When Caitlin McNeill from Colonsay, a small Scottish island, shared a simple photo of a dress on Tumblr, the post quickly became viral. Since it was posted on the Internet, debates began with regard the actual color of the now-trending dress, as indicated on Buzz Feed.
Some of the comments linked to the controversial picture are as follows:
“I see it as white and gold. My friend right here sees it as blue and black. I can’t handle this!”
“If that’s not gold, my entire life has been a lie.”
“I just saw it as gold and white, which was weird because, earlier, it was blue and black. So, I thought maybe you were f***ing with me. But, I went to re-blog and now it’s blue and black again?! I am going to cry.”
“Spread this until it reaches NASA. We must find answers.”
Apparently, some saw the dress as white and gold while others saw it as black and blue. Those who saw one particular color combination were also shocked when they viewed the photo a second time because the color combination changed right before their eyes.
Thankfully, Gizmodo has an easy explanation. Several vision scientists, who wished to keep their anonymity due to threats of reprisals from the gold and white camp, confirm that the colors on the dress are actually blue and black. This mix-up has something to do with two different types of cells that sense light in the eyes.
The retina is made up of rods and cones. Rods are responsible for seeing shapes, even though they are more sensitive to light. Cones, meanwhile, are more sensitive to color and less sensitive to light.
Whether the dress appears to be blue and black or white and gold would actually depend on whether the eyes have more rods or cones. Plus, of course, the lighting of the ambiance when the picture was taken wil come into play.
Those with photography experience are pretty much knowledgeable about white balance. This is when the camera is working to correct the chromatic bias of the ambient lighting. For humans, however, the brain automatically does the white balance. This could only mean that the eyes are either ignoring the blue, coming up with the white and gold image, or ignoring the yellow hue, which gives the blue and black image.
To date, many people have still not gotten over this mess. Even the woman who posted the image on social media admits that her friends remain in disagreement.
“When my friend showed the dress to her fiancée, they disagreed on the color,” she said, according to Business Insider. “All of our friends disagreed.”
