What colour is this dress?

Initially looks white+gold, but if I look at the other white parts, i.e. the bottom left there is a white/black something, it becomes blue+black
 
I see Gold/white.

I can concede that the white could possibly be an off blue but the gold is in no way black.

I even ran it through a colour dropper and it came out brown.
 
It was fascinating to see people's reactions to the dress..


I just looked at it and said the dress is "Blue and Black"

But then it's quite obvious IMO, the overexposure is evident by the light behind the dress, this tells you it's a low contrast / brightly exposed scene, and the light colour is clearly 'warm', making the brown parts obviously as a result of the warm light wash..

It's the same kind of phenomena when you get under incandescent lights, and you still see a white piece of paper as still looking 'white', yet if you took a photo with a fixed WB for daylight in the same conditions, the white paper is indeed a very creamy white..

i.e. your brain automatically adapts it's perceived colour rendition based on it's ability to understand the prevailing conditions.

If you analyse the pixel colour of the dress, it's clearly a light brown/light purply blue kind of colour, but the question wasn't "What colour pixels is the photo graph using to represent the dress" it's asking what colour is the dress..

Still, I am truly fascinated that different people interpret the colours differently, I can't imagine what 'reference' someones brain is using if it sees silver/gold..
 
Demon said:
It was fascinating to see people's reactions to the dress..

Still, I am truly fascinated that different people interpret the colours differently, I can't imagine what 'reference' someones brain is using if it sees silver/gold..
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Most peoples computer displays/TV's push towards blue. Of course they think they'll see it as blue.
 
The relevant proof has already been posted. It is now known that the dress has black on it, whereas the picture does not and never does.

You may see it as black but that's because you are compensating for the overexposure of the photo. So really the answer depends on the context. If the question is 'what colour is the dress in this picture of it?' the answer will never have black in it. If the question is 'what colour do you think the dress in this image really is?' then blue and black is a fair response.
 
Looked at it on 2 different monitors, iPhone 6 and iPad retina, all white and gold/brown.

Looked at tweaked versions and go back to original, still the same.

At least I am consistent!
 
Demon said:
Still, I am truly fascinated that different people interpret the colours differently, I can't imagine what 'reference' someones brain is using if it sees silver/gold..
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The youtube video linked earlier in the thread suggested it could come from interpreting it in a more natural light, so the blue from the sky could make the gold appear somewhat brown and the white a shade of blue. Definitely looked white and gold to me at first but now I can't stop seeing it as blue and black, it really is amazing how we perceive things in ways that we're not conscious of.
 
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Etheco said:
GD you do not disappoint on this fine Friday! :D Can not believe how popular this is right now on the net :o
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I had been wondering how it was news and the sad reflection of todays society. Obsession over trivia. As long as it gets tweets and the media can report on it as well as the tweets.
 
So earlier when I first saw this on GD... the dress clearly looked White + Gold... I was at work and instantly thought "this is obviously some sort of internet prank or something" but out of curiosity I swung my screen towards a colleague sitting next to me...

I showed him the picture, devoid of any headline etc. and asked if he'd seen it before... "No...what is it?".... Nevermind I told him, but what colour would he say the dress was? "Blue and Black"...

Totally bizarre... as it spread around the office much as on here people had their split opinions etc. but no matter how people tried to explain why it was clearly Black and Blue I just could not see it, at all... People were saying "look use GIMP and get the colour then paste it onto a new blank canvas, clearly blue"... etc. but nothing made it look that way

I just got home and happened to look again... Black and Blue... just like that... again my "this is a prank" instincts fired up - but now that I've stared at it a bit longer I can literally make it change between the two at will - totally bizarre!!! :p I think focusing on the lower left portion makes it easier to see it as Black/Blue whilst the area just below the neckline is better for White/Gold...
 
Frenzy said:
This is a troll right? I feel like I'm going insane here. It's like one of those jokes everyone is in on but you.
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This is exactly how I've felt about it all day until just now when I finally saw it... like Neo becoming "The One" in the Matrix :rolleyes:

Focus on the lower part of the dress and really try to reject the idea that there is sunlight coming from behind it... Try to imagine it's actually being lit from the front by flourescent lighting
 
Oh crap I've just seen it change. Checked it on my Samsung monitor (TN), checked it on my Dell (IPS) it was white/gold. Checked my Note 4 and it was blue/black, checked the screen again and it had changed to blue/black, WTF! Now whilst I stare at the samsung monitor I can see it shifting between white/gold blue/black....
 
V F said:
I had been wondering how it was news and the sad reflection of todays society. Obsession over trivia. As long as it gets tweets and the media can report on it as well as the tweets.
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Don't understand this attitude. What's the big deal? It's a genuinely interesting phenomenon. Better than celebrity gossip...at least this makes you use your brain a little bit :)

I can only see blue/brown. I was really interested in what the missus would think. She's an artist/illustrator and understands colour, light, shade, (and the combination thereof) intimately, so was curious if that had any impact on her perception. It went like this...

"it's blue/black obviously"

"yes, but many people see white/gold"

"pfft, even though the lighting is <insert rather technical rambling> I can't see how anybody could think it's white/gold..."

She scrolls down the story for a little while, then comes out with...

"oh, well this picture here is obviously white/gold"

"Hmm, what?"

"This picture at the top" <shows me the pic>

"erm, that's the pic you were just looking at..."

"no, no, that was a different one.....I've not seen this version"

"you're on the same page and just scrolled down and back up!"

".....no, it must be a different image....I must have clicked something"

At this point she flat-out refused to believe it was the same picture she had originally thought was blue/black. I had to show her the browsing history and reopen the closed tabs to prove it wasn't shens. She just sat there with a look of genuine horror on her face saying "but....but...I can't see it as blue/black now....even though I know it is.....what have you done to me!" :D

Conclusion: her artistic ability was rendered useless in the face of such witchcraft.
 
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