Conclusions
Having conducted a full analysis of the experiments performed, I have reached the conclusion that the camera does not by default, enforce the Gray World assumption when performing color balancing. The camera will first attempt to detect a specular point within the image and adjust the colors of the image relative to that specular point. This was evident in all the camera processed Macbeth ColorChecker images. No matter which colored filter was used for a particular image, the operations performed on the color components of the image remained consistent.
The camera does enforce the Gray World assumption when the surface is fairly uniform in color, with no apparent specular reflection points, in relation to the ambient lighting. If there is a lack of strong ambient lighting, then the camera seems to automatically adjust the exposure length to allow itself to detect the available sources of light. In such a case, Gray World assumption would not be performed. Instead, a specular spot is selected and the color of the image is adjusted relative to this specular point.
Further Extensions
Given the opportunity to extend this project further, I would like to better estimate the camera gamma. In our project, we assumed that the camera's gamma correction is identical for all three color channels. i would like to perform some further tests to either verify or discredit this assumption.
Another area of further would be in figuring out the more exact situations by which the camera enforces the Gray World Assumptions.