Is there color without light?

[MachServTech]

But we also cannot see color without working eyes and a brain.

I know of several customers that "see color" without working eyes or brain.

Their mouth seems to work fine though!

 

[Joe Diaz]

Here, try this out: Stare at a red dot on a white piece of paper for 30 seconds or more. Then quickly look at a blank area of that piece of paper. What do you see? You should see a cyan dot right? Now... is light creating that specific color? No. Yet that color still exists as an afterimage that your brain is processing.

Have you ever had a dream in color? Or (for some of you) have you ever hallucinated certain images? These colors are created by the brain, not light. Color is all in your head.

A colorblind person perceives color in a different way than someone who isn't colorblind. Due to a mutation or trauma their ability to see colors is altered or different. For someone born with colorblindness they may never know that they are. What you see as red, they have always called red, but could be a completely different color. People who later in life become colorblind can tell you that red they see is no longer the same color they once saw, yet the wavelengths of light haven't changed for that person. So again, Color is how the brain interprets the light the the eye senses.

 

[Rooster]

If you paint your bedroom blue, what color are the walls when you turn out the lights? They're still blue walls; the light-reflecting properties do not change. The light can change. But the walls are the constant.

Jimbo

If I paint my bedroom blue and only illuminate it with blue light what color is my room?

 

[bob]

If I paint my bedroom blue and only illuminate it with blue light what color is my room?

Blue. If you illuminated it with red light it'll be black.

 

[Gino]

Actually, there is no real scientific answer to this. You all are making this into a philosophical question, which will only allow bob to win in the end…….. :ROFLMAO:

Color is only necessary by humans to interpret a ‘COLOR’. Other than that… it is just a wavelength absorption property of materials. Our brains categorize them into colors. If light didn’t exist, then color would be a moot point.

Wanna get a little deeper ?? There are distinct ways of which light that causes us to see color are obtained. It’s not just reflection as most of you are talking, but there is an also refracted and transmitted wavelength. Oil slicks or insect wings are refractions of light through very small features making a rainbow effect appear. Stained glass is transmitted while butterfly wings are diffracted.

I’m color blind to an extent, but I’ve learned to substitute colors and make adjustments on the fly. If I’m mixing color to make a match… it will come out perfect… I just don’t see the same color NAME you see. My reds may be somewhat off or my greens may look different to me than to you, but we are always talking about the same wavelength…. that’s for sure.

Here’s one I did many years ago……
I went down in a submarine and looked out at about 118’ below sea level. Everything was basically grayish blue green. No highlights, no real color and no shadows. However, I could see most everything within a few hundred yards or so. I saw all kinds of fish, turtles, and sea creatures like you couldn’t imagine. The guy announced for us all to look out at a certain point…. just as some divers turned some underwater lights on. It was breathtaking. Everything came to color and had brilliant colors and colors I’ve never seen on land anywhere without any computer enhancements.

Dreams….. heck, just close your eyes and picture a tree in your minds eye and tell me if you see color ?? You can see the tree or a car parked under it and you can imagine the colors and tell yourself what color they are, but you cannot see any color. Your minds eye is interpreting the color for you. How on earth can you see anything in color with your eyes closed ??

 

[MachServTech]

I’m color blind to an extent, but I’ve learned to substitute colors and make adjustments on the fly. If I’m mixing color to make a match… it will come out perfect…

didnt know this about you....but just out of curiosity and for the benefit of other folks in our industry with clinical colorblindness, how do you analyze color comparison? Do you use a densitometer, spectrophotometer or just straight up optical comparison?

I only trust my color vision to about 1.5 delta E. anything more than that I just go purely by the numbers.

 

[Steve C.]

READ:
http://www.devx.com/projectcool/Article/19954

 

[genericname]

Thanks, Gino, for hopefully ending this Shroedinger's cat argument.

After reading these posts, I need to block my ears, re-read my Johan Itten color theory bible, and rock myself to sleep in the corner.

 

[sjm]

Here, try this out: Stare at a red dot on a white piece of paper for 30 seconds or more. Then quickly look at a blank area of that piece of paper. What do you see? You should see a cyan dot right? Now... is light creating that specific color? No. Yet that color still exists as an afterimage that your brain is processing.

Have you ever had a dream in color? Or (for some of you) have you ever hallucinated certain images? These colors are created by the brain, not light. Color is all in your head.

A colorblind person perceives color in a different way than someone who isn't colorblind. Due to a mutation or trauma their ability to see colors is altered or different. For someone born with colorblindness they may never know that they are. What you see as red, they have always called red, but could be a completely different color. People who later in life become colorblind can tell you that red they see is no longer the same color they once saw, yet the wavelengths of light haven't changed for that person. So again, Color is how the brain interprets the light the the eye senses.

I go back to my expression

C R
M G
Y B

Cyan absorbs Red light, letting G and B to go through. Hence Cyan. R absorbs C letting M and Y to go through. Hence R.

Think of it another way on a monitor color goes from black to white while in print color goes from white to black.

ie. C=100 M=100 Y=100 theoretically equals black. On a monitor R=255 G=255 B=255 equals white.

There is no accident in that. The CIE commission already established all that what you said in the early 1900's.

 

[sjm]

Here, try this out: Stare at a red dot on a white piece of paper for 30 seconds or more. Then quickly look at a blank area of that piece of paper. What do you see? You should see a cyan dot right? Now... is light creating that specific color? No. Yet that color still exists as an afterimage that your brain is processing.

Have you ever had a dream in color? Or (for some of you) have you ever hallucinated certain images? These colors are created by the brain, not light. Color is all in your head.

A colorblind person perceives color in a different way than someone who isn't colorblind. Due to a mutation or trauma their ability to see colors is altered or different. For someone born with colorblindness they may never know that they are. What you see as red, they have always called red, but could be a completely different color. People who later in life become colorblind can tell you that red they see is no longer the same color they once saw, yet the wavelengths of light haven't changed for that person. So again, Color is how the brain interprets the light the the eye senses.

I go back to my expression

C R
M G
Y B

Cyan absorbs Red light, letting G and B to go through. Hence Cyan. R absorbs C letting M and Y to go through. Hence R.

Think of it another way on a monitor color goes from black to white while in print color goes from white to black.

ie. C=100 M=100 Y=100 theoretically equals black. On a monitor R=255 G=255 B=255 equals white.

There is no accident in that. The CIE commission already established all that what you said in the early 1900's.