The Dress

[Jinx]

Which is it?


(The correct answer is white and gold.)

[Shorty]

This is the most stupid thing that has ever gone viral.

[Agent Proto]

Here is the dress in question if anybody is confused about the context of this thread.

https://40.media.tumblr.com/a391a1b4b46dd6b498d379e50f96ecbc/tumblr_nkcjuq8Tdr1tnacy1o1_500.jpg

The Internet has blown up over this stupid dress, and it's driving me nuts. It's white and gold, but apparently it's "most certainly" blue and black. I don't know what to believe anymore.

[I Took the Red Pill]

I can only see it as white and gold, but it's some optical trickery which I will admit I don't understand. The dress is actually blue and black.

Exhibit A: http://swiked.tumblr.com/post/112164479015/can-we-have-more-pictures-of-the-dress-please-we

Exhibit B: http://i.imgur.com/mFqCtOw.png

[Denmark]

that's it i'm fucking leaving the internet

[Sephex]

This is the most stupid thing that has ever gone viral.

[blackmage_nuke]

I can only sort of see white and gold if I look at the top of the image, I can not for the life of me NOT see blue and black, I can only assume this is some elaborate prank.

edit:
http://xkcd.com/1492/
ok i get it now but its still black and blue

[chionos]

This is so utterly stupid. I'm not even going to anymore.

[maybee]

Can we please bring back The George Glass meme back, instead of this ? The left shark maybe ? All Our Base Belong to Us ?

Anything but this. Please.

[Psychotic]

I'd never even seen this before :shobon:

It's white and gold on my phone, blue and black on my laptop.

[Shiny]

Okay, I'll bite. This isn't even subjective. The dress is objectively black and blue. Your monitor is either trout, or you have the exposure/brightness up too high. Calibrate your monitor. Now can I close this?

This whole thing is a ruse to get people further away from things they should actually be caring about.

[WildRaubtier]

lol lets all talk about aids and trout, never mind this one curiosity that'll be gone within the day

correct answer is pale blue and gold

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9bawbauabras0dw/Screenshot%202015-02-27%2017.11.10.png?dl=0

notice how the colour sample, taken from the top, is nowhere near black?

QED mothersmurfers

[Psychotic]

Holy shit it was white and gold as hell this morning but now I'm at work it's blue and black. With my large sample size in the office (2 females, 2 males) the females see white and gold and the males see blue and black.

This is actually pretty cool. Sorry if it's all OLDDDDDD to you guys but I'm loving it :excited:

[Old Manus]

This whole thing is a ruse to get people further away from things they should actually be caring about.Totally. Madonna fell flat on her ass guys.

[Shauna]

Weird.

Also really dumb.

[I Took the Red Pill]

I find it to be pretty cool that different people looking at the exact same picture are seeing different things. It's kind of like that shadow dancer gif rotating clockwise or counter-clockwise, except it's even weirder.

What confuses me more than the picture itself is the face that like half of the people in this thread seem legitimately upset by it. Like, is this actually making you angry? I guess it's the cool thing to disparage things that become popular on the internet.

No, we can have a 30 page thread with people arguing about whether soup is a food or a drink, but this, this has gone too far.

[Loony BoB]

https://www.dropbox.com/s/9bawbauabras0dw/Screenshot%202015-02-27%2017.11.10.png?dl=0
Pretty much the best logic I've seen thus far.

Okay, I'll bite. This isn't even subjective. The dress is objectively black and blue. Your monitor is either trout, or you have the exposure/brightness up too high. Calibrate your monitor. Now can I close this?
I just turned the brightness and contrast etc. down to 0 and it's still looking pretty much exactly the same, just not as bright. :p

In the real world, sure, the colour might change depending on the lighting. But what is in that specific photograph? Nah, that's pretty defined.

Also, what Red Pill said.

[Loony BoB]

Interesting article on why people see it differently, that expands on the xkcd comic to a billion degrees: http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/

[Psychotic]

I can't see anything but blue and black now so I've made the lone solitary vote. And it's funny, when I first saw this thread I was convinced it was white and gold and had no idea how anyone could see it differently. xD

[Loony BoB]

I see the original image as white and gold, but neither exact. Like, pale blue? Yeah, I can see that, but it's so pale it's basically white. Orange or gold? Eh. I don't see black at all, though. Even on darkened images. The only time I've seen it as black is on that shopping site screenshotted earlier in the thread.

[Freya]

Last night it was white and gold on my laptop. In the big picture it's white and gold from my phone this morning. For a moment in the small one it was black and blue but I scrolled down then back and my eyes adjusted properly and its white and gold. My verdict is that it is white and gold but the pattern and lighting and size of the picture you're looking at can cause a optical illusion.

[Old Manus]

Okay now it's black and blue what is happening

[Shauna]

It's freakin' weird - I look at that image Red Pill posted earlier of the shop page and the image and I can see it darkening but then I look at the actual picture and it starts to lighten up.

Humans are crazy.

[Loony BoB]

Okay now it's black and blue what is happening
Just this (http://www.wired.com/2015/02/science-one-agrees-color-dress/).

[Psychotic]

The makers of the dress are now trying to rush out a white and gold version to cash in. Fair play!

Does this help anyone? http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/625/media/images/81285000/png/_81285870_science.png

[Freya]

http://ir0.mobify.com/project-wired/http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Unknown-660x748.png

[Pike]

I haven't seen this but it's kind of interesting, it looks white and gold to me but my monitor is about twelve years old

Why is everyone freaking out about how much they hate this? "There is more important stuff to worry about" is not an answer because by that logic I'm not allowed to worry about anything ever again aside from starving kids in Africa or w/e

[Loony BoB]

The makers of the dress are now trying to rush out a white and gold version to cash in. Fair play!
"I distinctly remember asking for the white and gold version, but it is definitely black and blue. I would like a refund."

[Crop]

I don't get all the hate for this! It's a nice bit of fun, and it's provided some entertaining discussions in the office from people seeing it differently throught the day.

I've only ever seen it in blue and black, although it briefly flashed white and gold for me once.

[blackmage_nuke]

Out of curiosity has anyone who saw it as black and blue switched to white and gold? I've heard a bunch of people claiming that it went from whit and gold to black and blue but not the other way around.

[Agent Proto]

My current feeling about this:

https://38.media.tumblr.com/b54c4dc53e7f0575cae5412072dfa1c5/tumblr_nkfo7yZcKJ1tb8alro1_r1_400.gif

[metagloria]

It's blue and black, it's always been blue and black, I feel pity for anyone who doesn't see that.

However, I'm just super excited that a dress broke the internet without having Kim Kardashian inside of it.

[Slothy]

Okay, I'll bite. This isn't even subjective. The dress is objectively black and blue. Your monitor is either trout, or you have the exposure/brightness up too high. Calibrate your monitor. Now can I close this?

You realize that's not actually possible on pretty much any phone I've ever used right? Not natively anyway. So drop the tude thanks. :p

[Freya]

Guys, Is he wearing black and blue or white and gold?! I CAN'T FIGURE IT OUT!

63252

[Pumpkin]

I went to bed and everything was normal. Then I wake up and that friggin dress thing is everywhere?

[Freya]

I've decided.63264 He's wearing black and blue.

[Psychotic]

It's just gone back to white and gold for me! I know nobody else but me cares but that's cool!

[Madame Adequate]

I was mighty confused when I woke up today because there was all this talk of a dress everywhere and some people were claiming it's white and gold, which was bizarre to me because it clearly was not so! But then I read about it and it's actually intriguing that there can be such radical shifts in perception based on a handful of seemingly trivial factors.

[Pike]

Reading about this and learning about the science behind it is super cool. This is my favorite "meme" in forever. Can we have more like this? I want a Neato Optical Illusion of the Day.

[Shauna]

If I stare REAL HARD I can make white/gold turn into blue/black.

My eyes will fail even faster after all this.

[Spuuky]

It's obviously, objectively blue/black in "reality." If you see it as white/gold, I'm pretty sure it means your brain doesn't correctly process the way that color and light work in photos.

I mean, the color displayed at the very top, for instance is "gold." Because that's how black looks in bright yellow, overexposed light. So when you see that it's dark "gold" and that everything else is overexposed, you make the natural adjustment and realize "in reality, this is black." Of course, nothing is "true black" in reality; but it's as black as anything else you call black.

The blue ... this one truly makes no sense to me, it's blue both in actual palette and in light-adjusted reality, even the photo alterations that try to "whiten" it still typically leave it a little blue.

[Madame Adequate]

Now I see blue and gold I don't know what is happening

[metagloria]

It's obviously, objectively blue/black in "reality." If you see it as white/gold, I'm pretty sure it means your brain doesn't correctly process the way that color and light work in photos.

I mean, the color displayed at the very top, for instance is "gold." Because that's how black looks in bright yellow, overexposed light. So when you see that it's dark "gold" and that everything else is overexposed, you make the natural adjustment and realize "in reality, this is black." Of course, nothing is "true black" in reality; but it's as black as anything else you call black.

The blue ... this one truly makes no sense to me, it's blue both in actual palette and in light-adjusted reality, even the photo alterations that try to "whiten" it still typically leave it a little blue.

This is the best summary I've seen. I can totally understand that the black doesn't look black. It kind of looks like dark brown. But what drugs do you have to be on to see light blue as being white?

[WildRaubtier]

As a very pale person who often shows up looking blue in dim lighting

No I'm pretty sure that's just jaundice.

Lobster Jaundice.

Because you're a pretty shellfish person.

[Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World]

Out of curiosity has anyone who saw it as black and blue switched to white and gold? I've heard a bunch of people claiming that it went from whit and gold to black and blue but not the other way around.

It was white and gold for me last night, but when I looked at it today, at work, on the exact same page, it was white and gold, but twenty minutes later was blue and black.

[qwertysaur]

:stare:

I see blue/black :p

[metagloria]

It's obviously, objectively blue/black in "reality." If you see it as white/gold, I'm pretty sure it means your brain doesn't correctly process the way that color and light work in photos.

I mean, the color displayed at the very top, for instance is "gold." Because that's how black looks in bright yellow, overexposed light. So when you see that it's dark "gold" and that everything else is overexposed, you make the natural adjustment and realize "in reality, this is black." Of course, nothing is "true black" in reality; but it's as black as anything else you call black.

The blue ... this one truly makes no sense to me, it's blue both in actual palette and in light-adjusted reality, even the photo alterations that try to "whiten" it still typically leave it a little blue.

This is the best summary I've seen. I can totally understand that the black doesn't look black. It kind of looks like dark brown. But what drugs do you have to be on to see light blue as being white?

The picture above looks light blue if that's what you take it as. To me, that particular picture looks like a white and gold dress that was photographed in poor lighting that distorted the white to blue. As a very pale person who often shows up looking blue in dim lighting, that's how my eyes perceive it. Of course I can tell the dress in the picture above is a very faint blue, but if it was a white dress taken in dim lighting, it'd show up blue.

Hope that answers the question for you!

...You don't realize that your skin is blue?

[Loony BoB]

da ba dee da ba di da ba dee da ba di da ba dee da ba di

[Pumpkin]

I see pale blue and gold

[Dat Matt]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B-041xBUYAAhuxb.jpg

Also It's Blue and Black.

[Spuuky]

I have learned from this Historic Internet Event that way more guys see it as blue/black and nearly all women see it as white/gold.

[CimminyCricket]

I have seen both in the same image. I am both confused and aroused. :\

[chionos]

I have learned from this Historic Internet Event that way more guys see it as blue/black and nearly all women see it as white/gold.

I wish people would stop saying that because I see white/gold and I'm sticking to it.

[Rocket Edge]

You guys make me lol. How is this stupid? Yeah it's a dress, but I think it's interesting that people can see different colours.

It's blue and black as I see it.

[Sephex]

For the record I don't think the actual picture is stupid, but how people are reacting towards each other because of it (not limited to just this site or even the internet). When I feel that it is easier to discuss abortion or gamer gate, there's a problem.

[Shlup]

If you absolutely can't see black and blue then it's because your cones aren't dilating, which means you can't see as well in low-light. I see it black and blue unless I've just come in from spending time in a brighter room.

[escobert]

OTHER

The first picture I saw f it, it looked light Blue and Gold to me.

[Ceiladora]

It could be any colour combination depending on your eyesight. Mother Earth knows there's plenty of colour blind people on her world, so to some the dress might look black and brown, or black and grey. I don't know how to justify it true colour duality but it could be all four white, gold, black and blue. The thrills of optical illusion is something I enjoy. Yeah it depends on your screen contrast, brightness etc. :)

[Pant Leg Eater from the Bad World]

Yeah it depends on your screen contrast, brightness etc. :)

I don't think it does. I've seen it on the same website on the same computer screen and seen both color variations. I have experienced the change on two different computers and my phone.

[Shlup]

The clearest explanation I've found:

https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/the-internet-is-freaking-out-over-the-color-of-this-dress-1.jpg

[Vyk]

Its funny that most of the people I know who see white and gold are female. I wonder if that sorta has something to do with it. But I watched the videos explaining how people see white and gold as a top-down processing in their head

I see blue and black, personally. And I've tried to make my brain think otherwise. I know people have switched back and forth, but for some reason I can't

And my first exposure to this was some random facebook friend making a post about how they can't change from seeing white and gold (and it was a female)

I don't find it dumb. It's interesting how much it blew up. But it's a curiosity. It was worth exploring. Most people learned something at least

[Shlup]

The gender breakdown probably has something to do with males traditionally being the hunters, and so needing better night vision. I wonder how it would break down by ancestral geographical origin... :o

[Shiny]

Okay, I'll bite. This isn't even subjective. The dress is objectively black and blue. Your monitor is either trout, or you have the exposure/brightness up too high. Calibrate your monitor. Now can I close this?

You realize that's not actually possible on pretty much any phone I've ever used right? Not natively anyway. So drop the tude thanks. :p

You realize when I said calibrate monitor I was talking about computer monitor right? I guess not. Colors are different on every monitor, but my settings have been calibrated for a while to have true RGB and CMYK levels. Even on my phone that doesn't have the brightness up, still the same. You people are silly.

The pic that looks pale blue and gold is photoshopped to look lighter. That is not even the original photo. It seems someone has taken it upon themselves to put two separate photos -- one being lighter than the other. This either a troll or people have both smurfed up eyes and/or smurfed up monitors. :monster:

[Spuuky]

Some (admittedly haphazard-looking) analyses of social media that I saw indicated that men are slightly more likely than average to see blue/black, and women slightly more likely to see white/gold; and that young people are MUCH more likely to see blue/black and old people are much more like to see white/gold.

[Shauna]

This either a troll or people have both smurfed up eyes and/or smurfed up monitors. :monster:

Matt and I looked at the same picture on the same monitor and saw the two different colours. It's definitely an individual difference in eye capabilities, which Shlup has posted a nice breakdown of.

[Ceiladora]

Here's the answer! It's all rainbow colours! Who the smurf knows by now, huh? :)

Thanks, optical imagination.

[Agent Proto]

I made a new contribution to this debate by adding fuel to the fire... I meant by fan art!


https://40.media.tumblr.com/f656a3beed29b2af925f03d222f59e47/tumblr_nkgn5lcGRD1s051cvo1_540.png

[Slothy]

You realize when I said calibrate monitor I was talking about computer monitor right? I guess not.

Of course I realized you meant monitor because I'm not a moron. But you seem completely unaware that a great many people also surf on, and viewed this pic on their phones.

You also seem completely unaware, despite the discussion earlier in the thread, that the phenomenon is not related to monitor quality and settings but the way people actually process the images. So my original statement stands: as far as your monitor elitism goes you can drop the tude. :p

For the record, I've seen the picture today alone on three completely different phones and two completely different monitors, one of which being my own on my desktop (and I'll be damned if that needs to be calibrated thanks). The colours in the pic look the exact same on all of them to me. If you actually think the calibration is so far off on all of those devices that I see it as distinctly white and gold instead of a very different shade of blue and black, but all of them also look essentially like the same colors and shade allowing for differences in brightness etc, then you've lost your mind. :p

[Ceiladora]

Okay, it's official; this dress colour thing is still tormenting the smurf out of me. :screwy:

It's brown and periwinkle. There, I've made my verdict. Have now seen the different results iphone vs computer screen, and that's what I'm gonna stamp it as. :shakefist:

[Pike]

My eyesight is terrible so none of this surprises me really.

[Shiny]

You realize when I said calibrate monitor I was talking about computer monitor right? I guess not.

Of course I realized you meant monitor because I'm not a moron. But you seem completely unaware that a great many people also surf on, and viewed this pic on their phones.

You also seem completely unaware, despite the discussion earlier in the thread, that the phenomenon is not related to monitor quality and settings but the way people actually process the images. So my original statement stands: as far as your monitor elitism goes you can drop the tude. :p

For the record, I've seen the picture today alone on three completely different phones and two completely different monitors, one of which being my own on my desktop (and I'll be damned if that needs to be calibrated thanks). The colours in the pic look the exact same on all of them to me. If you actually think the calibration is so far off on all of those devices that I see it as distinctly white and gold instead of a very different shade of blue and black, but all of them also look essentially like the same colors and shade allowing for differences in brightness etc, then you've lost your mind. :p
You really don't read. I said brightness/exposure for phone which does make a difference unless you are completely color blind, but then you'd have to basically be a canine.

If I increase the brightness on my phone, the colors do change slightly so that it actually appears that the black on the dress is brown and the blue is a pale blue, but then none of the colors on my phone look right to me. I have unfortunately seen it on a few different monitors (correctly calibrated) and it all looks the same to me. But seeing as how two separate people can look at the same monitor and get two different results apparently then I agree that it probably has more to do with people's eyes being smurfed up and not so much the monitors.

However, since colors themselves constantly change in lighting, monitor settings do matter as does whatever surrounding light we have around us. Hell, my face changes colors in certain lighting so I'm not surprised if this dress does too. But I have and can only see two colors regardless of that which is why I think this is a troll or people really need to stop staring in to the sun. And no one is getting a "' 'tude" but you since you feel it's important to note that anyone is getting one and use a immature smiley.

[Raistlin]

I see white and gold, but at this point the only thing I care about is the memes.

63318

63319

63320



The good: Works equally well as formal or business casual attire.

The bad: Carves a crooked path through perceptual reality and leaves behind it a wake of confusion and existential crises. Also unforgiving on the hips. (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Roman-Womens-Detail-Bodycon-Dress/dp/B00SJEUCWU?tag=skim1x143739-21)

[escobert]

The clearest explanation I've found:

https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2015/02/the-internet-is-freaking-out-over-the-color-of-this-dress-1.jpg

There was a Dr. on NPR yesterday that said it has nothing to do with cones or rods but how your brains processes the information.

[Shlup]

But cones and rods have to do with how your brain processes information... They're connected.

Today my 12-year-old brother was wearing black shoes and blue jeans and was like "Do you like my black and blue outfit? Hahaha, see what I did there?" and I was like "You meant to say white and gold," and then he was sad that he screwed it up. Ha.

[Fox]

Hey everyone. Scishow has some answers!

For the record, I see it as white and gold. But it would seem that my eyes are deceiving me!

jexnhNfOzHg

[escobert]

But cones and rods have to do with how your brain processes information... They're connected.


Yes they do, but he was saying it's not a malfunction in your cones and rods but in your brain that makes the dress not be seen int he correct colors.


It got me to wondering if the people who see it as blue/white and gold maybe are more likely to have suffered a head injury at some point in their lives?

[metagloria]

But cones and rods have to do with how your brain processes information... They're connected.


Yes they do, but he was saying it's not a malfunction in your cones and rods but in your brain that makes the dress not be seen int he correct colors.


It got me to wondering if the people who see it as blue/white and gold maybe are more likely to have suffered a head injury at some point in their lives?

...considering something like 70% of people see it as white and gold, I'm going to guess head injury is not a likely explanation.

[Shlup]

The last poll I looked at showed 25% of people seeing it as white and gold. And I don't recall anyone out of my friends seeing it as white and gold, so I think you've reversed it.

[metagloria]

Well 70 might be high, I'll admit. But our forum poll currently sits at 52% white-and-gold, and this data collected by a redditor also shows w&g favored over b&b:

63451

[Yellow_Magic]

You're all wrong. The correct answer is:

eHuebHTD-lY

[Quindiana Jones]

This made me so angry when I encountered it, because there is nothing I could do to understand how it is at all possible to see white and gold. Shlup has solved that issue, and now I just see rainbows and flowers and shall focus on the memes, like Raistlin. :bigsmile:

[Quindiana Jones]

"This dress is a horcrux." Wonderful.

[FFIX Choco Boy]

It doesn't matter what I do to the brightness of the photo, how many times I look at it, how I think about the colors, whatever. I always see it as light blue and gold.

[Loony BoB]

I haven't seen the image change no matter how often I look at it (other than brighter/darker, but that's the screen rather than the image itself). I see the colours as they are defined in any "let's get this colour from this pixel on this image and make it massive" picture. But then, I spend a lot of my time looking at images on the internet which are designed to have "non-standard" lighting and colouring. In the real world, I have no trouble telling colours apart, but on a pixel image on a flat screen? I see what is there... my brain doesn't seem to add any brightness to make it a genuine white colour, nor does it add any darkness to see the black. I see that same old muddy goldish colour and a silverish light blue colour alongside it. I certainly see nothing similar to what the real dress looks like in any normal image of it I've found on the internet, not even close.

So now I'm wondering if people who spend a lot of time looking at "unreal" (art, photomanipulation, or whatever) pixelated images see this the same as me... I'm wondering if people who are used to seeing colours "as they are" on computers are happy to stick with them.

Also, I'm genuinely tempted to make a forums style using those colours, but I'm very lazy regarding all the work vB forces you to do for such a thing these days so eh.

EDIT: Also, I was watching that video Fox posted and when he was all "NO ONE sees it as the colour it actually is!" at around 1:30 and I was all "...I see those colours. :cry: What is wrong (or right?) with me!?"

EDITRA: Oh my god I got so excited for a second when I saw it as black and blue and then I realised it wasn't the same pic and had a comment of "what the dress looks like in the shops" and I was like "...oh. ._."

[Mirage]

It's blue and black. The yellowish light source in the room creates a goldish color in the blacks. It only looks white and gold if your head for some reason assumes the lighting in the room is blue, for whatever reason.

I initially saw it as clearly blue and black, but after a while I could see how some would interpret it as white and gold. My mother said white and gold.

[Galuf]

This is the most stupid thing that has ever gone viral.
agree with ya there. just playing on our mind. maybe if there was 4 options though.....

[Ayen]

This explains that TARDIS picture I saw on Facebook the other day.

[Loony BoB]

It's blue and black. The yellowish light source in the room creates a goldish color in the blacks. It only looks white and gold if your head for some reason assumes the lighting in the room is blue, for whatever reason.
That's not how pixels work, the colours in the actual image are not black or a dark blue. :shobon:

I think my head just makes no assumptions about colours when dealing with pixelated images.

[Spuuky]

Specifically, your brain doesn't work right. The entire human sense of sight depends on being able to extrapolate actual colors, based on perceived colors and perceived light.

[Mirage]

It's blue and black. The yellowish light source in the room creates a goldish color in the blacks. It only looks white and gold if your head for some reason assumes the lighting in the room is blue, for whatever reason.
That's not how pixels work, the colours in the actual image are not black or a dark blue. :shobon:

I think my head just makes no assumptions about colours when dealing with pixelated images.

I know how pixels work. Way to not get the point, bob.

All humans have an automatic white-balance feature. It sometimes gets confused (like when people think the dress is gold and white), but it would be pretty troutty to not have AWB at all.

Considering the dress doesn't exist in white and gold (yet) but does exist in blue and black, it is safe to say that the people who thinks it's white and gold are the ones whose white balance got confused.

Although, I'll admit that we don't have all that much color information to go on in this picture, so it's understandable that some gets it wrong.

[Loony BoB]

Yeah, I think it's fair to say that a pixelated image where you only see a small portion of what is actually there outside of the dress allows for it to be pretty easily seen as the colours that make up 80 percent of the image xD

I wonder what people would see if you cropped out that small source of light in the image and showed nothing but dress.

[Spuuky]

If you sufficiently cropped it such that it didn't have any indication about the lighting of the original photo? Umm, I guess if you zoomed way in on a specific portion such that you lose any sense of context, yes, it could be hard to tell what color it was in reality.

Tell me what word this is, if it wasn't cut off:

nderstandable

If you come up with an answer other than the obvious one, there's something wrong with the linguistic center of your brain.

Now tell me what word this is:

s

That's the same word, but with more cut out. See how that's a stupid question?

The dress, in this analogy, is something like this:

nderstandab

It's clearly discernable unless your eyes and brain just can't reconcile things correctly for some reason. A white-and-gold viewer would say "this isn't a word." A blue-and-gold viewer would say "the first example isn't a word." A blue-and-black viewer would say "the word is 'understandable' in both cases."

[Galuf]

If you sufficiently cropped it such that it didn't have any indication about the lighting of the original photo? Umm, I guess if you zoomed way in on a specific portion such that you lose any sense of context, yes, it could be hard to tell what color it was in reality.

Tell me what word this is, if it wasn't cut off:

nderstandable

If you come up with an answer other than the obvious one, there's something wrong with the linguistic center of your brain.

Now tell me what word this is:

s

That's the same word, but with more cut out. See how that's a stupid question?

The dress, in this analogy, is something like this:

nderstandab

It's clearly discernable unless your eyes and brain just can't reconcile things correctly for some reason. A white-and-gold viewer would say "this isn't a word." A blue-and-gold viewer would say "the first example isn't a word." A blue-and-black viewer would say "the word is 'understandable' in both cases."

b-but i see white and gold. and i see understandable for both examples right off the bat. does that mean im insane?

[Spuuky]

It's an analogy. Colors/light and words/shapes are not processed the same way as each other.

[Loony BoB]

That analogy doesn't reflect what's going on in the image (although I'm not sure how you can even compare lighting to words, but let's just go with it for the sake of ... I don't know what).

Lighting is the thing that is important and is how you judge the actual colour of the dress, according to what science is throwing at us.

However, there is very little lighting. So really, the clue to the colour change we are seeing is

u le

:p

But yeah, seriously, I don't think that analogy works at all. xD I also don't think 68% of internet users are all somehow suffering from some horrible inability to see colour correctly. I wonder if an image editing expert were to get an image of a pale violet and muddy orange dress and add lighting on the background if people would see it as black and blue.

[Spuuky]

However, there is very little lighting.?????? I found your problem.

[Loony BoB]

Sorry, I should say very little visible sources of lighting. There is the top right corner, absolutely, but it's behind the dress and has a lot of glare in the upper right corner. If you don't show the sources of lighting (sans glare) and how they affect anything then it makes it more difficult to discern how the lighting is affecting various things. We don't see much of any other dresses or people or (more notably) known colours to compare and contrast with. The lighting on things behind the dress is very different to the lighting provided to the dress itself.

[Spuuky]

You don't need other things in the picture to compare with. You just need to know what glare is and what its presence indicates (extremely bright light).

[Loony BoB]

Extremely bright light behind something could mean any kind of thing, usually it involves making something appear darker (not lighter).

[Spuuky]

Conclusion confirmed, I've found your problem. Overexposed photos do not darken objects.

[WildRaubtier]

My favourite thing about this thread is how close its getting to vision-based eugenics.

[Mirage]

Extremely bright light behind something could mean any kind of thing, usually it involves making something appear darker (not lighter).

So you have one thing that indicates not-blue lighting, and zero things that indicates blue lighting. Unless your room has blue lighting instead of the white-yellow lighting that is common almost everywhere.

[Loony BoB]

If there was blue lighting I'd be seeing this as black and blue, surely. xD I see it as a pale violet and a bronze-like colour.

I don't feel I have enough to assume that this picture is overexposed (I mean, I know it is, but my brain is looking at the actual image, and what I see is more like this (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ASXGdbgoNIE/UXyhA_FAP2I/AAAAAAAAApA/yLOgZjB3xmw/s1600/Sun+Behind+Final+Person.JPG) - a bright light behind something makes it appear darker than it actually is, not lighter.

[Shlup]

Oh my god we're still talking about that fucking dress.

I mean, I find it super interesting, especially having seen it in both colors myself, but damn.

[Old Manus]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v491/oldmanus/door_zps32ff4e16.gif

[Loony BoB]

I find it fascinating, I don't mind if you guys don't. xD

[Spuuky]

Oh my god we're still talking about that smurfing dress.

I mean, I find it super interesting, especially having seen it in both colors myself, but damn.Incorrect, we stopped talking about the dress and started talking about Daniel Towns' broken brain.

[Del Murder]

I always thought it was purple and brown.

[Loony BoB]

Oh my god we're still talking about that smurfing dress.

I mean, I find it super interesting, especially having seen it in both colors myself, but damn.Incorrect, we stopped talking about the dress and started talking about Daniel Towns' broken brain.
Oh, Spuuky, there's no need to be a dick. Still yet to see an argument to my latest point!

[Shiny]

Uh, no BoB and Spuuky. I'm definitely closing this now.