Colour - The Science behind the Sense

 

 

This lecture was given by Ben Craven, it was probably my favourite so far, the subject matter and interactive aspects were insightful and memorable. We started off with the basics of lighting and colours.

 

How light can affect what we really see and the intricacies of how our brain transforms this is a fascinating subject. It was hard not be mystified by  how we were not seeing things as the colour they should be and the way common practices are dealt with by our eyes without us even realising. Dealing with shadow and seeing true colours of objects is a much more natural response than I anticipated.

 

I discovered that the process of seeing colour was rather simple yet well refined, how we see the different wavelengths and the cones in our eyes allow us to identify what we see as a full spectrum of colours. Yet to a pigeon, we are effectively colour-blind. I've never found myself wishing to be a pigeon until today... Imagine what a rainbow would look like!

 

 I have always wondered if the colours each person sees are truly the same, is your red the same as mine? Today I finally got an answer - NO! There is no objective reality to colour.

 

2 lights were set up, one with orange light and one made from a mixture of red and green light. To most of us these appear the same. Yet a red object placed beneath the mixed light appeared vibrantly red whereas it was a dark grey in the other.

 

Orange light was chosen for a reason. Our sensitivity to blue light means we all disagree when the lights are of the same colour. Then again our eyes do not wholly agree with themselves, the colours we perceive at the periphery and centre of our eye is not the same...

 

It was hard to believe that, with a black projection, taking away the light actually make the screen appear brighter... yet we all witnessed it and could not refute it.

 

Colours and how they affects us is a more sophisticated subject than it first appears. The power of red in attracting potential mates, even in modern humans, and the way it affects the risks we take is something I have looked into before. Adam Alter's book 'Drunk Tank Pink' follows similar experiments and is an enjoyable read - I would recommend! (Especially if you prefer small anecdotes to a hard-core fact filled scientific journal)

 

 Overall, there were some amazing insights and an inspiring evening; showing those tiny details you miss in everyday life. Maybe we should all try to find out more about the intricate ways in which we work...