colour blind

[Nikkie]

If somebody is colour blind how would this affect their way of seeing a photo I know there is lots of different types of colour blindness but this got me thinking how would somebody that is colour blind see a photo. My partner is colour blind and is a pretty good guesser but at times he still has to ask what colour is that car for an example but I have also noticed if I do black and white photos he will tell me that it looks good but most if not all of my colour photos he say's it looks crap it seems the brighter colours seems to affect him the most like colours of a sunrise photo for example anyway maybe I am asking the wrong people maybe I should ask a doctor not sure maybe this is something that is taught in tafe maybe even its just touched on photographer course I mean but if you know or have a clue I would love to hear from you.

[falke]

I didn't even know that there are different types of colour blindness. I found this wiki that goes a bit into detail of the different types: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_blind and shows how colours appear to different types.
All the best.

[ricktas]

Colour blind people exist everywhere, our teachers, doctors, taxi driver, artists and photographers. They all live fulfilling lives and don't seem overly handicapped by being colour blind.

[Harves]

A friend of mine that introduced me to AP has a form of colour blindness, he can only see about three colours. Doesn't seem to cause him any problems determining the actual colours of objects.

[ricktas]

There is also the Island of the Colour Blind, as it is called, island of Pingelap in Micronesia where between 5% and 10% of people can only see in black and white.

[Nikkie]

I have a condition called Raynaud's syndrome that affects the the blood flow to the extremities my hands and feet especially fingers and toes change colour from ghostly white to almost black beetroot red my partner can see my toes when they are very white but when they are very black or deep purple they look normal to him If I do photos in black and white he more likely to say he like's it more then when he see's the same in photo in colour. He finds strong colours very bad on his eyes and say's it cause's him pain or if there are a lot of colours together as well. I thought this is interesting he seems to have very good eye site better then I do but see's things differently it does not affect him in his day to day life He knows where the green light traffic light is and where the red he has trained himself to know at times if he see's brown its red he say's he matches things up like he knows the grass is green so he can also match a green car but if the shade of the green car is dark he thinks its grey or the same colour as the road he thought his car was some sort of blue but its very dark green so it also can change as well.

[Analog6]

Remember - the colour blind have never seen life as we do. When you think about it, nobody really sees what another individual sees. I'm sure that, apart from actual colour blindness (it sounds like your other half has the commonest form, red/green), no one actually sees what you do. For instance, I've noticed my OH, Warwick, seems to see things a little more blue than I do - I'll think something is mauve but he says it looks blue to him.

When I taught photography to seniors I had a man who was colour blind (red/green) and he was a good photographer. He'd even taught himself to do contrast and hues very well, and said if he ever felt it was 'off' he asked his wife to have check it for him. The human body/mind can cope with to pretty much anything.

[Nikkie]

Remember - the colour blind have never seen life as we do. When you think about it, nobody really sees what another individual sees. I'm sure that, apart from actual colour blindness (it sounds like your other half has the commonest form, red/green), no one actually sees what you do. For instance, I've noticed my OH, Warwick, seems to see things a little more blue than I do - I'll think something is mauve but he says it looks blue to him.

When I taught photography to seniors I had a man who was colour blind (red/green) and he was a good photographer. He'd even taught himself to do contrast and hues very well, and said if he ever felt it was 'off' he asked his wife to have check it for him. The human body/mind can cope with to pretty much anything. This makes a lot of sense to me. I have short and far sight I need 2 pairs of glasses on for close up and one pair for distance I don't seem to see blur the same way as others see it I will post a photo that might look a little blurry to me but it does not seem to be as much as others see it. I posted a photo of Ivan (my partner) that was a Candid shot and the CC come back its all blurry and my partner and others said the same thing. To me it was a tad blurry but I can see queit clear the wrinkles in his face his side burns look grey as they are and you can see that it looks like hair the wood to me had good colour to it and you can see the grain in the wood he was chopping the Axe was also clear you could see the handle was red and there is a chips in the paint of the Axe handle his jacket he was wearing is blurry but I always have trouble with this type of materiel for some reason :confused013 to me the background is blurry but that is not a bad thing I just wondering if its more to do with my eyes and the way I see it. compared to others don't get me wrong I am not saying that they are all wrong and I am right as they can't all be wrong with one person right if you get what I mean. anyway just one little example of the way I seem to see things different to most

[falke]

I wonder if by looking at somebodies pictures one could tell if they are colour blind. I have one particular member in mind but I am too embarrassed to say anything to him or to others in case the pictures are meant to be like that.

[farmer_rob]

I'm slightly colourblind - I have difficulty determining some shades of green and other colours, but don't have classic red/green colourblindness. I don't think it affects my photography (at least nobody has said anything!) but I have to be careful in post processing. I also am atrocious when trying to choose colours, say for paint or web pages - what I think is OK can often be garish to others.

[Nikkie]

I wonder if by looking at somebodies pictures one could tell if they are colour blind. I have one particular member in mind but I am too embarrassed to say anything to him or to others in case the pictures are meant to be like that. good point you have there they say its more common then one would think a lot of people say it does not affect there day to day life but when it come to photography I am not sure if the person is colour blind and they know it they should be able to get around things alright with my partner if he is not sure he will ask other times its a lucky guess or he will say something like it was that colour what ever that colour is but he seems to work out from shades like green same as grass red like the traffic light the basic colours he is not to bad with but its the off shades like a deep red or a grey blue colour or different colours mixed together is hard for him to look at.


I'm slightly colourblind - I have difficulty determining some shades of green and other colours, but don't have classic red/green colourblindness. I don't think it affects my photography (at least nobody has said anything!) but I have to be careful in post processing. I also am atrocious when trying to choose colours, say for paint or web pages - what I think is OK can often be garish to others. they say we all see out of different eyes we all see differnt I will do some manipulation rather then delete photos I get it to a certain point and there it is to me at least others may not like it or more often then not most wont like it i just put it down and say well it must be good art if nobody likes it as some of the best art has come from what most would thing was crap. I am not colour blind ive been tested for it a few times I pass with flying colours :lol: but I do wonder if my partner see's my photos and say's they are crap and then I do them in black and white and every time he say's yes much better he does not seem to know what type of colour bind he is he just excepts it and does his thing maybe the eye doctor told him all those years ago but he was just too young to remember so I would like to know but he say's no need for him to know

[ricktas]

they say we all see out of different eyes we all see differnt

Not quite true. Human being are 99.99% genetically the same. Our eyes are constructed from the same base genetic material, unless there is a fault in a particular person's vision, we, scientifically, should see the exact same thing. What I see as blue should be the same as what everyone else sees as the same blue. If this were not true, there would be zero reason to calibrate monitors, among other things. The fact we can all see in the same basic way, also is the very reason we can test for colour blind individuals, or people with other eye-sight issues. If every person saw differently, it would be very hard to develop tests for eye issues, cause we would have no idea what base we should be measuring from.

Be assured that when most people look at a blue sky, we see the same blue colours, only those with sight issues see them differently.

[Nikkie]

Thanks Rick yes I fully understand that what I meant was for an example if I see a photo of say a landscape you see the same photo I might find it appealing you might find it not so appealing we all see different in that respect its was not meant that our eyes see differently but our eyes see the same as you said yes of cause they do unless there is something wrong with the site of the other person. Its really just a saying that for many years starting from my mother and my brother meaning that we don't all like the same thing I was really referring to what farmer rob had said
say for paint or web pages - what I think is OK can often be garish to others. that is not due to his colour blindness I don't think its just we do all have different taste in things we see or even hear. :)

[Boomshanka]

I've got red/green colour blindness, so have trouble with mainly green in dull light conditions, or certain shades of green/red. Also makes it harder to distinguish intermixed items of green and red. I don't think it affects the photography side of things that much to me as it's more about optics - light and focus, but doing colour adjustments afterwards is pretty tricky for me, especially with hues. I think I tend to oversaturate. Maybe that's why I'm more drawn to the landscape photography side of things because most scapes tend to be only a couple of colours, and don't often include both red and green together in the mix. They say that colourblind people tend to have better night vision and were used to look reconnaissance photos during the world wars because they could see camouflaged shapes and patterns better. So it's not all bad news!

[Nikkie]

thanks for sharing yes its quiet intrusting but like my partner say's to him the colours he see them the way he see's them is normal to him because he does not know any different I guess it would be for somebody that is blind esp if they were blind at birth seeing to them would prob seem strange as not seeing is how they live there life and makes no diff to them as its quiet normal for them not to see the same for your been colour blind your world and the way you see would make no diff to you because that is the way you see things I mean does it really matter or that much if the car is red blue green If you see it as green for an example and you like it green it would not really matter to you that somebody tells you that its blue this is just an example of the top of my

[farmer_rob]

... I was really referring to what farmer rob had said that is not due to his colour blindness I don't think its just we do all have different taste in things we see or even hear. :)

I'm not sure even I like the colours combos I put together! It is more that I can see the contrasts more easily.

[Nikkie]

I'm not sure even I like the colours combos I put together! It is more that I can see the contrasts more easily. May I ask you something if you don't mind I have only been with my partner for 2 and half years and I am trying very hard to try and understand a lot of things about his colour blindness but he gets very inpatient and will brush of a lot of things and say I am busy now ask me later later never comes if you know what I mean. there are times when he gets colours right for an example he will be talking about a car and he will say straight out it was yellow other times he will look around see if he can match the colour up with something around that is yellow other times he will say what colour is that I will say yellow red blue green I have since learnt not to go to into depth and say the real colour say burgundy he does not know what that is so I just say red but he will think its brown I am not sure what type of colour blind he is but to me it seem most colours he thought the road was blue as I guess some where in his life that what ever tar is made from I forget was blue so he thought the road was blue do you just guess your way though with colours but other times you know but other times you are not sure

[eloki]

In high school, I had maths teacher who (allegedly) could only see in black and white. He always wore a light blue shirt & black pants, and all his pens had stickers marked "blue", "red" & "black".

[Nikkie]

I think in his case only seeing and black and white would have been hard for him at times but he still would have found his way around things thank for sharing

[geoffsta]

Not quite true. Human being are 99.99% genetically the same. Our eyes are constructed from the same base genetic material, unless there is a fault in a particular person's vision, we, scientifically, should see the exact same thing. What I see as blue should be the same as what everyone else sees as the same blue. If this were not true, there would be zero reason to calibrate monitors, among other things. The fact we can all see in the same basic way, also is the very reason we can test for colour blind individuals, or people with other eye-sight issues. If every person saw differently, it would be very hard to develop tests for eye issues, cause we would have no idea what base we should be measuring from.
Be assured that when most people look at a blue sky, we see the same blue colours, only those with sight issues see them differently.

I'm not that sure it is that black & white (Pardon the pun) There are two arguments to that theory.
We are all made up of the same matter, as your discription of the eyes. But we all look totally different. (Thank God) Our eyes are not all the same shape, colour or dimensions. Therefore the information that the eyes see could be slightly different. And there is also how the brain interprets what the eyes see. You only have to look at the bible/koran to see how many different interpretations come out of those two books. Sometimes leading to war.

As Anolog6 explained with his senior friend. He was colour blind, but his brain could interpret the different shades extremely well. Yet Nikkies husband has trouble. They are no less intellegent than each other, yet they each see things a different way. I work with a bloke who is colour blind who has two brothers, both professional photographers. One of which has the same infliction. Yet the bloke I work with has no intension of picking up a camera himself.

[farmer_rob]

May I ask you something if you don't mind... do you just guess your way though with colours but other times you know but other times you are not sure

my colourblindness mainly affects my ability to perceive shades of green. I look at a forest and see green. I can distinguish that some are lighter and some are darker, but they are really just green to me. My wife sees lots of variation, with different greens. I have similar issues with some reds/pinks, but have no problems distinguishing red from green. So, I don't have to guess my way through colours, but often miss some of the subtleties.

[Maggiebee]

If somebody is colour blind how would this affect their way of seeing a photo I know there is lots of different types of colour blindness but this got me thinking how would somebody that is colour blind see a photo. My partner is colour blind and is a pretty good guesser but at times he still has to ask what colour is that car for an example but I have also noticed if I do black and white photos he will tell me that it looks good but most if not all of my colour photos he say's it looks crap it seems the brighter colours seems to affect him the most like colours of a sunrise photo for example anyway maybe I am asking the wrong people maybe I should ask a doctor not sure maybe this is something that is taught in tafe maybe even its just touched on photographer course I mean but if you know or have a clue I would love to hear from you.
My Husband is Colour blind and sees only colours that are completely different from others around. It would appear that if colours are similar in tones then he is quite unable to see the difference. Road maps and train Journey layouts have no lines to his perception or if he sees them they are all the one colour. He does take beautiful Black and White Photos though and appreciates monochrome more than coloured images.

Maggiebee

[rnicetin]

I guess it can also just depend on the person - some people (guys mostly???) aren't that fussed on knowing all the different colours out there, so they'll go with blue instead of aqua, red instead of maroon etc.
My husband is also colour-blind (slightly), and also fairly critical of my work. But then, I just thought that was because he was too picky :lol:
At the end of the day, even negative comments make us think and re-evaluate the photos we are producing, which in the end makes us better photographers.

[fess67]

Was diagnosed colour blind when I joined the army. Not severe but unable to distinguish subtle changes and unable to distinguish red from green (minor.....yes I know if the traffic light is on green!). To give an example, let's play pool..:D dammit, low light and a 6 foot table....no, I cannot tell the red from the brown ball, untill I walk up close and ID them.

Same with photograpy. I cannot see subtle differences but I process what I took and I took what I saw. Colour is just another variable that is often overcome. :D

[Nikkie]

My Husband is Colour blind and sees only colours that are completely different from others around. It would appear that if colours are similar in tones then he is quite unable to see the difference. Road maps and train Journey layouts have no lines to his perception or if he sees them they are all the one colour. He does take beautiful Black and White Photos though and appreciates monochrome more than coloured images.

Maggiebee your hubby sounds a lot like my partner I raised this topic up with him again yesterday but he just wont get into it with me maybe because he does not remember or the information he was given was not important to him we have been together for about 2 and half years now and as an older couple we both have lived different life's and life style until now we share our life's any way in the convo we were having he was pointing to things saying this is blue this is red :eek: he was spot on each time and then laughed and said I only know that because you told me. He also seems to enjoy seeing my photos in B&W rather then colour Ill show him the colour photos and most of the right off he will say oh that is terrible I then do some pp on it and change it to B&W do nothing more nothing less and show him he may not say stuff like wow he does not say things like that he is the type of person that say 's not bad but he will always say that is much better

[kaiser]

Found this article and thought it may be an interesting contribution to this discussion...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14421303

[MiniFighter]

Sorry to bump an old thread, but i too am colour blind. Given that ive re discovered photography i am a little concerened that what i see as good, others may view as poor.
I too was once in the Army, after failing the colour test (them stupid dots, do they even make a pattern?? lol) i was advised that my chosen feild was no longer an option :( I am hoping that photography wont be the same story..


Wayne.

[Allie]

My partner is also mildly colour blind but seems able to see most colours as the colour I see but who knows of it is the same shade. I also found this link which shows some colour photos in the way some colour blind people may see them.

* removed. Members with less than 30 days membership and 50 posts are only allowed to link to their own personal photographic website. Please read the site rules*

[Allie]

Sorry Rick, I did not equate the rules to the site I posted, my mistake. :oops: