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Fran Riley

9 Years Ago

The Blue Black/white Gold Dress Talk

You've probably seen the recent viral controversy about the color of the dress issue from Tumblr user Swiked at <a href='http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112073818575/guys-please-help-me-is-this-dress-white-and' target='_blank' rel='nofollow' style='font: 10pt arial; text-decoration: underline;'>http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112073818575/guys-please-help-me-is-this-dress-white-and</a> <br> <br>I didn't think much of it until I asked several people at work what they thought and there were divisions on what the colors are and the reasons behind it. <br> <br>Not sure this embed code will work but I'll give it a shot. If not use the link or Google anything like blue black dress gold white dress and you'll get a ton of links to see what it's all about. <br><div class="tumblr-post" data-href="https://embed.tumblr.com/embed/post/3w52CSAc9U0E91sBCV7irg/112073818575" data-did="d38b115fb0d19f223a090468ae7c958947c0b41a"><a href="http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112073818575/guys-please-help-me-is-this-dress-white-and">http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112073818575/guys-please-help-me-is-this-dress-white-and</a></div><script async src="http://assets.tumblr.com/post.js"></script> <br>

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Fran Riley

9 Years Ago

Oh good it worked.

Edit::::: (Sorry for the foul word that came with it...I can't fix that). PLEASE NOTE: The original post has alternating images showing the different versions. You may be seeing the one that looks gold/white (to me) or the one that looks blueish/blackish. Use this link http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Untitled-12.jpg (active in my post below)

I saw this as blue black while others standing next to me saw it as white/gold. Wow, what a difference! What really bothers me about this is how colors are being interpreted in our Art and Photographs. What's your thought about how this affects us here and what we think we are seeing?

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

Yukky blue and dirty gold but, I understand the real thing is a royal blue. How this came out like this nobody knows lol

 

Diane Diederich

9 Years Ago

It does look blue and gold, that I interpreted to be white and gold because of lighting…no idea how this can be interpreted as black…weird!

 

Chuck Staley

9 Years Ago

I saw it as white and gold, (with a blue daylight reflection) as did my friend--another male--yet my daughter and granddaughter saw it as clearly black and blue.

(The original dress, which you may purchase, IS black and blue.)

Then my granddaughter also saw it as black and blue.

It then did make me question whether individuals see the same artwork I do.

Chuck Staley Concept Art



 

Fran Riley

9 Years Ago

There are some interesting scientific explainations but with so much difference between what people are seeing, I'm bothered by what or how people interpret in the colors of Art....

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

if i had to guess, the white balance is way off. the sun behind it messed up the exposure. i don't see black in this, unless it's one of those 2 color fabrics where one side is gold the other black, depending on lighting. in any case, i'd rather see a better image of it. i saw this come into my box this morning, and thought... who cares.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Cynthia Decker

9 Years Ago

I see it as white and gold, but in a bluish daylight type of shadow. No matter how long I look at I never see black. I always see gold on the lace bits.

There is a phenomenon where the rods (or cones) in your eyes that detect certain colors get tired after a while and stop processing those colors as efficiently. Try this to understand that effect, maybe that's related to this phenomenon.

Check this out:

http://www.moillusions.com/black-and-white-spanish-castle-in/

 

Fran Riley

9 Years Ago

http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Untitled-12.jpg

if this link works it shows the three different views of the dress. That's what I thought too Mike but, people are clearly divided on what color they see.

That in my mind gives me concern about what people perceive in photos and other art works.

 

Michelle Calkins

9 Years Ago

I thought it was white and gold with a bad daylight hue making it look a bit blue. How anyone sees black in this is a mystery to me...

It looked completely different on my phone than it did on my computer yesterday when I looked...more of a dark blue on my phone.

 

Menega Sabidussi

9 Years Ago

i see the black and blue, no problem. now just imagine what people are seeing when they look at our images. throw in monitors that are way off and you just about feel like giving up.

 

J L Meadows

9 Years Ago

^This.

 

Michelle Calkins

9 Years Ago

My husband just came in the room and I asked him. He sees it as black and "faded blue jean" blue...crazy~

I do not see any black whatsoever.

 

Cynthia Decker

9 Years Ago

This is weird! I always see gold, but the white does get a little bluer when I come back to the image. But still there is always gold highlights on the lace and at the neckline.

 

Fran Riley

9 Years Ago

except for the original dress which is really black and royal blue, this first image I put up I wouldn't call a true black...more of a dingy black/brown like one might see looking thru dirty glass.

 

Jani Freimann

9 Years Ago

My daughter showed this to me last night. She could only see blue and black. I can't figure how. It's clearly white and gold to me. Although dingy in this picture.

I was originally shown two dress side by side and told to look at the one on the left then tell what color it is.

 

Darrell Storts

9 Years Ago

I perceive it as white and gold. Maybe we do not all see the same colors. Maybe you see blue as blue, maybe I see green as blue. My wife and I have always had a controversy between turquois. I se it as green she sees it as blue.

 

Louise Reeves

9 Years Ago

If you have an LCD monitor, put the image up then crouch down so that you're looking up at it. It will appear as blue and black.

Stand up and look down and it will appear as white and gold. Centered on the eyes, it still looks white and gold, but as if the white balance is off.

 

VIVA Anderson

9 Years Ago

Mid brown, denim blue....

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

the 3 in a row, the left was adjusted. the right had its yellow removed. or they made the gold into black using levels color correct. i'd like to see other image of that dress - not the same one in a row.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

MM Anderson

9 Years Ago

Looks like lavender and gold to me. If that's black then this must be the worst white balance ever in a photo.

 

Fran Riley

9 Years Ago

Lol, we all can agree the photography is poor, but the point is our color perceptions. Everyone is split on what colors they see....not how the photo is technically wrong. The focus is what color do you percieve. That's where it's tricky.

@Mike, do you mean you want to see the original dress? Here's a link to it on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SJEUCWU/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00SJEUCWU&linkCode=as2&tag=bithedress-21&linkId=LIATY5TENJ7ORHXX

 

Abbie Shores

9 Years Ago

MM. Lavender blue and dirty gold. that's what I see

 

Phyllis Beiser

9 Years Ago

White with a hint of lavender and gold. I have to admit, pretty interesting.

 

April Moen

9 Years Ago

I originally saw it as white and gold, but when I looked at the top of the dress I figured out that it was very badly lit black, and I suddenly saw it as blue and black, and now I can't see the white and gold anymore.

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Rose Santuci-Sofranko

9 Years Ago

HUH? I don't even understand why there is a "viral conversation" about the color of a dress??? Why is anyone interested and caring about this? I must have missed something.

 

Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

Fran - I don't think it is possible to compensate for how others see things. We simply can not see through their eyes .

Okay, so now here's a question : Are there some people who see Blue jays as gold & white ?

 

Edward Fielding

9 Years Ago

This came up at the dinner table from my teen. Mom and Dad saw blue and black. He saw gold and white. I guess some people have built in auto white balance.

 

Tim Wilson

9 Years Ago

They had it on TV this morning and I saw blue & black, and then they showed the real dress and it was blue & black. Now what I see is dirty blue/white & gold
And I see why...
"The original image is in the middle. At left, white-balanced as if the dress is white-gold. At right, white-balanced to blue-black."
The image has been tampered with. I've done the same thing to completely change the original color in an image...

Whats really interesting, as I'm looking at this on my laptop screen, get up and walk away from the screen and see what happens to the image...

But my question is this....which one has the correct WB for the light in the scene..
If correct WB, and folks still see different colors then you got something.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

i still see gold and blue, but the photoshop in me is white balancing it. and placing it on a better background. i tried many angles, but my screen seems to just be too good, it shows the same color.

on amazon - it looks proper though. is see the black and blue, but the snap shot doesn't show that.

i walked out into the hall and still saw what i saw. maybe it has to do with a polarized screen or the type of light the screen uses? i'm using a side lit LED, the other screen is fluorescent, i'm just not seeing the gold as black.

it might be related to calibration on a screen as well, i know my screen is pretty calibrated.


i suppose if i stared at the snow and burned out my eyes i would see the black.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

stare at the bottom of the dress - it is blue & black.
scroll up slowly - & it appears to look white & gold.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

still see that pale blue and gold. don't know if it helps to have that other ugly black dress behind it. i wonder how the sales are for this dress.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102461771

everyone seems to like this topic.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

Michael Hoard is right.

Screen tilted back = blue & black
Screen straight up - white & gold.

A good lesson on seeing different perspectives.

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@Janine, I have to LOL, LOL, I did read somewhere someone posted on one of the original tweets, The End Of The World Was Coming,,,,lol


Watch and see by tomorrow, everyone around he world will have nightmares....lol

The world has gone madd....tonight on the way home someone put a giant wide screen in a picture window and there is the image of the dress...lol I practically fell off my bike...

Thank you Janine and I was serious about speaking to the local TV 6 affiliate this evening over the phone,


Its a sign, the next President Of The United States Will Be A Woman.....

May scientist will tell us its a dress from Interstellar "The Dress Has Been Through The Wormhole" lol

 

Janine Riley

9 Years Ago

A great marketing ploy. Now that we know...

Tweet one of your images : " Does this look red & green to you ? "

& let the world respond .
Muah ha ha ha....

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@Yes, now when you think about it, the person who took the photo, it was not until after she took the photo, she then sends a tweet to her friend, that friends sends it to another.....that sound like what we do here at Fine Art America....marketing skills.


When, I left the coffee shop, I pass by a Cleaners, I swear I heard the clerk tell the other "honey by tomorrow, that dress will have been through the wringer" lol, lol, lol, lol

 

Cristolin O

9 Years Ago

This is the best graphic I've seen to show how the different perceptions come about.

What one perceives depends on whether one thinks the dress is in shadow, and the brain makes corrections by thinking the blue shades are actually white in shadow, or one thinks the dress is in brighter light, and the brain thinks the brown shades are black that has been washed out by the light.

This graphic helped me see the original photo as blue and black, where before I could not see how anyone could possibly see black anywhere.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/02/28/science/white-or-blue-dress.html

In lighting where there are other cues about the "real" colors (skin tones, familiar objects of known colors, more information on lighting and shadow), there is less dramatic discrepancy in how people perceive the same image.

The show "Brain Games" has presented several color perception puzzles where a slight variation in surroundings drastically changes the color people perceive. This particular image falls right in a "gray" area - on that borderline where perception could go either way, and the population splits in their response.

Maybe it will inspire a new area of art where artists try to create works that elicit dramatically different perceptions of color.

 

Mike Savad

9 Years Ago

it was interesting, i was looking at my mother's screen - same monitor, not calibrated, and i saw the pale blue as a darker blue, and the gold parts as black with a hint of gold. it has to do with colorspace and calibration.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@At Cristolin, I too saw this earlier, and you know what is very interesting, notice the fabric on the left its black and white, our minds are looking at that and the over photo of the dress, and then there is the right side of the photo white, I do not see how anyone in their right mind see dark blue and black, I have always seen light blue and gold, if he screen is tilted slightly then I see a color change, but if you look at that example it shows someone against a bridal dress, in the original photo there is a black and white designed material and yellow, and red on the right side.

It may well have been planned, if the person who took the photo saw the original color, now why would she say send tweet to someone else what color is this dress....it may well have been planned just as Janine mentions.....]


I did note the variations of different patterns on both sides of the image, my eye actually went to those areas first....The color has remained the same a mid light blue and gold....

If you look very, very carefully, the fabric behind her is black and white, draped over a chair maybe, but look be
hind on the right its a mirror, and what do you see the black and white fabric and then the blue in front of it.....as far as the red, I have no clue, the brown is the baseboard.,

 

Cristolin O

9 Years Ago

Two people staring straight at the same monitor can see different things, and one person looking at the same image on the same monitor can see something different just by looking for a few seconds at a different graphic.

I could not see black in the dress before I viewed the above graphic. Just a few seconds later, on the same monitor, looking at the same original image, I can't NOT see black.

 

Ricardo De Almeida

9 Years Ago

I see it white (blueish white) and gold.




 

Cristolin O

9 Years Ago

Michael - Are we talking about the same images in that link?

I was referring to the panel of three squares in the center, that show a middle panel of what appears to be brown and blue (to me anyway), with a right "bright light" section to the left that looks white and gold, and a right section in "shade" that looks black and blue.

There are other images in that link as well, but it's that panel of three that I found the most helpful. It shows the switch from white and gold to blue and black without any tilting of the screen.

Is that the one you were referring to as well?

I totally agree - I couldn't understand how anyone in their right mind could see dark blue and black - but now I can't make myself see white and gold anymore !

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@As Ricardo post indicates in simplified terms the explanation and what our brains perceive, which brings you to our individual work as artist and photographers the colors we pant or capture in real life images. It sure does make you think what John Doe will interpret and Jane Doe.

Nailed it, as I mentioned earlier, the light source was one possible explanation, even now I know exactly the reasoning I still she the middle shade I do not see any shades of dark blue unless the monitor is slightly tilted back. not until then by doing that the distractions on both side also fade away, and I see the royal or dark blue color n black....

I have been looking at the monitor in total darkness.....and I did notice the very tip of the left side of the photo that is the darkest of the blue, and its that color I see throughout the entire photo....


Oh my gosh, Cristolin now I see blue horses in your gallery....I think you should post your horse photo, I see one red and a blue, actually it brown and blue horse....

 

JC Findley

9 Years Ago

Interestingly I was looking at it on my screen and saw only white and gold. I kept looking and tried focusing through it like you do with those 3D images. I minimized the screen for a minute, looked back and SAW blue and black then watched it change back to white and gold.

Same image, no changing anything. Bizarre how the brain works.

 

Marlene Burns

9 Years Ago

A picture of this dress was posted today...it is cobalt blue and black.

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@I am curious JC, as I had mentioned up in the discussion I was near a huge plate glass window floor to ceiling window at the coffee shop and it was a gloomy day, the dress I viewed on my monitor was just as you describe, I saw gold and a light colored white dress. The yesterday, the sky was blue and even last night gong back to look at the same photo put this time in darkness the dress was a blue. It now has to do with the overhead lightning, we know what the true color of the dress is but as the video states above even if you would photo shop the distractions on both sides of the dress it would remain the same as we see it currently, it would not change but in our brains its now becoming a dark blue and black dress. Patterns and light source do indeed affect perception.

Think about it this way, everyone is aware space is black, without the light and that is the source which tell our brains we are not looing at the color black....we look at the sky every day its black 24/7 now tell me our brains are not playing a trick on us when in reality its the light waves and our brains register telling the sky is a blue shade register in the spectrum so does everyone who views this dress and see light blue not dark, and yet the ones who see a dark blue does this mean they all see the sky as light. We all see the sky the same blue.

different registers at different times of the day and particles in the atmosphere. When we look at the ocean its not blue water is clear, the density light travels or penetrates and reflected light The closer you get to shore we see this beautiful green blue, light reflects or bounces back which reaches the sand near the shore, and the water acts as a prism

If we were all there in person we would see the dark blue unless you have a color disorder. Also, think about this I am sure a study will be done about this, when I initially saw the image it was light powder blue, and as you stated the more I go back to look at it, the color appears to be changing when its not, but with power of suggestion I am telling my brain to correct or color compensate. And to think without modern technology such as a cell phone, this would never have been discovered and the effect the color blue and black. Makes me wonder have any of us even gave it a second thought and there was something similar but did not have confirmation of knowing any differently what it was we were viewing.

We are programing our minds to correct the image in our minds, The dress within two days keeps getting darker blue because I am controlling my mind to my perception and correct what I am suppose to view the dress as dark blue and black, not light blue and gold as I viewed it two days ago.

Cheers, Michael Hoard Actor, Artist and Photographer.





 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@Mike S. I too, thought it was sunlight, my first impression a dress through a store front window. The image on the right side is in fact a mirror, the bottom brown I see is the baseboard. And the image of the side left is material draped over a chair perhaps.

 

David Lane

9 Years Ago

It is totally dependent on the light when viewing. I have seen the dress photographed properly and it is royal blue and black. Like I always say you cannot trust what your visual processing system is telling you.

 

Chris Scroggins

9 Years Ago

At work last night someone was passing their cell phone around and most of us saw white and gold (me) but a few of us saw blue and black.
Then we started talking about color blindness. The facts are that 8% of men are red/green color blind. So we asked one of the color blind men how they read the traffic lights. They memorize the position of red and green. One guy said sometimes when waiting at a stop light, if it is broken he doesn't know when to go. That's when people behind him start to honk. So not all who dawdle at green lights are playing with their phones! Lesson learned....

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@David that is so correct, I am still convinced it was the actual lightning conditions of the dress, and what equally fascinating about this blue dress, is new writings about the topic claiming blue is a modern color, or the name of blue. Can you imagine back in the Egyptian culture, the combination of golds, and blues used making the jewelry back then though no name for the colors pretty much we identify. The color was always there but lacking a name. As I mentioned this was not because of an accidental placement of designs or colors to the right of the dress but the actually lightning the source of what type of bulb used.

What is also fascinating, the initial first tweet of the woman who asked what color do you see, what was it she had trouble with. Obviously it was not the person who took the photo because in real life they would have seen the color dark blue and black. Not light blue/off white and black. You can not freeze light, or motion of light, and as you say its the placement and conditions of the setting.

 

Barbara Moignard

9 Years Ago

Well I can't believe my eyes. I was just looking at the shadowy white and gold image and after a minute it started to change. I have not moved or changed any lighting in the room. It is now blue with black lace. I am incredulous!

 

Michael Hoard

9 Years Ago

@Barbara It is pretty amazing when all of us actually think about it. You do have to wonder is it our brains doing this or is it our iris' like a shutter, the wider the lens shutter gets it allows more light everything appears washed out or pale. Close and it will appear darker or the iris adjust to let us see the other colors which are there but are washed out. As an artist I would squint my eyes to detect colors which are there but unseen. Every time you move even a slightest degree so does your iris open and close you don't feel it, and you don't see unless standing in front of a mirror and actually see it opening and closing.

I mentioned above water is clear but the correct definition is translucent......I do have to laugh, when you look at a can of varnish which is a solution not a paint and it reads clear coat. If it were anything else it would then be on the paint wheel and it would not be clear but then become a color and classified as opaque.

But think about it, is it really our brains doing this or the iris or pupil compensating and the answer to this both. Its as if we can go outside right now thank real hard look up to the sky and turn see the sky black. There was mention in a study I believe a father never taught his daughter the color blue, it seems in her mind the sky was not blue but white, then he after telling her the color of the sky is blue, when asked she would say blue. Colors had name but the names associated were modern terminology. Claiming the color of blue is a modern name for the color. It always existed but never had a name. Yes other names were associated with the color but nothing as we know the meaning of today.

Just imagine putting yourself back in time, you are a cave woman or a cave man, the tools to draw were colors as we know white, black, and other shade of pigments from the soil. Those beautiful drawings and paintings did not have much color yet they did see colors but what in there minds if at all they associated colors?

 

This discussion is closed.