My color choices really reflect my environment. It isn't an accident that most of the grayish heathery yarns are popular in gray climates like the Shetland isles. Judging from my blog reading one of the largest concentration of traditional Fair Isle knitters live in the Seattle area.
As for me, I can't even get a good photo showing a heathery color in natural light. Where I live we get over 310 days a year of sunshine and it isn't just regular sunshine. It is fierce high altitude (over 7000 feet) sunshine that fades and washes out anything in its path. The only colors that are even visible around here are the rich, bright, saturated colors. Bright turquoise garage doors and hot pink front doors are not unusual here in NM. When I do projects in very muted colors I genuinely have trouble even seeing some of the colorwork while standing outside. So that is why you often have to wear sunglasses to read my blog
The light here also makes it difficult to photograph the colors I choose. I try to take advantage of the 10 minute window of opportunity I have each day for outdoor shots right after the sun goes down behind the mountains before it gets dark. If not, I have these four less desirable choices.
Outdoors, full sun - colors all wrong and heathered section right below main hand pattern almost invisible
Outdoors, in shade - the best but darker than the reality
Indoors with natural light and no flash - too dark
Indoors flash - the farthest away from the real colors and the heathers I used become solids
The project shown is SpillyJane's gorgeous Sea Mineral Mittens. Everyone go get this wonderful free pattern knit in Knitpicks' Palette (my yarn choice also) and look at her beautiful water-inspired muted colors in the original. I made a few changes - I read the sea plant chart wrong so that is slightly different and I added a pattern repeat before the thumb opening.