In practical photography the illumination varies from about 2000K candlelight to about 15000K north skylight. A decent estimate of the color temperature can be had by comparing the
Blue and Red exposures, representing the short and long wavelengths, respectively, while the Green exposure is held constant.
This graphic shows the spectral power distributions for seven different blackbody illuminations and also the spectral sensitivities for a typical TV camera.
Candlelight is extremely Blue poor/Red rich. Skylight is definitely Blue rich/Red poor. The cameraperson is expected to obtain good pictures in all cases. There are optical filters which correct the spectral distribution but at high cost to exposure. There are also the separate gain controls.
In reality, with candle illumination white things look quite white while the candle flame itself looks yellowish. In typical color photography, with candle illumination white things look yellowish and the candle flame itself looks white. That's a good conundrum.
Dennis Couzin
Berlin, Germany