• Question: Recently over social media a picture of a dress has appeared. Some people have said the dress is black and blue, however I see white and gold! I know this was a few days ago but I am interested to know how some see one colour and some see the others? Can you help me to understand the science behind this??

    Asked by Jess :) to Ed, Hugh, Stef on 19 Mar 2015. This question was also asked by __ell4.
    • Photo: Ed Rial

      Ed Rial answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      I think Hugh is probably going to be able to give you the best answer on this as I think he’s more interested in photography and colour balance than I am, but I did look it up a little bit when this was all over the internet a couple of weeks ago.

      The human brain is a miraculous object, but to make itself work better it takes shortcuts and tries to compensate for deficiencies in the real organs. So in low light levels your brain compensates to some extent the colour it sees with the colour it thinks it should see. The dress is blue and black (the dress makers confirmed this!) but the photo was taken in poor light, and some people’s brains (yours and mine) compensated for this by assuming the dress was white and gold.

      When I was reading about it my perception of the colour of the dress changed whilst I was reading the article! I looked directly at the picture, the dress was white and gold. As I read down the article I saw the dress out of the corner of my eye, I realised it was Black and Blue, and looking straight at it again it was STILL black and blue – my brain had turned the compensation off. With a little bit of practice I can now see it both ways.

      But it is still weird.

      In short, you see it as white and gold because your brain is too clever for its own good 😉

      A good external explainer is here
      http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

      TTFN

      Ed

      P.s. #VoteEd 😀

    • Photo: Hugh Harvey

      Hugh Harvey answered on 19 Mar 2015:

      We can’t tell if it’s blue/black or white/gold because there is nothing else in the picture to give us a clue, so our eyes perceive it as being different colours depending on whether we assume it’s in a brightly lit shop or a darkened room. Try looking at the picture in a brightly lit place, then in a darkly lit place and you will be able to see it differently each time.

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