Color: From Hexcodes to Eyeballs (2018) (opens in new tab)

(jamie-wong.com)

96 pointsqubitcoder2y ago10 comments

10 comments

10 comments · 7 top-level

jmiskovic2y ago· 2 in thread

(2018), but still relevant and a great read.

dang2y ago

Discussed at the time:

Color: From Hex codes to Eyeballs - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16795621 - April 2018 (54 comments)

reverendjames2y ago

It's about color. What does 2018 have to do with anything? Did the workings of the universe change since then?

amadeoeoeo2y ago· 1 in thread

I wonder how the brain would perceive a single cone excitation. Could this be achieved via chemicals?

robwwilliams2y ago

In the foveal center just a very few cones are effectively wired to one or two retinal ganglion cells. Little divergence of signal. But the aperture of a cone is well under a micron. In the nasal periphery cone apertures are much larger and single cones could be targeted. These large cones will activate large networks and indirectly perhaps dozens of retinal ganglion cells.

There will be a literature on the psychophysical detection limits. I suspect you will find most individuals would report a tiny blip of light in both regions.

Here are some fun references:

1. https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(21)...

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8300048/

lifeisstillgood2y ago

There is a Cambridge University legend of one of the Dons who no-one could catch in conversation on any subject where the Don did not have a robust and detailed understanding- they tried physics and geography, national and local physics. Till one day a post-grad studied up on Norweigian First Division football, and buttonholed the man at lunch and asked about the prospects for Ham-Kam in the upcoming match.

And the Don leaned over to get his sandwich and without looking back said "Well I would have said it's an easy win but with Bondevik being injured in the last game I think their defence is lacking ..."

I know I should go and spend a few days learning what the relationship between cones in my eyes and intensity of photons is and how it affects color perception.

But I just don't know how some people find the time to learn the Norwegian football leagues - not because it might come in handy, not because i'm not smart enough, but I just don't know how to arrange the worlds information so it can arrive in my perception so I can learn it.

In short it's not about smart, it's not about hard work, it's about which hard work and how to keep learning more.

I am just not sure how many years left there are to give to whimesy

turtledragonfly2y ago

This is a nice article, bringing together various color/perception concepts.

For those interested, you may also like the article introducing the "OK Lab" color space[1] and others by the same author[2].

It's my current favorite, though definitely not perfect.

[1] https://bottosson.github.io/posts/oklab/

[2] https://bottosson.github.io/posts/

uoaei2y ago

I found this video from acerola another excellent introduction to color theory vis a vis computer graphics: https://youtu.be/fv-wlo8yVhk?si=zfG_lxcXPhx3op_h

teddyh2y ago

See also the Color FAQ: <https://poynton.ca/ColorFAQ.html>

COAGULOPATH2y ago

Incredibly good article. He writes about as clearly as you can about such a knotty subject.

Related xkcd: https://xkcd.com/1882/

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