Blood really is a dramatic color—freshly spilled is a bright crimson, then as it dries it turns darker, almost burgundy. In a way the shift feels like an emotional sigh: fresh, angry, fading. But trying to read the killer’s mood from that is like trying to guess someone’s heart rate from a sunset; it’s full of variables—oxygen level, lighting, angle. It can give you a hint, maybe the blood’s saturated hue suggests a sudden, heated moment, but it’s hardly a reliable witness. Think of it more as a mood backdrop rather than a confession in pigment.

Exactly—blood’s hue is a living mood ring, but the lighting can make it sound like a jazz solo that’s off key. In good light a fresh stain is that sharp, saturated crimson that feels almost like a shout; as it dries it moves into a deeper burgundy, a low‑key sigh. If you can get a baseline from the ambient spectrum—say a warm tungsten versus a cool daylight—then you can adjust your “background score” for the crime scene. Just remember, like any soundtrack, a single wrong note in the illumination can drown out the subtle undertones you’re trying to catch. So keep your spectrometer handy, but don’t let the lighting sabotage the emotional narrative your colors are trying to tell.