by Josh 2/27/2015, 1:43 pm
Okay. Lets go through this. Belle already has the sciencey link sorted, so Im not gonna reference anything else. To sum up;
People perceive colour differently.
Due to the closeness of the image, and the lighting of the picture, our brain is deciding what colour the lighting it.
Other things can influence this choice, such as the screen you're viewing it on, your surroundings, etc.
You can actually see it both ways, for example, I saw it white and gold this morning, now I see blue black.
Different people's brains translate it different.
Wavelengths of light enter eye, we see the reflected colour to the wavelength, but the brain filters out certain wavelengths, so peoples brains are filtering out different wavelengths of the light around the dress.
In a very shortened easier answer? If anyone wants to improve on this, feel free.
Dress picture;
https://i.imgur.com/9VWYggm.jpg
The real dress;
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/02/27/2622E77200000578-2971409-True_colors_The_dress_made_by_the_company_Roman_Originals_is_in_-a-38_1425041779842.jpg
Answer, its actually blue/black.
To explain the story -
Bride's mother sent a picture of the dress to her. She saw blue black, her fiance saw white gold
Sent it to friends
They argued about colours
Picture posted online
Exploded online
At the actual wedding, friends saw the brides mother wearing the dress which was in fact blue/black.