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What Color is this Dress *Explanation*

What Color is this Dress?

  • Black & Blue

    Votes: 12 50.0%

  • Gold & White

    Votes: 12 50.0%
  • Total voters
    24
It's on Yahoo News. According to the survey, 74% say white and gold, while 26% saw blue and black.
 
The real question is: "How inaccurate is the white balance in that picture?" and the correct answer is "very".
 
LadyX said:
It's on Yahoo News. According to the survey, 74% say white and gold, while 26% saw blue and black.
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And what of the microscopic minority - including your humble scribe - who see a lighter (i.e. 'RAF') blue (rather than dark blue), and dull, brassy gold? Where do we fall on that spectrum? And what percentage comprises us?

By the way, I love the llamas, and how two trending stories have been conflated…..
 
juanm said:
The real question is: "How inaccurate is the white balance in that picture?" and the correct answer is "very".
Click to expand...

Bonus question: "From which angle did you look upon your screen?" It may vary.
 
LadyX said:
Why did it get moved to the Wasteland?? I think it's really interesting and scary that some people see a white and gold dress while others -including me- see a blue and black. My sister sees gold and white, when I told her it's blue and black!
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Every person (about 20) I have met in real life and shown this photo to, saw purple-black with slight tint of gold.
 
Scepticalscribe said:
And what of the microscopic minority - including your humble scribe - who see a lighter (i.e. 'RAF') blue (rather than dark blue), and dull, brassy gold? Where do we fall on that spectrum? And what percentage comprises us?
Click to expand...
I see it like that, too.
And so does everyone I've shown this picture to.
Some described it as purple-black at first but then acknowledge the gold tint, that is more visible on better displays.
 
There's a well known eye clinic in my country that just tweeted "if you see this dress white and gold, we'll give you a discount". So to go and do an eye examination because the correct color is blue and black :)
 
I perceive it both ways, although the usually I interpert the colors as black/blue. The white/gold perception is what I started at, and with some concentration I can briefly return to that.
 

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twietee said:
Do I understand that right: take a horrible pic with a crap camera/lens and ask folks, each with a different screen that is, about the color of the original, physical item? :/

Material is highly reflective, that's for sure.

Oh, and that the skirt ain't looking good in either combo, too. We sure this is no marketing bs?
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I think the marketing BS was just an opportunistic post hoc decision on the part of the seller.
 
mobilehaathi said:
I think the marketing BS was just an opportunistic post hoc decision on the part of the seller.
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Millions of curious customers wonder now: "Do these horizontal stripes make me look thinner or more fat? Or just tasteless?" :D
 
twietee said:
Millions of customers do wonder now: "Are these horizontal stripes making me look thinner or more fat? Or just tasteless?" :D
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Vertical, vertical, vertical always looks better, I agree, if one is to wear stripes of any description.

Only the insanely, preternaturally, and surreally thin, (or the beautiful and absurdly youthful) can carry off horizontal stripes with any degree of credibility..
 
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Something freaky is happening. Last night, I only saw black and blue. I woke up this morning and it was white and gold. A couple hours later, black and blue again.
 
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Scepticalscribe said:
Vertical, vertical, always looks better, I agree, if one is to wear stripes of any description.
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That's what Obelix in his blue/white (??) pants said too. I admit of having worn some striped (red/blue -??) polo shirts in my younger days. But I didn't know better. Of course, being handsome helps as usual :D
 
twietee said:
That's what Obelix in his blue/white (??) pants said too. I admit of having worn some striped (red/blue -??) polo shirts in my younger days. But I didn't know better. Of course, being handsome helps as usual :D
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Ah, yes, I do indeed recall Obelix with fond affection……and he had a point on the matter of striped trousers.

But let not the insane dictates of fashion decree how we should see such things, especially as that precise point is the very topic of this thread.

For my part, I must admit that I am finding this a quite absorbing and utterly fascinating discussion on a most intriguingly interesting phenomenon.
 
New black and blue iPhone!

This is the new black and blue iPhone. :p
 

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I cant believe this dress debacle, lol. I never saw the dress as white, even though many did, it almost looked blue/lilac purple and brownish/gold/brownish green in the one pic.

It all depends on the temperature and white balance of the photos. Some photos showed the true color, some were washed out which completely changed the look of the colors. But SO many people swore it was white, I NEVER saw white.

I think this proves that many people are colorblind or something. I took a colorblind test last night (after seeing the dress pics) and my color vision is 100% normal.
 
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What Color is this Dress *Explanation*

Someone posted a thorough explanation online ...

Your eyes have retinas, the things that let you interpret color. There's rods, round things, and cones that stick out, which is what gives your eye a textured appearance in the colored part. The "cones" see color. The "rods" see shade, like black, white and grey. Cones only work when enough light passes through. So while I see the fabric as white, someone else may see it as blue because my cones aren't responding to the dim lighting. My rods see it as a shade (white).

There's three cones: small, medium and large. They are blue sensitive, green sensitive, and red sensitive.

As for the black bit (which I see as gold), it's called additive mixing. Blue, green and red are the main colors for additive mixing. This is where it gets really tricky. Subtractive mixing, such as with paint, means the more colors you add the murkier it gets until its black. ADDITIVE mixing, when you add the three colors the eyes see best, red, green and blue, (not to be confused with primary colors red, blue and yellow) it makes pure white.

—Blue and Black: In conclusion, your retina's cones are more high functioning, and this results in your eyes doing subtractive mixing.

—White and Gold: our eyes don't work well in dim light so our retinas rods see white, and this makes them less light sensitive, causing additive mixing, (that of green and red), to make gold.
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palmerc2 said:
You should add a poll
Click to expand...

I can't. A mod can though.
 
Well that's interesting...

I've looked at this image a few times today - dress has always appeared to me to be a very, very pale (5-10% cyan) blue with gold trim

Just looked at it again and it's now blue (albeit light) but now with black trim.

The only difference seems to be the ambient light I'm in. During the day there's a lot of daylight and now I'm in a warm tungsten light and my perception of the dress seems to have changed.

Makes me wonder if this isn't to do with the eye itself but rather the brain sort of trying to white balance?
 
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