How good is your color vision?

laser

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Color photography is an attempt to simulate what we remember or more accurately what we would like to see in reproductions of a scene. We try to describe what we see and compare to the observations of others. However, we don't really know how our perceptions compare to the norm or other individuals. This test allows the test-subject to see how he/she compares to an "average" observer. This will give you an idea if your perception approximates the average observer. Granted the computer display will not be as accurate as a printed test but is readily available and easy to complete.

I remember someone having dramatic arguments with his mother about what clothes should be worn together. It wasn't until he visited the Air Force Recruiting Office that he discovered he was severely color-blind.



http://quizdoo.com/how-color-blind-are-you/quiz11


Bob Shanebrook , author of Making KODAK Film
 

RPC

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Got 10 out of 10, easy enough for me. It'd better be. I work as a color corrector in a large photo lab.
 

winger

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jcc said:
How good is your color calibration? http://www.xrite.com/online-color-test-challenge
Click to expand...

This one exists as little plastic tubs as well. They're a little easier to see as a row, but each has a black border, too. I sorta suspect that the type of computer screen and the range it can render may skew the results a bit on the web version. I still did ok, but not perfect (I got just one wrong in the real life one and 7 in the web one) - the green/blue section is where I wasn't great.

Some forensic labs test new hires with this one, btw.
 

Sirius Glass

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10 out of 10.
 

miha

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10 out of 10,
but the "woman, bird hat"
was tricky.
 

grahamp

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These tests usually fail badly for me - the answers often don't match anything. But I'm colour blind to some purples (I think they are dark blue without a comparison) and my discrimination of reds is limited. But I am not red/green colour blind. If I was, darkrooms would be rough It was difficult learning to make rock thin sections where colours under polarized light are a diagnostic!
 

F4user

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Perfect. I am ranked on 4% population with best color vision. Tested & certified.
 

DREW WILEY

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The web is a worthless system for comparing color. A blind naked underground mole-rat could figure that fact out. I had someone come over
one day many years ago looking for prints. Earlier in the day I had badly botched the color balance of a Cibachrome and threw the work print
in a wastebasket. After this guy looks thru a bunch of my prints he asked to see my darkroom, walks in there, and spots the print in the trash. "I'll take that one", and he writes me out a check, and I mount and frame the weird thing for him the next day. Turns out he was partially colorblind; but as long as it looks good to him, why not? But good color vision is a matter of training yourself how to see, and not strictly about physiology. My own color vision is far better than the average person because I did very exact commercial matching of pigments for a number of years, plus archtitectural color consultation, plus decades of darkroom color printing. It keeps improving in that
respect.
 

winger

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10 of 10 on the first link.

My husband thinks that the newer hood for his '71 GTX is the same paint as the original. I can tell it's not exactly the same. He won't believe me. But I spent 14 years comparing paint and fibers where color mattered. The birefringence colors of fibers under polarized light were important in determining the fiber type.
 

cliveh

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This is a very good question, as many men are have some form of colour blindness. If they shoot only in black & white this can be an advantage.
 

pentaxuser

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cliveh said:
This is a very good question, as many men are have some form of colour blindness. If they shoot only in black & white this can be an advantage.
Click to expand...

Interesting point. Can you explain why colour blindness is an advantage for B&W shooters? Thanks

pentaxuser
 

Old-N-Feeble

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10:10

When I was younger I had far more difficult tests. I don't know that I could pass those earlier tests now though.
 

cliveh

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pentaxuser said:
Interesting point. Can you explain why colour blindness is an advantage for B&W shooters? Thanks

pentaxuser
Click to expand...

Because it may help you see more in black & white, thus contrast ratios within the composition. I would bet that HCB was colour blind.
 

DREW WILEY

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How the heck could lack of color vision be a plus in black and white photography? You often need to see how things look through various color
filters. When you go to print anything, controlling the nuance of tone requires excellent color vision. There is no such thing as pure black or pure white in any of this, any more than there is in the pigment industry. Order a can of pure black paint or pigment at any paint store, and I
can prove that it's anything but. Dilute it down a bit and there will inevitably be either greenish or purplish tones, though the effect of these
might not be truly apparent until you mix them with an unrelated pigment and you start playing a metamerism game.
 

jp80874

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cliveh said:
Because it may help you see more in black & white, thus contrast ratios within the composition. I would bet that HCB was colour blind.
Click to expand...

I think this "it may help you see more in black & white, thus contrast ratios within the composition." may be true.

I've done this testing with a twenty image version from my eye doctor. 80% color blind. All I shoot is HP5 B&W.

My wife is a watercolorist. She says value studies are very hard for her. I have looked and they seem quite easy for me, so perhaps some benefit to color blindness.

Supposedly it helps in spotting camouflage. The US Army used colorblind people to spot camouflage in WWII. We were taught that in 1966 when I went through combat engineer training at Ft. Leonard Wood, MO. I couldn’t spot the people hiding in camo any better then the rest of the trainees though, so I am not so sure on this side of it.

John Powers
 
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