The Dress Megathread

[Syt]

I've since moved firmly to the blue/black camp, and have trouble to see it white/gold for more than a split second before it "morphs" back in to its real colors.

[Martinus]

To be honest, for me it really is sepia and lavender grey.

Or, to put it differently, I am open to a debate about white vs. blue as the colour is somewhere in between and depending on lighting could be either - but there is no way in hell the other colour is black. It could be some darker brown shade (say, taupe) or it could be yellowish (ochre or copper, say), so gold is somewhere in the approximate range - but not black.

[The Brain]

I say yes to the dress.

[Syt]

Here's a better graphic illustrating the blue shadow vs. yellow light decision the brain has to make when processing the image (it uses the same shades for the dress left and right according to Photoshop).

[Martinus]

It still doesn't make the other colour "black".

[Martinus]

And in that picture it's blue-grey and brown-yellow in both cases.

[Syt]

It still doesn't make the other colour "black".

No, if you check the color palette of the original picture in something like Photoshop then it's indeed not black.

However, the brain auto-adjusts color perception for environmental factors, like lights and shadows. Only that this image appears to be in a fuzzy range where the brain has problems deciding whether the dress is under intense yellow light or under a blue shade and can go either way.

It's kind of how the brain sometimes has trouble interpreting 3d data that's presented in 2d (e.g. the spinning dancer that seems to spin clockwise and/or counterclockwise).

[Eddie Teach]

To be honest, for me it really is sepia and lavender grey.

Or, to put it differently, I am open to a debate about white vs. blue as the colour is somewhere in between and depending on lighting could be either - but there is no way in hell the other colour is black. It could be some darker brown shade (say, taupe) or it could be yellowish (ochre or copper, say), so gold is somewhere in the approximate range - but not black.

Do you spend a lot of time studying the cards at paint stores? 

[Monoriu]

I only see blue and black.

[Eddie Teach]

I only see blue and black.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0mb0_SUx-A

[Liep]

It's green.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2015/02/27/meet-the-business-owner-behind-the-blue-and-black-white-and-gold-dress/

[Kleves]

I can't see it as anything but white/gold. Even in those graphics, both dresses look white/gold.

[Martinus]

It's kind of how the brain sometimes has trouble interpreting 3d data that's presented in 2d (e.g. the spinning dancer that seems to spin clockwise and/or counterclockwise).

I actually never, no matter how hard I tried, could see that dancer spinning in both directions - I always see her spinning in the same direction.

[Barrister]

To be honest, for me it really is sepia and lavender grey.

Or, to put it differently, I am open to a debate about white vs. blue as the colour is somewhere in between and depending on lighting could be either - but there is no way in hell the other colour is black. It could be some darker brown shade (say, taupe) or it could be yellowish (ochre or copper, say), so gold is somewhere in the approximate range - but not black.

First time I saw the picture I said it was blue and brown.

[celedhring]

Yeah. I find it really fascinating that so everyone is naturally seeing it in such totally different ways and that, despite all the explanations I've read and real pictures I've seen I can't, no matter how much I try, see that dress as blue and black.

It's like an optical illusion that makes sense but that you still can't see.

Same here, I just can't see the black.  I sorta can see the case for blue, but that's never black in a million years to my eyes.