Colour accuracy with external visualization

[Ausmax]

Hello,

I need to produce a piece of work that depicts fairly accurate colour

for the various materials used - external walls, tiles, gutters etc.

 

(The scene is external and I am using Mental Ray)

 

I am trying to decide whether I should use a Skylight HDRI setup or

a daylight system to light the scene. Can you get close colour results with this root?

 

I have read in Brian's book at 3DATS that you can get close results using exposure control and by taking the square of each RGB value. Could anyone tell me if this method is only used with daylight system lighting?

 

I have seen some pretty amazing daylight scenes lit by HDRI lately and would love to give this method ago. I thought that HDRI was only used for dusk and low lit scenes?

 

Any tips would be greatly appreciated. Thankyou