3 ms·

It's fascinating to see all the comments around it on Reddit and other sites. See http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page http://www.explainxk

by jvdh 12y ago

It's fascinating to see all the comments around it on Reddit and other sites. See http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page http://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page for more links. The largest group of people commenting seem to be able to see both 'versions' of the dress just by looking at it, looking away and seeing it again. There are also very many who see only the gold version of the dress and have a lot of trouble seeing the blue version. Finally, there are very few who can't seem to see the gold version at all. (This is in no way scientific, there is very likely a very large bias present in the commenters.)

lettergram 12y ago
I can't see black and blue for the life of me. I even ran some computer vision algorithms on it (none of which said the lighter image had black, or any sizable amount of blue). My guess, some people are either color blind, dimming their screens trying to see it, or they are seeing a different image...
- mod 12y ago
  Those guesses are all incorrect. My girlfriend and I see different color dresses on the same screen/ambient light, and neither of us is color blind.
  - lettergram 12y ago
    Then I am totally mind blown.
- peteretep 12y ago
  Given that everyone who is seeing it in black and blue is seeing the correct image (as later verified), it's a bit odd for you to suggest they're the ones with problems with their sight. This is the dress itself: http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2015-02/26/22/enhanced/webdr02/enhanced-1984-1425006448-3.jpg http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2015-02/26/22/enhanced/webdr... Which is exactly the colours it looked like in the original image, to me, and to I suspect everyone else who can't make it look anything other than black and blue.
  - lettergram 12y ago
    Part of the problem is from that image everyone started sending around a billion copies of the wired image. I agree that dress is blue and black and I think everyone else would to. The problem seems to be people changing the white balancing. I wrote a quick write up, but my computer never identifies a black and blue dress. Even the one you linked would be indigo (not that it maters that much). http://austingwalters.com/that-dress-is-gold-and-white/ http://austingwalters.com/that-dress-is-gold-and-white/
- starky 12y ago
  I simply opened the file up in an image editor and played around with the eyedropper. It seems pretty clear that the two main colours are white with some blue tint, and a yellow. When the exposure was fixed, the colours weren't even close to black and blue.
- lkbm 12y ago
  I was able to see it b+b when I first woke up this morning. Last night I only saw w+g. But, no, it's not the screen. Two people looking at the same screen will see different things. The lesson here is that while there is an objective reality, our minds do A LOT of post-processing on our sensory input without our knowledge, so we don't have unfettered access to it.
jsprogrammer 12y ago
Your link says this is the original: http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112174461490/officialunitedstates-unclefather http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112174461490/officialunitedsta... How does anyone see that as white and gold?
- reitanqild 12y ago
  color-weak like me? Must be the only time I'm aware of that being an advantage. So everyone - stop wondering, -it is blue and black and you are looking it wrong :-P
  - jsprogrammer 12y ago
    I don't think so. I've looked at 'color-blindness' tests quite a few times and can always distinguish the numbers. I can see how someone might think the black could be gold, due to the shimmer in some places (although it still mostly looks blackish). I don't see how anyone can see the rest of the dress as white though. It looks like dyed blue fabric...taken with a horrible camera/exposure.
  - thaumasiotes 12y ago
    There's no "looking at it wrong". If you take a photograph of something, there's no way to tell from the photograph what color the thing is. That's because the raw visual data (light of wavelengths x, intensity y) depends much more strongly on the lighting the object is subject to than on its inherent optical properties. But your visual system is designed to ignore local lighting and extract the inherent optical properties, which are what you mean by "color".
- cauterized 12y ago
  Because it looks like it's bluish only because it's in the shade (with yellower sunlight in the background).
  - jsprogrammer 12y ago
    Maybe my monitor is calibrated towards blue (doesn't seem like it), but I don't see it. Blue shade? In yellow light?
koliber 12y ago
My initial reaction was white and gold. However, I can see that it is a light blue (periwinkle?) and gold if I try (especially blocking out the top part of the dress and only looking at the lower 1/3 of the photo). I am not able to get myself to see black no matter how I try.
- danielweber 12y ago
  I see the white, but if someone wants to say "it's light blue" I won't fight. There's a house in my parent's neighborhood that is somewhere between a light-grey and a pale-blue, and it sometimes looks "grey" and sometimes looks "blue." But there's no way to get "black."
MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
I can see black/blue and lightblue/gold, but not white/gold. This seems to be uncommon - whats wrong with my vision?
- claudius 12y ago
  I can only see (light)blue/gold, but I have no idea what would be wrong with my vision either.

by jvdh 12y ago

lettergram 12y ago

I can't see black and blue for the life of me. I even ran some computer vision algorithms on it (none of which said the lighter image had black, or any sizable amount of blue). My guess, some people are either color blind, dimming their screens trying to see it, or they are seeing a different image...

mod 12y ago
Those guesses are all incorrect. My girlfriend and I see different color dresses on the same screen/ambient light, and neither of us is color blind.
- lettergram 12y ago
  Then I am totally mind blown.
peteretep 12y ago
Given that everyone who is seeing it in black and blue is seeing the correct image (as later verified), it's a bit odd for you to suggest they're the ones with problems with their sight. This is the dress itself: http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2015-02/26/22/enhanced/webdr02/enhanced-1984-1425006448-3.jpg http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/2015-02/26/22/enhanced/webdr... Which is exactly the colours it looked like in the original image, to me, and to I suspect everyone else who can't make it look anything other than black and blue.
- lettergram 12y ago
  Part of the problem is from that image everyone started sending around a billion copies of the wired image. I agree that dress is blue and black and I think everyone else would to. The problem seems to be people changing the white balancing. I wrote a quick write up, but my computer never identifies a black and blue dress. Even the one you linked would be indigo (not that it maters that much). http://austingwalters.com/that-dress-is-gold-and-white/ http://austingwalters.com/that-dress-is-gold-and-white/
starky 12y ago
I simply opened the file up in an image editor and played around with the eyedropper. It seems pretty clear that the two main colours are white with some blue tint, and a yellow. When the exposure was fixed, the colours weren't even close to black and blue.
lkbm 12y ago
I was able to see it b+b when I first woke up this morning. Last night I only saw w+g. But, no, it's not the screen. Two people looking at the same screen will see different things. The lesson here is that while there is an objective reality, our minds do A LOT of post-processing on our sensory input without our knowledge, so we don't have unfettered access to it.

jsprogrammer 12y ago

Your link says this is the original: http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112174461490/officialunitedstates-unclefather http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112174461490/officialunitedsta... How does anyone see that as white and gold?

reitanqild 12y ago
color-weak like me? Must be the only time I'm aware of that being an advantage. So everyone - stop wondering, -it is blue and black and you are looking it wrong :-P
- jsprogrammer 12y ago
  I don't think so. I've looked at 'color-blindness' tests quite a few times and can always distinguish the numbers. I can see how someone might think the black could be gold, due to the shimmer in some places (although it still mostly looks blackish). I don't see how anyone can see the rest of the dress as white though. It looks like dyed blue fabric...taken with a horrible camera/exposure.
- thaumasiotes 12y ago
  There's no "looking at it wrong". If you take a photograph of something, there's no way to tell from the photograph what color the thing is. That's because the raw visual data (light of wavelengths x, intensity y) depends much more strongly on the lighting the object is subject to than on its inherent optical properties. But your visual system is designed to ignore local lighting and extract the inherent optical properties, which are what you mean by "color".
cauterized 12y ago
Because it looks like it's bluish only because it's in the shade (with yellower sunlight in the background).
- jsprogrammer 12y ago
  Maybe my monitor is calibrated towards blue (doesn't seem like it), but I don't see it. Blue shade? In yellow light?

koliber 12y ago

My initial reaction was white and gold. However, I can see that it is a light blue (periwinkle?) and gold if I try (especially blocking out the top part of the dress and only looking at the lower 1/3 of the photo). I am not able to get myself to see black no matter how I try.

danielweber 12y ago
I see the white, but if someone wants to say "it's light blue" I won't fight. There's a house in my parent's neighborhood that is somewhere between a light-grey and a pale-blue, and it sometimes looks "grey" and sometimes looks "blue." But there's no way to get "black."

MrBuddyCasino 12y ago

I can see black/blue and lightblue/gold, but not white/gold. This seems to be uncommon - whats wrong with my vision?

claudius 12y ago
I can only see (light)blue/gold, but I have no idea what would be wrong with my vision either.