Impossible Colors

[quintessentone]

Welcome to the mindfuck of relative distinctions and qualia. 

The trippiest thing about that outwardly solipsistic idea, it that, even with the same RGB cones in our trichromatic eyes, we can perceive the same blue completely differently. One towards purple, one towards green, and still agree that my blue that looks like purple and your blue that looks like green is still blue.

Subjective experience doesn't prevent all non-colorblind people from telling sky blue from indigo.

Trippy for sure and our eye/sight biology is fascinating, but I don't need any more mindfucks with color, I get enough just trying to mix paint colors together to get the color I envision in my mind. lol

[ArMaP]

Most people see colors differently, but we are told the name of that color, so we say the name when we see that color...receptors vary from one person to another..but we adopt the name of it as it's color we communicate with...except for some people with color blindness who cannot tell the difference.

Don't forget another (not so) small problem, we are looking at a screen, and different devices show colours in different ways, unless they are all adjusted professionally in the same way.

Several years ago, a designer that was working for the same company I was (and am) working as software developer, made the design for a client's web site, and when he showed it to me I asked him why he had chosen purple for some things, and he said he had chosen blue. I showed it on my screen and it sure was purple, and the RGB value confirmed it. When seen on his screen (a large screen that was bought on purpose (but not adjusted ) it really looked blue.

[BeyondKnowledge]

Great thread, IdeomotorPrisoner.

I could see the stygian blue just fine.

The red looked pink to me, same with the orange...

But how do you know you saw those colors? You saw a simulation based on the camera used and the screen you viewed it on. Not to mention the compression software that did its part in the simulation. 

What you see on your screen may be entirely different from what is actually observed. 

Colors are subject to interpretation by the observer and even that changes with lighting changes. 

I inspected carpet many years ago and learned then that names of and interpretations of colors are very fluid varying greatly form customer to customer. Even gray can be darker than some blacks. It is all in what they want to call it, not what it looks like.

[andy06shake]

But how do you know you saw those colors? You saw a simulation based on the camera used and the screen you viewed it on. Not to mention the compression software that did its part in the simulation. 

What you see on your screen may be entirely different from what is actually observed. 

Colors are subject to interpretation by the observer and even that changes with lighting changes. 

I inspected carpet many years ago and learned then that names of and interpretations of colors are very fluid varying greatly form customer to customer. Even gray can be darker than some blacks. It is all in what they want to call it, not what it looks like.

Yeah, we all saw what our brains interpreted. 

Colour isn't absolute and indeed subject to perception. 

Cameras, screens, compression, lighting, and human perception all shift it.

But that doesn't make colour meaningless, more relational.

So it's hardly purely objective or arbitrary.

It's more like a stable agreement shaped by biology and physics. 

[ArMaP]

Colour isn't absolute and indeed subject to perception. 

Colour is absolute if you use wavelengths, our perception of it is far from absolute or uniform.

[andy06shake]

Colour is absolute if you use wavelengths, our perception of it is far from absolute or uniform.

Well, yeah, as far as im aware a specific wavelength, will always correspond to the same physical light.

But it depends on how our brains/eyes interpret it...

So for most everyday purposes, it's a safe bet to treat colour as absolute.

Else the likes of traffic lights become rather ""complicated.""

[vonclod]

Don't forget another (not so) small problem, we are looking at a screen, and different devices show colours in different ways, unless they are all adjusted professionally in the same way.

Several years ago, a designer that was working for the same company I was (and am) working as software developer, made the design for a client's web site, and when he showed it to me I asked him why he had chosen purple for some things, and he said he had chosen blue. I showed it on my screen and it sure was purple, and the RGB value confirmed it. When seen on his screen (a large screen that was bought on purpose (but not adjusted ) it really looked blue.

Yes, this is true, part of my job is calibrating light and colour in movie projectors. This is in the digital realm, and different light sources can display colours differently..ie, zenon lamps vs laser, hollywood colourists are not super crazy about the way lasers present some colours.