruct spectra that are colorimetrically indistinguishable from the original spectra.

The perceived colors of reflecting surfaces generally remain stable despite changes in the spectrum of the illuminating light. This color constancy can be measured operationally by asking observers to distinguish illuminant changes on a scene from changes in the reflecting properties of the surfaces comprising it. It is shown here that during fast illuminant changes, simultaneous changes in spectral reflectance of one or more surfaces in an array of other surfaces can be readily detected almost independent of the numbers of surfaces, suggesting a preattentive, spatially parallel process. This process, which is perfect over a spatial window delimited by the anatomical fovea, may form an early input to a multistage analysis of surface color, providing the visual system with information about a rapidly changing world in advance of the generation of a more elaborate and stable perceptual representation.

The acquisition of spectral reflectance factor image data in an outdoor environment is a challenging task, mostly due to nonstatic scene content and illumination. In this work, we propose a work-flow for this task using a commercial Bragg-grating-based hyperspectral imager that can capture the visible and near-infrared part of the light spectrum. To our knowledge, we are the first who use this technology for outdoor spectral reflectance factor imaging. The work-flow involves focus position and exposure time estimation, illumination scaling, and image registration, among other procedures. Most of them generally apply to hyperspectral imaging, while some are specific to a Bragg-grating-based hyperspectral imaging device when dealing with specific challenges in outdoor environments. We have conducted some experiments to evaluate the quality of the acquired image data and discussed some limitations of the technology for spectral imaging of outdoor scenes. Fourteen urban scene spectral images acquired using the proposed approach are already publicly available to the scientific community under a Creative Commons license.

We have analyzed the results of the reconstruction quality of 252 daylight spectral curves measured at Granada, Spain, using four bases obtained from measurements in different areas of the world. For these reconstructions we used two different methods (orthogonality of characteristic vectors and chromaticity coordinates) to study the influence of the wavelength range and spectral resolution. The reconstruction method from chromaticity coordinates presents difficulties for the spectral recovery of daylight spectral power distributions regardless of the basis used. The orthogonality method makes clear that the best bases were those proposed by the CIE, but more than two characteristic CIE vectors were needed for good reconstruction.

Performance of multispectral devices in recovering spectral data has been intensively investigated in some applications, as in spectral characterization of art paintings, but has received little attention in the context of spectral characterization of natural illumination. This study investigated the quality of the spectral estimation of daylight-type illuminants using a commercial digital CCD camera and a set of broadband colored filters. Several recovery algorithms that did not need information about spectral sensitivities of the camera sensors nor eigenvectors to describe the spectra were tested. Tests were carried out both with virtual data, using simulated camera responses, and real data obtained from real measurements. It was found that it is possible to recover daylight spectra with high spectral and colorimetric accuracy with a reduced number of three to nine spectral bands.