Is there a way to simulate the color and intensity of exterior light with a sensor fed back to a controller? I am planning to build a faux window for my basement that is lit by LED strips and controlled by an arduino or adafruit controller. But I want the window LEDs to increase in intensity and follow the ambient light color as the sun rises and sets. I would like to simulate the light with a sensor's feedback to the controller rather than have a repetitious program that is the same everyday. That way mid-day is bright white, red sunsets look red, and orange sunsets look orange. In other words I wand the fake window to appear as close to the other real windows as possible. Is there a way sense the light color and light intensity to feed back to the controller?
A light sensor is a photocell, you might want to have a look here
For the color, there exist color sensors, but I don't know if they can really make a difference between red and orange skies...