Do you see white and gold or blue and black?

[chopincat]

If you haven't seen this already: https://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112166688660/bellasfault-swiked-katze-geht-meow

I know this is kind of pointless but it's really freaking me out. To me it's so clearly white and gold! I just showed it to my parents and my dad agreed with me but my mom said it was blue and black. And all my friends can't decide either...what is this madness???!!!!

Anyway what colors you guys see?

[j_menz]

Awkwardly, I see all four colours, so stripes of blue, stripes of black, stripes of white (or very pale blue) and stripes of gold.

[outin]

It's actually blue and brown, but that might be because of my computer screen.
I guess that's just one form of colour blindness.

[chopinlover01]

It appears to change colors to my eyes...

[outin]

Try this:

[chopincat]

I passed the color blindness test. I don't think that it's a matter of color blindness.

I've heard two different explanations that kind of make sense:

The first is that since we all have different amounts of rods and cones, we are perceiving the colors differently. This is particularly because rods and cones serve different functions, so some people are perceiving light and dark more vividly while others are perceiving color changes more vividly.

The other is that we don't have significant enough differences in our rods and cones for this to occur, and that rather it is our brains that are interpreting the images differently. Some people are looking at the lighting in the picture as natural and not correcting the colors in any way. But others are perceiving the picture as having bad lighting, either too dim/too bright/too blue/too yellow, and so their brains are subconsciously correcting the colors in the image to what they'd be in better lighting.

Regardless, it's really trippy.

[outin]

I don't know, because for me the blue could not be much bluer, it's very clear. How anyone could see that as white is beyond me. The black/brown is not so clear and does have a yellowish hue.

I don't think the test actually covered all the forms of colour blindness, just the most common ones.

I too have some variation on how well I perceive colours in the tests, but not so much that I could not tell.

[chopincat]

For me, I get why the part that I'm seeing as white is confusing. Straight out of the photo it looks periwinkle. But I think it was taken on a crappy camera and that's just a shadow, so I see it as white. I really don't see how someone could see it as straight up blue though.

The gold/brown part, on the other hand, is crystal clear. I really don't understand why anyone would see it as black.

[chopinlover01]

My brother came in, after, shall we say, trimming the grass in the special garden with some friends, and I tested it later when he was sober. It appeared to change because he said white and gold whilst blazed, and blue and brown sober.
Huh. Trippy indeed.
Oh, Tumblr... why don't I go on you more often?
Oh, the porn. That's right...

[outin]

For me, I get why the part that I'm seeing as white is confusing. Straight out of the photo it looks periwinkle. But I think it was taken on a crappy camera and that's just a shadow, so I see it as white. I really don't see how someone could see it as straight up blue though.

The gold/brown part, on the other hand, is crystal clear. I really don't understand why anyone would see it as black.

Here's an article on this phenomena:
https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

From the three photos I don't even see the lightest one as white-gold, but light blue and bronze.

[j_menz]

Here's an article on this phenomena:
https://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

From the three photos I don't even see the lightest one as white-gold, but light blue and bronze.

I see the left as white gold, the middle as blue gold and the right as blue black.

[outin]

I see the left as white gold, the middle as blue gold and the right as blue black.

Ok, maybe this difference explains why we perceive Bach's music so differently?

[j_menz]

Ok, maybe this difference explains why we perceive Bach's music so differently?

I use my ears. If you're using your eyes, that certainly explains a lot. 

[outin]

I use my ears. If you're using your eyes, that certainly explains a lot. 

The dress really shouts blue to me...

[rachmforever]

what the hell guys?  it's just white and gold nothing more ..

[quantum]

Blue 

I think it is a contextual white balance issue.  We are seeing a photo of reflected light off of an object.  Our brains are trying to decipher the what the prevailing light conditions were when the photo was taken in order to determine an internal white balance level so that we may interpret the color data. 

Although when I saw this on TV it was white and gold.  Nevertheless, I see blue 

[rachmforever]

Just see this pic everywhere on internet since today it's everywhere on my twitter and Facebook is this some new discovery of humanity or what .. 

[Bob]

I haven't seen that pic change color.  The pics that were white/gold or blue/whatever still look that way when I come back later.  Side by side, the colors in different pics are different but the colors don't change in those pics. 

Monitors, how you view the monitor for light hitting it, just the human brain for those people who could actually switch back and forth.... Or it's the internet, so whoever controls the original pic could actually be swapping it out.  That would make for a nice techish practical joke, esp. if lots of people link to the same pic.  When the original pic uploader changes it subtly... Everyone using that pic might freak out a little.

[cwjalex]

everybody sees color a little differently anyways.  there's absolutely no way to know if my "green" is the same as your "green".  we are all alone in our own perception.  also, you can adjust the lighting in any photo to change the perception of color to create ambiguity.  when you see the dress in real life there is no ambiguity and it is clearly black and blue. 

kind of unrelated but if you have a dog don't buy him or her an outdoor toy that is red.  they can't see red and to them it appears to be a similar color as grass.

[chopincat]

I think it is a contextual white balance issue.  We are seeing a photo of reflected light off of an object.  Our brains are trying to decipher the what the prevailing light conditions were when the photo was taken in order to determine an internal white balance level so that we may interpret the color data. 

Yeah that's what I think too

[rachmforever]

I thought dresses were white and gold - this ruined my day ...

[Bob]

Obviously, everyone else is wrong.

[visitor]