THESE FORUMS NOW CLOSED (read only)

Fun Stuff => CHATTER => Topic started by: Method of Madness on 27 Feb 2015, 07:07

Title: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 27 Feb 2015, 07:07
Is that cookie tweet referencing The Dress??
(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/the-internet-is-freaking-out-over-the-color-of-this-dress-6.jpg?w=600&h=232)

(https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/the-internet-is-freaking-out-over-the-color-of-this-dress-20.jpg?w=600&h=1041)

Bruce: Maybe it's Blue and Gold?
PLANET HULK
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: LeeC on 27 Feb 2015, 07:32
Looks white to me:
(http://i.imgur.com/50y1Eks.jpg)
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: LTK on 27 Feb 2015, 07:52
I refer you all to http://xkcd.com/1492/ and http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/1492
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: lepetitfromage on 27 Feb 2015, 08:18
While I REALLY don't want to be one of those people who is insistent upon what they are seeing, I can kind of understand that the black gets seen as gold since it's kind of a dull black anyway. I just can't wrap my brain around white. If anything, it's like....periwinkle. I keep TRYING to see white and it just doesn't happen.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: LeeC on 27 Feb 2015, 08:35
(http://i.imgur.com/r0JxR38.jpg)

also:
spoiler for the near end of the 1997 movie "Peacemaker"
(click to show/hide)
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Metope on 27 Feb 2015, 09:21
I can't see blue and black at all. Even when someone colour balanced it to make it look "right" I still see it as white and gold, only in a darker room? It's so weird since I know it's blue and black, it's just impossible for me to see.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Method of Madness on 27 Feb 2015, 09:28
Metope: Same...except I don't know it's blue and black.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Metope on 27 Feb 2015, 09:33
Well it's sold on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roman-Womens-Detail-Bodycon-Dress/dp/B00SJEUCWU) as blue, the picture they have up is unmistakably blue an black, and it's confirmed that it's the right dress, so that's how we know. I just don't see it in the original picture at all. Mindfuck!
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: LeeC on 27 Feb 2015, 11:15
(http://i.imgur.com/V6rUhCl.jpg)

Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Aziraphale on 27 Feb 2015, 11:21
Well it's sold on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roman-Womens-Detail-Bodycon-Dress/dp/B00SJEUCWU) as blue, the picture they have up is unmistakably blue an black, and it's confirmed that it's the right dress, so that's how we know. I just don't see it in the original picture at all. Mindfuck!

I keep seeing white and gold, too (except in the Amazon listing, thankfully). I tried playing with white balance, saturation, and shadow settings in a photo program to make it look blue and black, but the only way I could do that was by making the whole rest of the scene look totally wrong. Odd.

Some of the reviews on Amazon for the dress are hysterical, though.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: explicit on 27 Feb 2015, 13:26
When I squint it turns blue and black and when I open my eyes it goes back to white and gold. Fuck that dress, it's the devil.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: cesium133 on 27 Feb 2015, 13:31
It's actually emitting hard X-rays and the blue is Cerenkov radiation. Anyone who looks at it (and especially anyone who posts yet more pictures of it) is going to die horribly of radiation poisoning.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Blue Kitty on 27 Feb 2015, 13:36
(http://38.media.tumblr.com/b54c4dc53e7f0575cae5412072dfa1c5/tumblr_nkfo7yZcKJ1tb8alro1_r1_400.gif)
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Method of Madness on 27 Feb 2015, 13:39
It's actually emitting hard X-rays and the blue is Cerenkov radiation. Anyone who looks at it (and especially anyone who posts yet more pictures of it) is going to die horribly of radiation poisoning.
Before you die, you see the dress.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Pilchard123 on 27 Feb 2015, 13:56
I also can see the dress in either colour pair more-or-less at will.
Title: What color is the dress?
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 27 Feb 2015, 14:46
I consciously tried to see white and gold, but it stubbornly remained blue and brown. Then I saw the Wired web page about it. They had one image there which was white and gold when I looked at the top but which changed to blue and brown as I scrolled it. This totally weirds me out.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Aziraphale on 27 Feb 2015, 14:56
I had the same problem in the other direction; it looked white and gold no matter how I squinted at it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Pilchard123 on 27 Feb 2015, 15:01
What if I said I saw green and pink?
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Aimless on 27 Feb 2015, 15:53
(http://i3.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/facebook/000/009/889/Morpheus2.jpg)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: SubaruStephen on 27 Feb 2015, 17:33
(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-0ZhygUEAA9EUK.png:large)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: explicit on 27 Feb 2015, 17:36
Fuck that dress.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: looktall on 27 Feb 2015, 17:36
I was just coming in here to say that the dress was rrrr.
Rrrrr.

Rrrroyal blue!!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: cesium133 on 27 Feb 2015, 17:36
Fuck that dress.
That's Bill Clinton's job!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Aimless on 27 Feb 2015, 18:03
(http://i.imgur.com/kC32rxH.jpg)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Lines on 27 Feb 2015, 18:53
Oh my god, not here too. Goodbye, internet. I'll see you in a few days.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Masterpiece on 27 Feb 2015, 21:32
Who cares about a stupid dress. Shouldn't we waste our energies on stuff that really matters?

This message is coming from Tapatalk inside my phone!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: mustang6172 on 27 Feb 2015, 21:38
I thought it was stupid at first, but the more I examine it the more fascinating it becomes.

I see it as white and gold.  I inverted the colors to see how it would look in the negative, and it was still white and gold.  :-o

Something is amiss in how I perceive color.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Masterpiece on 27 Feb 2015, 21:56
Relevant. (http://iraffiruse.net/post/112260893579)

This message is coming from Tapatalk inside my phone!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Thrillho on 28 Feb 2015, 07:45
Where the fuck has this dress thing even come from?

Spoiler: I don't care.

My friend put up a Facebook status, the only one on a full two page's worth of scrolls that weren't directly referencing it, saying 'Today, the news went away. And we're never getting it back.' And I think he's right.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 28 Feb 2015, 08:59
I think it's both fascinating and hilarious. Haters gon' hate, as usual.

(https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10891736_771553112941515_4558784532171656626_n.jpg?oh=884a8b9502a3e9097c144549125257b7&oe=557BB77E&__gda__=1434559991_998591dabd3dbf1f894e435ec122a799)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: bhtooefr on 28 Feb 2015, 09:58
http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112073818575/guys-please-help-me-is-this-dress-white-and

That's where it came from.

It's blue and black apparently, but something went terribly wrong with someone's camera's auto white balance and exposure, I'd assume.

Now can this shit be over?
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Half Empty Coffee Cup on 28 Feb 2015, 10:50
No. It's the internet and we have to plow it into the ground first. It emerged all at once in a day, and it'll probably be around all goddamn week.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Carl-E on 28 Feb 2015, 11:37
...and half the next. 
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 28 Feb 2015, 11:51
My guess is 2 days of people talking about the dress followed by one week of people talking about how sick they are of hearing about it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Papersatan on 28 Feb 2015, 12:08
generally how it goes.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 28 Feb 2015, 12:50
Clearly I shouldn't have started this in the first place.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Metope on 28 Feb 2015, 12:53
Wait, why did the dress thread get closed? I think it's a great idea to have a separate thread for it, since so many people are so incredibly against it for some reason. If there's a separate thread for it, it's easier for them to avoid the whole deal!
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Loki on 28 Feb 2015, 13:58
Agreed
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 28 Feb 2015, 14:34
Sure you should have! Hey, it'll keep it out of the pointless thread.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Aimless on 28 Feb 2015, 15:39
Clearly I shouldn't have started this in the first place.

You absolutely should have, it's an engaging and current topic and we can't let the haters win. je suis bleu et noir
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Lines on 28 Feb 2015, 17:39
I am going to clarify that I do not hate the science behind this dress thing (actually I find it fascinating). What I am annoyed about is how everyone has decided that this is a new thing when it really isn't. I probably studied more about color than most people do (yay art school), but my problem was yesterday it was the ONLY thing that was being talked about in my FB news feed, people were either ERMERGERD or RAGE MODE and it was overwhelming. I think it has to do more with internet culture than the science behind the color of the (terribly ugly) dress.

And on top of it, it was all the rage on the same day Leonard Nimoy died and that news was buried under all of that nonsense. I was not pleased.

Edit: And also when I was trying to listen to the news on NPR, the stupid dress thing came up and I was pissed. Mostly because it was my evening commute home and it had been a long day and that's not when I want to hear about that stuff.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Akima on 01 Mar 2015, 00:25
I don't understand this at all.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 00:34
It's about a bad photograph.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 02:14
i studied colour in both art school and specialised high school and I never came across this phenomenon, and colour is like, my thing! Even optometrists are fascinated, saying it's the most extreme case they've ever seen, so clearly it's not as straightforward as some people claim. I just think the whole thing is super neat. What annoys me are those idiots on facebook who claim anyone who finds it fascinating are soooo stupid because it can be explained by science! Well yes, everything can be explained by science. If you stop finding things fascinating or interesting just because it can be explained by science, I feel sorry for you (not a jab at anyone here, I just had a few people on facebook calling literally everyone who find this interesting neanderthals).
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: looktall on 01 Mar 2015, 02:24
People who already know the answer to a problem always feel superior to those who do not.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 02:26
They don't know the answer to it though. I commented on one of the statuses asking him to explain it, and he couldn't. He said "it depends on what the lighting is in the room you're viewing it", so I said "well, I showed it to my mom on my phone while we were in the same room, and asked her what colour it was. She said blue, and I see white. We're in the same room, under the same lighting, seeing the photo on the same screen. Why does this happen?" and he didn't reply.

I think it's just yet another thing people love being contrarian over. Happens every time something suddenly gains a lot of interest or popularity, some people feel the need to loudly declare how not into it they are. They're unique, don't follow the sheep herd, make up their own mind, have their own thoughts. Unlike everyone else on the planet and "oh god where is humanity headed, thank goodness for me!" It's getting tiring.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: looktall on 01 Mar 2015, 02:49
That's even worse.
They don't know the answer but they know an answer exists and it involves something that they either didn't read or they did read but didn't understand.

So the answer is "something, something, science you losers".
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Akima on 01 Mar 2015, 03:04
I meant that I couldn't see the dress as anything but blue. The dress that is supposed to look white in the XKCD "explanation" cartoon looks blue to me. Sure, it looks less intensely blue with the dark blue background, but it doesn't look white to me. I even went to the length of filling in the burned-out highlight areas in the photo with the dark blue Randall Munroe uses, and the dress still looks blue! This debate makes me think I'm going potty.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Half Empty Coffee Cup on 01 Mar 2015, 03:09
The thing I was annoyed about was how everpresent it seemed to get. Every forum. Every news site. XKCD. Even my morning class. It felt like every time I turned a corner, there was that dress. It's not even a pretty dress...

I'm fine with people getting excited about something, but it being everywhere just burns me out. (Also, I'd tried to see it as white and gold, and couldn't manage it at all. It's blue as the sky and black as my heart.)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 03:20
Yeah, even the dress illustration in the xkcd explanation looks white to me in both instances. Everyone seems to "explain" it by saying "it looks different depending on the light conditions you see it in", but fail to explain why it looks different to different people in the same light conditions.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 03:27
Look, it's really simple:

(http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/81291000/jpg/_81291393_newdress.jpg)

On the right is a dress (catalogue image); on the left is a photo taken with a camera whose white balance got screwed up.  Whether the pale colour is seen as white or pale blue is just an accident of the surrounding conditions.  There's no magic properties to the left-hand image - it's simply a really bad photo of the dress.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 03:28
So why do the surrounding conditions make me see it as white and my mom and sis see it as blue, when they are the same surrounding conditions? Of course it's not magic, it's just an extreme case of optical illusion, it's just really fascinating that different brains register it so differently. It's completely impossible for my brain to register the bad photo as blue, just like it's completely impossible for other people to register it as white. I know it's simple, but it's also super interesting to me.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: The Seldom Killer on 01 Mar 2015, 03:45
I would imagine the disparity in opinion is based around individual rod and cone density combined with comparative neurological function.Intresting and relative fact; a degree of blueness can make objects seem whiter. Blueing agents have been added to laundry detergents for a long time hence the claim of whiter than white being used and also accurate hence never banned in adverts.

From my own perspective, the dress was originally perceived as pale blue and beige. I've got pretty shoddy eyes though.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 03:53
I corrected the white balance, taking account of the fact that the camera's error caused differing saturation in the colour channels.  This was about a minute's work on the original faulty photo:

(https://cassland.org/images/DressCorrected.jpg)

Note that the white background, though dirty, is not distinctly coloured either (I could probably improve that with another minute of fiddling)..
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 03:58
Wait, so am I supposed to see it as blue and black now? Because it still looks white to me, only in a dark room.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: looktall on 01 Mar 2015, 03:58


So why do the surrounding conditions make me see it as white and my mom and sis see it as blue, when they are the same surrounding conditions?

Probably for the same reason some people think a tennis ball is green and some think it is yellow.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 03:59
And that's also interesting! Fuck, maybe I should have been an optometrist.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 04:25
Wait, so am I supposed to see it as blue and black now? Because it still looks white to me, only in a dark room.

Now what does it look like?

(https://cassland.org/images/DressCorrectedMasked.jpg)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 04:34
Blue and black, finally! I wish I could see it as blue and black without cutting off the rest of the room though, like how everyone else seems to be seeing it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Lines on 01 Mar 2015, 06:12
In the double image I see, it's white with a blue-ish tint. In the rebalanced photo (with the background) it's been to blue and black. Maybe this is why I'm so annoyed? Because I already see the difference bad white balances can cause?

Edit: well except that I just scrolled up to the top of the page and now both look blue and black. That's the first time the white one has ever looked blue.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 11:30
Wait, so am I supposed to see it as blue and black now? Because it still looks white to me, only in a dark room.

Now what does it look like?

(https://cassland.org/images/DressCorrectedMasked.jpg)
Still totally white and gold to me.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 11:38
 :-P
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 11:43
But that's my point, it's not just the fact that it's a bad photo, if the photo just made it look white and gold, that's how people would see it. So it's gotta be more than that.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 11:52
Why?  It's not that clear cut, because the brain can do some colour-temperature processing and correction of its own.  In the case of this bad photo, the cues for doing that are ambiguous, so some people's processing enables them to reach the blue and black of the dress, while other people's leaves them with the white (with a hint of blue) and gold that are actually the colours in the photo.

The only mystery in my mind is why Metope continued to see the corrected photo wrong.  It seems to me that the background picture on the wall, for instance, although a touch muddy, has essentially natural colours, so there's no reason for the brain's colour processing to go into overdrive to force the wrong colours out of the perception of the dress.  But clearly her brain disagreed, as when I removed the background, that processing stopped.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 11:54
But not for me! Like I said, even with the background gone, it's still white and gold without even a hint of blue.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Half Empty Coffee Cup on 01 Mar 2015, 11:57
And nobody has yet been capable of altering that picture to make me see white and gold. This might just be proof that there is no objective reality here.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 12:04
(https://cassland.org/images/DressBlue.jpg)(https://cassland.org/images/DressBlue2.jpg)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 12:06
Is that really from the dress itself? Because that's blue, but I scroll up and the dress is still white and gold. Argh.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 12:09
Why?  It's not that clear cut, because the brain can do some colour-temperature processing and correction of its own.  In the case of this bad photo, the cues for doing that are ambiguous, so some people's processing enables them to reach the blue and black of the dress, while other people's leaves them with the white (with a hint of blue) and gold that are actually the colours in the photo.

The bold part is what makes it interesting though. I want to know why some people's brains process it one way and other people's brains process it another. What's different in our brains?
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 12:11
Most of what the brain does in processing what we see is learnt in infancy!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 12:12
Is that really from the dress itself? Because that's blue, but I scroll up and the dress is still white and gold. Argh.

Yup, I just enlarged a square of it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 12:14
That is so weird.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 12:15
So my brain has been preparing me to see the dress wrong my whole life?
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 12:16
What else am I seeing wrong! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: LTK on 01 Mar 2015, 12:17
Why?  It's not that clear cut, because the brain can do some colour-temperature processing and correction of its own.  In the case of this bad photo, the cues for doing that are ambiguous, so some people's processing enables them to reach the blue and black of the dress, while other people's leaves them with the white (with a hint of blue) and gold that are actually the colours in the photo.

The bold part is what makes it interesting though. I want to know why some people's brains process it one way and other people's brains process it another. What's different in our brains?

I can't imagine it's caused by anything but pure randomness. I suspect that the initial environment that you saw the picture in makes your brain decide one way or the other 'oh, this looks like it is illuminated by blue light, so I should colour-correct accordingly' and sticks with that decision whenever you see that picture again. Only when there's strong evidence to the contrary does your brain accept the alternative interpretation of 'this is illuminated by white light, so the colours are accurate'. Different people may require different weights of evidence, so even the colour-corrected picture still holds the association of 'this is illuminated in blue light' which is why some people's brains refuse to accept that it is in fact blue in white light, and not white in blue light.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 12:18
That's the thing, I know it's a blue and black dress, I just can't see it like that.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: bhtooefr on 01 Mar 2015, 12:31
Also, vision systems are affected by a few different factors:

Sex affecting color accuracy and even causing a color shift: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/09/120907-men-women-see-differently-science-health-vision-sex/
Pregnancy (and other hormones) reducing color vision ability: http://digitool.library.colostate.edu///exlibris/dtl/d3_1/apache_media/L2V4bGlicmlzL2R0bC9kM18xL2FwYWNoZV9tZWRpYS8xNzE2MDg=.pdf

And, I could've sworn someone did a study on transgender women before and after hormonal therapy, and found an improvement in color vision after hormones, but I can't find it.

As far as the image, it depends on the surrounding colors, but I see it as blue and gold or white and gold depending on context. Cis male here, no color blindness issues, and a 16 on the X-Rite color acuity test (http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge) on a MacBook Pro Retina 15" Mid-2012 with Samsung panel hand-calibrated.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 12:51
I got a 0 on that test, am frequently told I'm brilliant with colours, have seen the photo on several different screens with several types of background lighting... yet my family members (of the same gender as me) see it differently under the same conditions. Maybe that's why I'm so hung up on this, I can't deal with seeing the wrong thing for once.  :-P
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Loki on 01 Mar 2015, 12:55
Metope, care to do this test for us? http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge (Everyone else is obviously invited as well)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 01 Mar 2015, 12:59
I've taken it twice before and got 0 (perfect colour vision) both times.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Loki on 01 Mar 2015, 13:06
Utterly fascinating. (I got 12 and I just cannot see white and gold in any of the variants of the picture).
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Half Empty Coffee Cup on 01 Mar 2015, 13:32
I scored a 3 on that test.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: TRVA123 on 01 Mar 2015, 13:39
When I first saw the dress, it was blue and black. as the day went on I saw other pictures where it was clearly white and gold. Then I would see others where it is blue and black.

It is an awesome optical illusion, I do'nt think it has to do with people "convincing" themselves that the dress it a certain color, I think it really is a picture that is exactly on that threshold of color perception.

and yeah, I'm really sick of people and the media dismissing this really interesting phenomena as "people argue over what color a stupid dress is! Don't they know the difference between blue/white and black/gold? How stupid they are, they could be feeding starving african children, but they are looking at this dress!"
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: bhtooefr on 01 Mar 2015, 13:43
You know, I wonder if it was a viral ad for the dress itself.

Then, it wouldn't be a coincidence of bad white balance and exposure, it'd be photoshopped to have bad white balance and exposure.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Masterpiece on 01 Mar 2015, 15:03
What else am I seeing wrong! AAAAAAAAAAAAAA
I find this especially fascinating since you're a painter.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: lepetitfromage on 01 Mar 2015, 15:13
Is there a special trick to see the dress as white and gold or is it the kind of thing that if you don't see it, you're out of luck?? I'm strangely fascinated by this dumb thing too lol
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 01 Mar 2015, 15:16
Don't you see the possibility in the double picture at the top of the page, where the faulty image is next to a correct one?



Method, what colours do you see in this picture of a totally different dress?

(http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/11/17/article-2508745-19776C4F00000578-917_634x916.jpg)

Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 15:22
Blue and black...also, I must have missed the one at the top of the page. The dress on the left is white and gold, the dress on the right is...white and black? I mean, I could believe the white is blue, but not really.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Loki on 01 Mar 2015, 15:23
Oh goddammit, I just received this picture. NSFW (as in, adult novelty toys and language)

(click to show/hide)

Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: LTK on 01 Mar 2015, 15:24
My first thought was 'sea slugs?'

Is there a special trick to see the dress as white and gold or is it the kind of thing that if you don't see it, you're out of luck?? I'm strangely fascinated by this dumb thing too lol
If you don't see it in white and gold, well, your eyes are working correctly.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 15:24
Of a sort.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 01 Mar 2015, 15:42
I meant that I couldn't see the dress as anything but blue. The dress that is supposed to look white in the XKCD "explanation" cartoon looks blue to me. Sure, it looks less intensely blue with the dark blue background, but it doesn't look white to me. I even went to the length of filling in the burned-out highlight areas in the photo with the dark blue Randall Munroe uses, and the dress still looks blue! This debate makes me think I'm going potty.

Being invulnerable to illusion seems like it ought to be a good thing from a Buddhist's point of view.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Loki on 01 Mar 2015, 15:52
Akima, if it makes you feel better, I cannot really see it either.

Probably related effect: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 15:59
On the contrary, you can see what's actually there. I wish I could.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Lines on 01 Mar 2015, 16:16
Blue and black...also, I must have missed the one at the top of the page. The dress on the left is white and gold, the dress on the right is...white and black? I mean, I could believe the white is blue, but not really.

The one on the right is black and royal blue. There isn't any white. I can understand how people are messing up the one on the left, but the one on the right is the actual color. I guess your brain is trying to fill in the gaps using the incorrect colors?
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 16:26
...no, no it isn't. Not to me, at least. I've seen a picture of the actual dress, and that is nothing like it. It's a darker shade of white, but still white to me. The gold is now black, in that one, but still.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: lepetitfromage on 01 Mar 2015, 16:28
I can't grasp white at all. I see periwinkle, cornflower, whatever you want to call it. No white at all...


Sorcery!! :-P
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 16:34
I had to google those, apparently they're shades of blue. I know it's wrong, and I wish I saw blue there. But I don't.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 01 Mar 2015, 17:39
Quote from: Hannelore
The coffee doesn't REALLY taste any different, but the chemicals in your head are LYING TO YOU! You can't count on your own brain to present an objective version of reality!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 01 Mar 2015, 17:45
There is no objective version of reality!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: jwhouk on 01 Mar 2015, 18:40
Meanwhile, those of us who have Deuteranopia are saying, "Welcome to the party, pal."
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: SubaruStephen on 01 Mar 2015, 18:47
Metope, care to do this test for us? http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge (Everyone else is obviously invited as well)
:-(
Doesn't work on iPad :-\
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Kugai on 01 Mar 2015, 21:42
[DraziAccent]Purple!![/DraziVoice]
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: hedgie on 01 Mar 2015, 21:47
Green.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Kugai on 01 Mar 2015, 21:54
Purple!




And Like Londo, I look STUNNING in it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: hedgie on 01 Mar 2015, 22:18
Green fight purple!
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: explicit on 01 Mar 2015, 22:27
Why is this thread on page 3, guys?

Goddamn Devil dress.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Akima on 02 Mar 2015, 00:43
Being invulnerable to illusion seems like it ought to be a good thing from a Buddhist's point of view.
Heh... :laugh:  It's supposed to be the whole point.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: lepetitfromage on 02 Mar 2015, 08:13
Metope, care to do this test for us? http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge (Everyone else is obviously invited as well)

As funny as it is, I actually enjoy taking that test. Brings back happy memories of doing the Munsell color book in school.  :-P
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: cesium133 on 02 Mar 2015, 08:21
Metope, care to do this test for us? http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge (Everyone else is obviously invited as well)
I apparently got 23. I have no idea if that's a good score or not.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: osaka on 02 Mar 2015, 12:04
I got 15. I suck at purples people.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Kugai on 02 Mar 2015, 12:23
Green fight purple!

*Dyes all Purple*

Ivanova solution work
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 02 Mar 2015, 12:59
A nice article (https://medium.com/@ds/the-dress-color-suddenly-the-whole-world-is-colorblind-too-aa1c59034773) by a colourblind designer on the subject (includes yet another version of the photo...).
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Lines on 03 Mar 2015, 12:03
How many colors people can see. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-people-have-4th-cone-see-colors-p-prof-diana-derval) I can see 39. And now I'm curious how many you all can see. Especially those that are having issues with that dang dress.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: bhtooefr on 03 Mar 2015, 12:10
That is going to be highly dependent on the screen in use, mind you.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: TRVA123 on 03 Mar 2015, 12:10
The thing is, being able to see more (or fewer) colors than average really doesn't explain why some people see the dress as two colors and then two other colors.

I think that the brain interprets the light that you see, and something about this picture confuses the brain, making it choose between blue/white or black/tan. For some people their brain chooses consistently, for others it can change.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 03 Mar 2015, 12:52
I also see 39, but:
Quote
You see between 33 and 39 colors: you are a tetrachromat, like bees, and have 4 types of cones (in the purple/blue, green, red plus yellow area). You are irritated by yellow, so this color will be nowhere to be found in your wardrobe. 25% of the population is tetrachromat.

I love yellow! The only reason you won't find much of it in my wardrobe is because my pale skin looks grey in yellow clothes  :-P
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 03 Mar 2015, 13:02
Very interesting.  34. Maybe 35 if I squint at the yellow.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Metope on 03 Mar 2015, 13:04
I don't know if it matters, but I have a macbook pro retina, these screens are pretty great. i assume crappy screens might give people different results.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Thrillho on 03 Mar 2015, 13:17
I begrudgingly admit to being baffled and slightly fascinated that people looking at the same photo as I are seeing totally different colours. My brain can't put that together.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: bhtooefr on 03 Mar 2015, 13:29
I don't know if it matters, but I have a macbook pro retina, these screens are pretty great. i assume crappy screens might give people different results.

Color calibration will change things, too. I believe the MBPR is a 6-bit + FRC panel, FWIW, so not ideal for this. I'm picking up 38 on my MBPR, FWIW.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Lines on 03 Mar 2015, 14:16
I looked at it on my phone. (I realize the screen can affect it.) This isn't the first time I've done a test similar to this, though. I did it with paint chip like things, too, back in the day.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Pilchard123 on 03 Mar 2015, 14:32
35 or 36. Doesn't stop me wearing beige or blue most of the time.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Welu on 03 Mar 2015, 15:55
How many colors people can see. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-people-have-4th-cone-see-colors-p-prof-diana-derval) I can see 39. And now I'm curious how many you all can see. Especially those that are having issues with that dang dress.

Thirty-four but doing it after that other colour hue test (which I got 43 on, dunno how good/bad that is) has totally messed up my eyes. Everything is spotty.  :-o
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Half Empty Coffee Cup on 03 Mar 2015, 16:27
How many colors people can see. (https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/25-people-have-4th-cone-see-colors-p-prof-diana-derval) I can see 39. And now I'm curious how many you all can see. Especially those that are having issues with that dang dress.
Snopes is your friend. (http://www.snopes.com/politics/medical/tetrachromacy.asp) Your computer screen doesn't have the capability of showing the colors required to test for tetrachromacy, and there has only been one genuine confirmed case.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Akima on 03 Mar 2015, 17:24
I've done that Pantone test before, and depending on the monitor (all fairly good) and ambient lighting, I score 0-3. On the "how many colours can you see", I could definitely see 36, and I could persuade myself I could see 39 quite easily.

I thought the comments on what colours you might find in your wardrobe very dubious. Generally speaking women wear a wider range of colours than men, but that is mainly down to social conditioning. I might wear a red suit, but I doubt PWH would, for example, and I don't think that has anything to do with our vision. I choose colours of clothes, makeup, jewellery etc. based on how well they go with my complexion, hair, eye-colour etc. I don't think there is a colour that in itself I find unappealing.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: pwhodges on 04 Mar 2015, 00:07
Correct - no red suit!  As a student I had a bright red jumper.  I had a pair of dark red cord hipster jeans in the early 1970s which I wore out thoroughly.  In the early 1990s I got a red (and cream) Liberty shirt specifically to match the decoration on a harpsichord I was playing in a concert, which still comes out very occasionally.  And I have a couple of red teeshirts.  My present wife doesn't like me in red.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: BeoPuppy on 04 Mar 2015, 03:25
7.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Kugai on 04 Mar 2015, 14:41
[NeoVoice]There is no dress[/NeoVoice]
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 04 Mar 2015, 14:44
You mean the little kid in the Oracle office's voice?

(Then you will realize it is not the dress you see, it is only yourself.)
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: LeeC on 07 Mar 2015, 08:32
Okay, not even joking but me and my girlfriend are arguing (in a friendly way) on whether my blanket is white or blue.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 07 Mar 2015, 11:23
Take a picture.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Kugai on 07 Mar 2015, 12:42
Dye it purple.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Pilchard123 on 07 Mar 2015, 12:44
Burn it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: hedgie on 07 Mar 2015, 13:31
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: LTK on 09 Mar 2015, 04:49
WAIT WHAT someone posted it on facebook today, I left it on the home page and did something else but when I clicked back there was one instant where I perceived it as white. Then it went back to blue.

Well at least I know now that this isn't just a massive internet-wide prank played on everybody who can see colours.
Title: Re: Re: This thread is non-euclidean, for it has no point
Post by: Edguy on 09 Mar 2015, 15:40
It's actually emitting hard X-rays and the blue is Cerenkov radiation. Anyone who looks at it (and especially anyone who posts yet more pictures of it) is going to die horribly of radiation poisoning.
Before you die, you see the dress.

The Dress. Bringer of Death. Herald of War. Destroyer of Worlds.

..and then there was silence.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Method of Madness on 09 Mar 2015, 20:03
I am become dress, dresstroyer of worlds. :claireface:
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Blue Kitty on 09 Mar 2015, 20:06
You don't need to care what color the dress is, all you have to do is say yes to it.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Kugai on 09 Mar 2015, 21:40
[KoshVoice]The dress has always been here[/KoshVoice]
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: hedgie on 09 Mar 2015, 22:23
I think we now have a winner for the person who can put the most B5 references into a single thread that has nothing to do with Sci-Fi.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Is it cold in here? on 09 Mar 2015, 23:17
The dress has been put to good use in an ad campaign against domestic violence, attached to the slogan "Why is it so hard to see black and blue?".
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Loki on 10 Mar 2015, 15:48
I have seen criticism against this campaign, saying the women are displayed in a sexualized manner, a point of view I can understand.
Title: Re: What color is the dress?
Post by: Blue Kitty on 11 Mar 2015, 12:30
Also the fact that they discriminate against trans women