Photo permissions can be a pain. I’ll find a terrific photo for one of my books, and the owner wants too much money or it’s not available and so on. So this afternoon, my intrepid photo researcher was frustrated about hitting another dead end in our efforts to find a great simulation for colorblindness. Fortunately for us, colorblindness is a huge technical issue for the Internet. How would your page look to someone who was colorblind? Colorblindness is not that uncommon–the most common genetic types affect about 2% of males.
So, I came across this nifty site called Vischeck. You can upload your own images or download the simulation software. You can simulate different types of colorblindness, or other software allows you to correct an image for those who are colorblind. I had to try it. Here is the image I use on my blog header, in both the real form and in the form as it would be seen by a deuteranope, or someone who is missing the M photopigment (also known as the “green” photopigment, but don’t let a vision researcher hear you call it that):
Hmmm, I seem to have a lovely shade of green going today. I hope Mr. F doesn’t start checking out his marvelous food pictures at this site. I have a feeling they might look rather nasty!
8 Comments
A_Cornelius04 · November 10, 2008 at 1:59 pm
I know you said that there was also software that would allow you to correct an image for people with colorblindness. If we have figured out how to correct pictures, does that mean we may some day be able to make lenses for glasses that would also correct this?
C_Ritter · November 10, 2008 at 10:04 pm
I went to the Vischeck website and they had a link to “TinyEyes” which shows you what babies can see at various stages of development. They showed a picture of Mickey Mouse toy – you could just make out the blurry outline of Mickey at 8 weeks and at 3 months you could tell it was Mickey. It’s a really cool website and you can also upload pictures and they alter them to simulate what your baby can see.
jlynn1105 · November 17, 2008 at 9:42 pm
This reminds me of the boy who lives next door. He is colorblind and absolutely adores this terrible shade of orange. His shirts, bath towels, and bedspread all share this lovely (not) color. Not to mention it is hardly flattering with his skin tone and we must convince him to wear “normal” colored shirts.
mama5512 · November 17, 2008 at 10:42 pm
After reviewing your picture and the website, I think that technology has come far to be able to literally “see things through someone elses eyes.” For some reason I thought the percentages for males who are colorblind were a lot higher than 2%. At what age is colorblindness tested in children? Is it when kids start knowing their colors? How is the specific type of colorblindess tested? I wonder how hard (or easy?) it is to be colorblind in such a colorful world?
This blog raised alot of questions for me!!! I guess I have learned about it in classes in my younger days, but not in depth.
estoddard · December 4, 2008 at 3:27 pm
It’s interesting how they’re able to know that this simulation is what a colorblind person is actually seeing. I’ve always wondered what colorblindness looks like through their eyes and I liked how on this website, you can do several different simulations to see through the eyes of people who have different kinds of colorblindness.
I once had a friend compliment me on my white shirt, which confused me because I definitely was wearing a light pink shirt. We quickly figured out that he was colorblind but the poor guy was still embarrassed by his comment.
CFrieband · February 1, 2009 at 9:06 pm
I have had a couple of friends who said that they were color blind and I always wanted to know exactly what they were seeing. One friend of mine had trouble seeing the color red and said that if he tilted the object in a different way he could begin to see the color a bit better. I’m not sure how accurate he was, but it seemed pretty interesting that perspective can possibly change the appearance of the image.
shakiamitchell · March 12, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Wow I’ve always wondered what certain images looked like to colorblind people. I haven’t run across a individual that I know i colorblind so this is really interesting. This site is great its amazing how the can simulate these individuals images.
Roger’s View of the World, Love and Seafood Gumbo! » Can a colorblind person read your webpage? · November 9, 2008 at 10:45 pm
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