Blue Green Confusion

[+ Gar1eth]

From Salon Magazine

The Blue and the Green

By Phil Plait

 

 

 

 

Via my evil twin Richard Wiseman comes one of the best color optical illusions I have ever seen. The original was apparently posted on Buzzhunt Akiyoshi Kitaoka's incredible optical illusion website:

 

 

Advertisement

 

 

 

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/files/2009/06/colors.gif

 

 

 

You see embedded spirals, right, of green, pinkish-orange, and blue? Incredibly, the green and the blue spirals are the same color. At first I thought Richard was pulling our collective legs, being a trickster of high magnitude. So I loaded the image in Photoshop and examined the two spirals. In the two squares displayed below, the one on the left is colored using the same color from the blue spiral, and on the right using the green spiral.

 

 

 

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/files/2009/06/greenblue2.jpg

 

 

 

Like I said, incredible! For pedantry sake, the RGB colors in both spirals are 0, 255, 150. So they are mostly green with a solid splash of blue.

 

The reason they look different colors is because our brain judges the color of an object by comparing it to surrounding colors. In this case, the stripes are not continuous as they appear at first glance. The orange stripes don't go through the "blue" spiral, and the magenta ones don't go through the "green" one. Here's a zoom to make this more clear:

 

 

 

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/files/2009/06/bluegreenzoom.gif

 

 

 

See? The orange stripes go through the "green" spiral but not the "blue" one. So without us even knowing it, our brains compare that spiral to the orange stripes, forcing it to think the spiral is green. The magenta stripes make the other part of the spiral look blue, even though they are exactly the same color. If you still don't believe me, concentrate on the edges of the colored spirals. Where the green hits the magenta it looks bluer to me, and where the blue hits the orange it looks greener. Amazing.

 

The overall pattern is a spiral shape because our brain likes to fill in missing bits to a pattern. Even though the stripes are not the same color all the way around the spiral , the overlapping spirals makes our brain think they are. The very fact that you have to examine the picture closely to figure out any of this at all shows just how easily we can be fooled.

 

This is why I tell people over and over again: you cannot trust what you see even with your own eyes. Your eyes are not cameras faithfully taking pictures of absolute truth of all that surrounds you. They have filters, and your brain has to interpret the jangled mess it gets fed. Colors are not what they appear, shapes are not what they appear (that zoomed image above is square, believe it or not), objects are not what they appear.

 

So the next time someone swears they saw Jesus, or a UFO, or a ghost, show them this picture. What you see in life is absolutely and provably not what you get.

 

Edit to add: if you like this illusion, then you might want to check out this audio illusion, and this one of a spinning woman's sillhouette which is one of my all-time favorites.

[+ Truereview]

Cool article, Gman! I love psychedelic spirals & bright colors. The only problem is...oh god...here I go...

http://sr.photos2.fotosearch.com/bthumb/CSP/CSP894/k8942570.jpg

[+ Gar1eth]

Cool article, Gman! I love psychedelic spirals & bright colors. The only problem is...oh god...here I go...

http://sr.photos2.fotosearch.com/bthumb/CSP/CSP894/k8942570.jpg

 

I'm sorry TR. I get vertigo very easily. So I know how you feel.

 

Gman

[BabyBoomer]

It could also trigger a migraine.

 

~ Boomer ~

[LADoug1]

It could also trigger a migraine.

 

~ Boomer ~

Or an Epileptic seizure.

[+ Gar1eth]

Or an Epileptic seizure.

 

That usually requires something flashing-not a 'static' picture on a page.

 

Gman

[+ Lance_Navarro]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150226215539-black-blue-dress-super-169.jpg

And of course, let's not forget the infamous dress!

[+ Gar1eth]

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150226215539-black-blue-dress-super-169.jpg

And of course, let's not forget the infamous dress!

 

Gold with a bluish tinged white. Although just now for the first time when I look really close, I can vaguely see that the gold could be a 'charcoal-ish' black. But when this first came out, and people said 'black' , I was picturing a 'midnight' shade of black which this definitely isn't. It still looks more gold and white to me though.

 

Gman

[+ Lance_Navarro]

I saw blue and black immediately, though the photo is definitely overexposed and the black isn't very dark. It still fascinates me that we don't all see this the same. It's something of a metaphor for life.

[+ Gar1eth]

I saw blue and black immediately, though the photo is definitely overexposed and the black isn't very dark. It still fascinates me that we don't all see this the same. It's something of a metaphor for life.

 

 

The more I look I can see why you say black. But that's not what I see first-especially the very top band. It looks the most golden to me.

 

As for blue-nope-it looks white to with a bluish tinge-or white with a shadow over it. But I'd never say straight blue.

 

Gman

[+ Gar1eth]

@Lance_Navarro -ok it's beginning to look a little bluer to me. But white still predominates. What color do you see the jacket flaps at the top of the dress as? I see those as white. In fact that's probably what makes me think of the rest of the dress as white too.

 

Gman

[BabyBoomer]

Do we agree the bolero jacket is blue?

 

~ Boomer ~

[+ Gar1eth]

Do we agree the bolero jacket is blue?

 

~ Boomer ~

It looks white, dingy white, but white to me. That's what I was talking about in my last post. It may be what makes me think the rest of the dress is white too.

 

Gman

[BabyBoomer]

It looks white, dingy white, but white to me.

 

Gman

 

I see no white at all.

 

~ Boomer ~

[+ Lance_Navarro]

@Lance_Navarro -ok it's beginning to look a little bluer to me. But white still predominates. What color do you see the jacket flaps at the top of the dress as? I see those as white. In fact that's probably what makes me think of the rest of the dress as white too.

 

Gman

 

The black part on top looks a little bit gold, due to the overexposure, but its still definitely black. The blue is clearly blue. I've read an explanation of this phenomenon and we see it differently due to differences in how our eyes have evolved. http://images.en.yibada.com/data/images/full/21730/the-controversial-blue-black-or-white-gold-dress.jpg?w=685

 

Does this picture help?

[+ quoththeraven]

The black part on top looks a little bit gold, due to the overexposure, but its still definitely black. The blue is clearly blue. I've read an explanation of this phenomenon and we see it differently due to differences in how our eyes have evolved. http://images.en.yibada.com/data/images/full/21730/the-controversial-blue-black-or-white-gold-dress.jpg?w=685

 

Does this picture help?

 

Actually, I thought the problem was also poor lighting.

 

There's a photo of an Adidas jacket going around that is probably blue and white but which looks black and brown to me. (Green and brown was another option.) As for the dress, in the original photo it looks white and gold to me. The white has light blue undertones, but I don't see any black in the trim.

 

I've seen the dress used as a metaphor for all sorts of things, mostly involving a skewed perspective preventing someone from noticing something everyone else sees.

[+ Gar1eth]

Actually, I thought the problem was also poor lighting.

 

There's a photo of an Adidas jacket going around that is probably blue and white but which looks black and brown to me. (Green and brown was another option.) As for the dress, in the original photo it looks white and gold to me. The white has light blue undertones, but I don't see any black in the trim.

 

I've seen the dress used as a metaphor for all sorts of things, mostly involving a skewed perspective preventing someone from noticing something everyone else sees.

 

I never used to understand how people saw the gold as black. But picture in your mind a very flat metallic charcoal /ash colored black with a light overhead shining on it causing a reflection to bounce off.

 

That being said-gold is still my first choice -along with a bluish white. The white reminds me of those white fluorescent lights-they are white. But if you look at them, they seem to have a slight bluish tinge.

 

I saw one article quote a scientific expert on color. He said the dress was definitely blue and black but in the picture it looked gold and white to him too.

 

Gman