Most of the light that we encounter is tinted with a color.
Indoor lighting, especially fluorescent lighting, is usually perceived to be white, whereas incandescent lights are perceived to be a bright beige color.
Note that this is the color that is perceived if you are inside looking in.
If you were staring into a building at night that was illuminated by fluorescent lights, they would appear to be more bluish-green.
This is due to the colors your eye perceives based on the light entering it.
Remember, even at nighttime some amount of light enters your eye, which can affect the color of the lights you see as a result.
If the light you are setting up just look right, try to observe the same light design in the real world-closely.
Your brain knows that the light is white, but what do you actually see? When setting up lights, color is always a critical factor.
White light rarely works for all situations.
your 3D application provides you with a default light of 180 in the R, G, and B channels.
This is designed as a quick way to get your scene illuminated, but you shouldn't rely on it as your sole color for illuminating your scene.
If you are having trouble with your scenes looking flat, try varying the color and intensity of your lights, so that the colors you want to accentuate stand out and other colors are muted.
A blue surface completely absorbs all red and green light, and reflects the blue to the viewer's eye, which in this case is the rendered image.
Thus, a light shining on a blue object must have some blue in it for the object to appear anything but black.