Color-blindness

[fantôme]

I am colour-blind, it results in mismatched socks. I got only the first few on the Ishihara test, never heard of this hue test before.

It really doesn't have a detrimental effect on my life. On the contrary, in fact, it turns out to sometimes be a positive thing: for example, I not-too-long-ago discovered that the majority of people do not see cigarette smoke as a rather pretty lilac colour.

[Darkflame]

"You have perfect colour vision!"
Score; 0;

Holy crap I am perfect yay. Do I get a prize?

Seriously though, vision is fascinating. I always find it crazy how we see (or at least process) in relatives not absolutes. (hence this crazy illusion; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion )
I think the same principle works with colour too, and its why those "inverted colour" illusions work.

[Hekla]

Seriously though, vision is fascinating. I always find it crazy how we see (or at least process) in relatives not absolutes. (hence this crazy illusion; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion )
I think the same principle works with colour too, and its why those "inverted colour" illusions work.

All you need to do is look at the internet in the past 24 hours, and the whole blue & black versus white and gold dress argument to see how true this is. Even though I can't see either, and just see something close to the actual colours in the photo (a muddy light blue and a muddly gold/brown), this shows how even those with perfect colour vision will occasionally be overridden by their brain's insistence that it must be another colour.

[Darkflame]

Indeed.
Although that whole dress thing theres people claiming its "really" black.
Which cant be true else the camera wouldn't have picked up any hue/sat for it at all. Lighting conditions dont matter if no light is reflected.
Unless its really shiny black and reflecting something, but thats unlikely for a dress.

[Arclight_Dynamo]

I mean, there's a difference between the actual, real-world colour of the dress and the colours of the image that the camera picked up.

Yes, the dress is blue and black; but the camera picked up light blue and brown due to crappy exposure settings. The pixels in the image are, objectively, light blue and brown (seriously, you can pull them out with the eyedropper tool in Photoshop). It's those colours that matter and cause the ambiguity. It's how different brains interpret light blue and brown with the surrounding visual cues that matters.

The real-world object is immaterial.

[Dutch guy]

I had no idea what this whole dress thing was about so looked it up on knowyourmeme. When I first saw that image I was thinking: That can CLEARLY not ever be called blue and black. Then I watched the flipping gif with color correction lower down and thought: Hmm, human vision is weird. Then I scrolled back up and suddenly I can no longer see a white and gold dress but it's CLEARLY blue and black.... Screw you brain. I'm going to go grab a beer...

[poopintheairtonight]

Odd. I scored a 49. I think part of it might have to do with my limited laptops ability and the fact I'm sitting next to a sunny window with a venetian blind on it though.

[Jamfalcon]

Regarding the dress, what's really weird to me is that at no point have I been able to see white and gold. I don't doubt that lots of people can, but even using "tricks" others have mentioned, like changing monitor settings or even using entirely different screens, I can't get my eyes to see it.

[Master Gunner]

I first saw it in white and gold, then it switched to blue and black after I flipped away and came back. With some effort, I could switch back to seeing the white and gold, but now (after learning the exact mechanics of how the illusion works), I can't see it as anything but blue and black (even with the tricks).

I actually thought the white and gold version of the dress looked better.

[Timelady]

It's so weird. I know how the illusion works, I know the dress is blue and black, I've seen the other angle pictures of it, but I just somehow cannot see it as anything other than white and gold.

[Duckay]

I've heard a bunch of different "explanations" for how the different perceptions of colour on that dress work, but the one that makes the most sense to me is the same one that this optical illusion works from.



Square A and Square B are the same colour (here is the proof), but most people don't see it that way because they see the "shadow" cast by the cylinder and their eyes correct for that when viewing the colours. It seems very reasonable to me that the difference in colour on the dress is not actually about colour perception in a vaccuum, or monitor settings, or anything like that, but how we perceive the poor lighting -- we can see that it's a bit screwy, so we try to correct for it. Sometimes incorrectly.

ETA: Well, I'm a dumbass. I forgot that Darkflame had already linked the shadow illusion days ago. Sorry for rambling, guys.

[Deedles]

I've only been able to see the dress as blue and black. I've tried the tricks to make it change, but it just hasn't worked. So while I have no doubt that some see it as gold and white I, sadly, don't think I'll ever see it that way. ):

[AdmiralMemo]

Here's a video of that illusion where a woman moves the square, and it blows my mind...

[Darkflame]

I mean, there's a difference between the actual, real-world colour of the dress and the colours of the image that the camera picked up.

Yes, the dress is blue and black; but the camera picked up light blue and brown due to crappy exposure settings.

Black is the absence of reflected light, exposure shouldn't matter. :-/ You cant get hue and luminance from nowhere no matter how much light you take into the camera. So it would have to be a extremely dark brown and somehow its pulling it all up....but then wouldn't the rest be overexposed? Why would just the dress be made a order of magnitude lighter and not everything else

And I think most cheap cameras go the other way; making things darker. If its really black I can only think there's some crazy post-processing going on that somehow its changing the middle of the image seperate to the rest.

Or, as mentioned, its shiny and picking up the flash or something else in the room.

Theres always the possibility that the dress comes in a few colours isnt there? Lots of clothing does.

objectively, light blue and brown (seriously, you can pull them out with the eyedropper tool in Photoshop). It's

I know, its why I'm puzzled as to why the camera is so far off.

ETA: Well, I'm a dumbass. I forgot that Darkflame had already linked the shadow illusion days ago. Sorry for rambling, guys.

No problem, its awesome and deserves to be posted for all that havnt seen it.

[Duckay]

It seems more plausible to me that the dress isn't "really" black, and is actually a very dark brown that looks black if you're not looking closely in most lights, but with whatever is going on with the camera settings/lighting/etc looks bronzey-brown to gold in this picture. That seems somewhat more likely than post-processing to make it look weird.

[AlexanderDitto]

I mean, there's a difference between the actual, real-world colour of the dress and the colours of the image that the camera picked up.

Yes, the dress is blue and black; but the camera picked up light blue and brown due to crappy exposure settings.

Black is the absence of reflected light, exposure shouldn't matter. :-/ You cant get hue and luminance from nowhere no matter how much light you take into the camera.

Most black objects are not perfectly black; your eye perceives things as black if they absorb MOST of the light directed at them. Not necessarily ALL of the light. Most things are not vantablack.

Additionally, the contour of the surface of the item plays an important role in how much light is reflected. Black items can still reflect light. Your eye is able to identify that that car is painted black even though it is actually reflecting a lot of light, and most of the surface you're seeing is actually NOT black (it's ceiling colored or garage colored).

So yeah, the black lace is reflecting enough light that it gets blown out in the over-exposure, and since the ambient light is yellow, the black and yellow mix in the exposed photograph into a murky, shitty gold-yellow.

[korvys]

The dress parts of that image are the same colour.

Your eyes/brain are basically saying "I see light blue and brown. Based on previous experience, that could be blue and black, lit by a yellowish light, or white and gold with a blueish shadow" and then it makes a decision based on what it thinks is more likely.