The Dress

[TheHuckster]

Well, here's a debate worthy of Fratching.

Of all the contentious debates I've seen on the Internet, last night's was over a friggen dress.

Some people see the dress as white and gold, others as blue and black. Before you think it might be some form of color blindness or some kind of personal bias, note that some people have seen both at different times. People have surmised it's due to the lighting in the room you are in when you see the dress, or your brightness settings on your display. Some even claim it depends on your mood.



Now, personally, I can see both sides to the blue vs. white debate. While the dress looks white or off-white, I see a bluish tint to the dress. This tint is so subtle I could theorize the cause to be from flourescent lighting or perhaps a bright blue object behind the camera.

However, I have never, ever seen how the yellow/brown/gold part could ever be construed as black. For me, it's so clear that it's not dark enough to be black, it's not unsaturated enough to lack any color, and I've even tweaked it in photoshop to make it grey scale, and that simply makes those lacy stripey things clearly grey and not black. I've turned my brightness down on my laptop, and I still don't see it black. I can definitely see how the white turns more blue, though.

I could see how people might say it's more brown than gold, but not at all black. What am I missing here?

[BlaqueKatt]

Well, here's a debate worthy of Fratching.
However, I have never, ever seen how the yellow/brown/gold part could ever be construed as black. For me, it's so clear that it's not dark enough to be black,
I could see how people might say it's more brown than gold, but not at all black. What am I missing here?

actually the photo you posted looks blue/black to me

the science behind it

[TheHuckster]

Ok, I turned down the brightness setting on my laptop, and then tilted the monitor in such a way that the contrast/brightness continues to lower, and then I can definitely see a blue and black dress (or at the very least a very dark brown).

[Kheldarson]

Oh god damnit, not here too!

[KabeRinnaul]

The first three times I saw this, I thought it was so obviously white and gold that the blue and black option seemed ridiculous.

Then I saw a different picture of the dress where the lighting made the blue and black obvious.

Now it's so clearly black and blue I can't unsee that.

[TheHuckster]

I think what really throws me off is the top of the dress. There's a highlight there on the middle of the neckline that I can't not see is goldish in color. If I were to see just the bottom part of the dress, where the colors are more subdued and darker, I could kind of see how some might perceive it as black and blue, but not with that colorful highlight on the top.

[Andara Bledin]

I see robin's egg blue with a kind of bronze/dark gold accenting.

The fact that the image is massively out of light balance, with the lighting in back being strong daylight, but the dress itself being in shadow is screwing with the perception of the vast majority of everybody who spends time in bright daylight.

And the color correction on the camera that took the image is screwing with the coloration even more. It's assuming, based on highlighting (likely from bright daylight reflections behind the photographer), that the trim color isn't as dark as it really is because all of the area outside of the dress itself is so bright.

My mind wants to tell me that the blue is external, an illusion caused by the lighting, but I know that the idea that the blue is external is the true illusion. Why there's so much orange in the black section, though... the camera has overcorrected to the point where I can't imagine how anyone with regular vision could see black. There's not nearly enough saturation to even approach black.

Poll:

What color are your eyes and what color do you see the accents as?

Someone suggested that the pigmentation of our irises might be affecting our ability to discern the colors presented in the picture of the dress. Considering that they affect other parts of our vision, that might hold some merit.

And addendum: do you do anything artistic or business related that involves a wide variety of color?

For myself...
Eye color: light green with brown near the center (typical hazel dichromatic with a concentration on the paler outside color)
Color variety: I work with art of a visual nature, so I have a highly refined ability to differentiate and name colors
How I see the dress: medium blue with a bronze/dark gold trim

[TheHuckster]

Eye color: Hazel
Color Variety: I am a software engineer who works with UI design, which does deal with digital on-screen colors. I have been told, however, that while I'm not color blind, my ability to tell differences between very subtle shades is lacking, at least compared with my wife, who will notice stains in my colored shirts I really have to squint at to notice.
How I see the dress: A faint blue with gold/orange/brown trim.

I should note that, like others, I do notice little differences in how I perceive the dress compared to other times. At certain times it looks more blue, or a darker shade of orange rather than a yellower kind of gold. But never is it overwhelmingly different like some people seem to be reporting where it's seemingly an entirely different color like black instead of gold.

[KabeRinnaul]

My eyes are brown with hazel bits? I'm not sure. Ask Kheldarson.
I don't do anything relating to graphic design in day-to-day life, but I used to do a bit of art as a hobby back in high school.
And like I said, I saw it as white for a while, and now I can only see it as blue.

Here's the same dress in a different photo, without the bad color balance and oversaturation:



I couldn't see the original image as white and gold anymore after I saw this.

[TheHuckster]

I have seen this photo, and it didn't change my perception at all. In my mind, the OP dress would have to be in a supernova in order for the colors to match. If one were to tell me that someone played with some filter effects and overexposed the shot to make the dress you just posted to look like the OP dress, I accept that. It doesn't change the fact that, on its own, I simply can't see the OP dress looking anything other than whiteish and goldish.

Again, I can see hints of blue in the OP, but the blue in the OP dress is not nearly the same shade in my mind as the picture you just posted. The dress you just posted is a very bold, vibrant blue, whereas in the OP the dress is just a faint blue.

I almost feel like I'm in some kind of reverse Liar Liar scenario where my brain is convincing me the dress is white or slightly blue when in reality it's "R-R-RROYAL BLUE" and I just can't see it.

[protege]

Oh god damnit, not here too!

Agreed. Why is this even news?

[Andara Bledin]

So, was posting about this on the other forum I frequent.

I noticed that in the lower left background of the image, you can see what is obviously a black and white print something. And it's really easy to see that it is supposed to be black and white, despite the huge amount of yellow the 'correction' of the camera threw up all over the image. But even so, I still can't see the dress trim as being the black that I know it to be.

However, I almost saw it a moment ago. Scrolling up to the image from a picture of the dress without massive backlighting and overcorrection to the pic in the OP let me almost see black in the trim and the dress as a darker blue. But as soon as I got to the top of the image, with the decidedly brown cast to the upper portion of trim and the massive light source behind the dress, and the near-black faded back into bronze.

This is a great demonstration of how our eyes and minds screw with us over lighting.

[TheHuckster]

This is a great demonstration of how our eyes and minds screw with us over lighting.

I've seen illusions like that. The difference between those illusions and this photo is people typically agree on what each color is perceived to look like.

The only time I ever saw black and blue was when I had the dress in my peripheral vision. That, to me, demonstrates the rods and cones explanation I've read, which is people who have stronger rods compared to cones are more likely to see it in black and blue. Because your rods are more active in your peripheral vision, and I see a black and blue dress in my peripheral vision, I'm inclined to support this explanation. Those who switch between the two are probably activating their rods due to changes in light in their environment, since rods are used in dark environments.

It is certainly a great example of how people's physical perceptions can really vary depending on their environment and sometimes even time of day.

So, I guess I'll go on a diet of carrots and see if the dress starts to look different. (yes, I know that's a myth)

[s_stabeler]

incidentally, someone actually looked at the RGB values, and it's actually almost certainly bvlue/orange, so both sides are wrong.

it's definitely not a vary good picture. ( oh, I see blue-ish white & gold)

[munchkinmama]

I have blue eyes and always see this dress as white and gold. My son said blue and black one time and white and gold one time (he's 6).