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Chromatic Adaptation

Chromatic adaptation allows us to interpret color within the context of their surroundings. Altering these surroundings, however, can sometimes be an "eye-opener". 

Instructions: Below is a outdoor picture that has been covered with a cyan filter. Looking at the person who is not raising her hands, what color would you say her brightly colored top is?

Image 1

Cyan filter over entire image

Did you say yellow? Well, if you did, you are correct! Here is the original image shown here without a filter.

Image 2

Original Image

Are you ready for the illusion? Let us construct Image 3 by taking the woman's top from Image 1 and overlaying it onto Image 2. We can see that the color is actually green! The reason it appeared yellow in Image 1 is because your eyes adjusted to the picture's contextual information.

Image 3

Cyan filter used on object only

You don't believe us, do you? Well, here's the proof. We have taken the top portion of Image 1 and the bottom portion of Image 3 and combined them. Tough to believe but absolutely true! The color is actually green but our eyes chromatically adapt to the visual conditions and tell us that the color is yellow.

Comparison Image

Back to Optical Illusions

Other Illusions:
Blind Spots
Blink Effect
Bordering
Chromatic Adaptation
Chromatic Adaptation
Color Blindness
Crispening
Dither Dots
Dithering
Fill Patterns
Opponent After-images
Optical Art
Shape Contrast
Simultaneous Contrast
Simultaneous Contrast
Value Contrast

Other fun stuff:
Free 3D Screensavers
Color Playground
Dimensions of Color
3D Color Puzzle

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