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What color is the dress?


SkynJay

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Absolutely spot on.

I saw this dress the first time today on a German news site and it was clearly white and gold.

Then I saw some pics linked here and it was clearly black and blue.

This whole thing is stupid

It's not computer code. It's about how an individual interprets light. It's basically just an accidental optical illusion.

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Okay, now I actually disagree with my previous position. Here's the latest xkcd. I went on Paint and used the colour picker tool to check and yes those two different versions of the dress are exactly the same. My mind = blown.

This drawing helped me to understand this phenomenon a little better, as did the checkerboard optical illusion and some of the written explanations. Thanks, board!

I see white and gold. So I guess that means I perceive the person as being in dim light, right? Those who see the dress in black and blue are (correctly) perceiving the person as being in bright light.

Those of you who see blue and black, does it appear do be washed out as in an over-exposed photo? What shade of blue do you see? Is the black faded looking?

I see the retail store's image of the dress as a royal blue trimmed in black lace.

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Ha, this important problem has even gotten coverage in the press of my backwater country.



Anyway, I thought it was gold and white, well, gold and white tinged with blue. A play of light, probably. The 'mystery' is that it's a really shitty picture. But it's true that it can happen that people see the same color differently. Me and my mother have this problem with turquoise - she always claims it's all green, while I think it's more on the blue side.


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I will initially see white and gold. If I stare at it for like 10 seconds it will start to change to blue black. Once that happens I can't unsee blue black. Even if I leave the room or something. I only saw white gold again after like 5 hours of not looking at it.



Conclusion: I have achieved the next level of humanity.


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Yellow light cast blue shadows.Up here in the frozen north, we see that all the time on a sunny day with snow on the ground. Conversely blue light will cast a yellow shadow. Each colour light has its primary opposite as a shadow. Depending on the light source, the dress can be seen as many different colours.

That's an optical illusion. You can only cast a black shadow with a single color light source. (No light=black) If you have multiple lights, all bets are off.

The "casting blue shadows" thing comes from after images. We have three color perceptive cells called cones: red, green and blue. All colors of light will trigger some combination, so for instance yellow light triggers both red and green sensor cells so you can also trick your brain into seeing yellow with a mixture of red and green light (such as in a monitor.) If you're looking at white snow (which reflect all colors) under yellow light, your red and green cones will be triggered and slightly overused, so when you look at something that doesn't have the light (such as the shadow), your blue cones will trigger more and it will appear bluer than the surroundings. Alternatively, it just looks blue because of the contrast.

This was literally the only thing my students in all classes wanted to talk about today. I'm color-insensitive (deuteranomaly), so I don't trust my eyes on anything in the yellow-gold range anyway especially on computer monitors, where I fail almost all color blindness tests. I see it as blue and black anyway.

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My partner showed it to me on their tablet and it was obviously, indisputably blue and black (my partner disagreed). Then I looked it up on my computer and it was clearly white and gold; it was difficult to believe it was the same photo. Aside from variations between monitors, I think a key element in the illusion is the glare behind it which suggests the light is coming from behind the dress, leading us to interpret the dress as being in shadow. I suspect the effect would disappear in a less closely cropped picture that gave more environmental cues.

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I started out seeing the white/gold, but I now see the blue/black most of the time. I will usually default to white/gold if I glance at it. I can sometimes actually see it changing color right before my eyes, which is a little freaky.



Yes, this is annoying that it's everywhere, but it's also fascinating. I loved playing with color perception in my color theory classes, so this is right up my alley.


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I saw white and gold this morning when first introduced. Then I looked at it later, was white and gold - and then I blinked, and it was blue and black. A few blinks later, it was white.. another blink, blue. So strange.

this is what is confusing me because it has not changed for me at all. i feel left out haha.

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I've looked at lots of different pictures of this dress and keep thinking I haven't found the right one to look at. I can only see it as Pale Blue and Light Brown. I suppose the light tan, brown could be a deep gold.



If we all take Inigma's post # 6 on here as the example, the one with the two girls to the side of it, does anyone on here see that as white/gold or black/dark blue?



All I can see is pale blue and light tan.


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I've looked at lots of different pictures of this dress and keep thinking I haven't found the right one to look at. I can only see it as Pale Blue and Light Brown. I suppose the light tan, brown could be a deep gold.

If we all take Inigma's post # 6 on here as the example, the one with the two girls to the side of it, does anyone on here see that as white/gold or black/dark blue?

All I can see is pale blue and light tan.

lol!

Just opened up that link - looked at the dress and thought, oh it must be a colour adjusted picture - it's black and blue as hell.

Changed tabs and came back to it and it was gold and white.

So yep. I see it as both of those.

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It's a glitch in the Matrix.



I see light blue and bronze. I can't see it any other way. I've tried all the tricks people have been talking about.


My 5 year sitting next to me looking at the same picture at the same time. Say he sees white and gold.



The memes coming out have been funny.


One of my favourites was


You're all wrong.


The dress is neither Blue and Black or White and Gold.


It's Tatiana Maslany pretending to be the dress.


Her talent never ends.



My husband say (looking at the same picture) light blue and bronze. My sister in law just said she sees white and gold.

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I think this dress is the harbinger that has returned at the end of the world. It proclaims our collective doom. According to scripture.

Darkness descends, evil triumphs over good, and the end of the world comes, so sayeth the dark one.

Or maybe the white and gold one.

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I've looked at lots of different pictures of this dress and keep thinking I haven't found the right one to look at. I can only see it as Pale Blue and Light Brown. I suppose the light tan, brown could be a deep gold.

If we all take Inigma's post # 6 on here as the example, the one with the two girls to the side of it, does anyone on here see that as white/gold or black/dark blue?

All I can see is pale blue and light tan.

It can't be true, that picture must be adjusted. I see it as blue/black but on other sites I can only see white/gold.

http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

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