GEK1532 Interlude: Painters Color and Color deficiencies

Thorsten Wohland Dep. Of Chemistry S8-03-06 Tel.: 6516 1248 E-mail: chmwt@nus.edu.sg
Claude Monet, Japanese Bridege over water Lily Pond, 1926

The Anomalouscope

From Scientific Amrican, Special on Color (German Version) a) Normal vision b) No red c) No green d) Red anomalous e) Green anomalous

Webers law
On the left the reflected light intensity increases by equal amounts.

On the right the ratio of adjacent intensities is constant.

a ! ln x ea ! x

We call this a logarithmic scale: ln(1) = 0 = 0*ln(2) ln(2) = 0.693= 1*ln(2) ln(4) = 1.386= 2*ln(2) ln(8) = 2.079= 3*ln(2)

Seeing the light, Fig. 7.4

Lightness and Color Constancy

Webers law states that we see brightness in logarithmic scale. However, we know as well that we perceive something white always as white, no matter how bright the illumination is. This phenomenon is called Lightness constancy. Lightness constancy thus means that we see objects always in relation to the surrounding. So when the illumination changes, the brightness (absolute intensity) changes, but not the lightness (the ratio of different brightnesses). Good illumination Darker illumination

http://www.purveslab.net/seeforyourself/

Two examples were lightness and color constancy do not work!

1. Lightness changes not uniformly everywhere. 2. At dim light, the rods are starting to work and add their signal to the cone signal.

Lightness changes not uniformly everywhere

The rod system

Scotopic vision: night vision, based on rods; maximum sensitivity: around 500 nm Mesopic vision: transition from photopic to scotopic vision, both systems operate (e.g. at dusk) Photopic vision: day vision, based on cones; maximum sensitivity around 550 nm

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hframe.html Kurt Nassau, Fig. 1-16

Scotopic vs Photopic Vision

Scotopic vision: max sensitivity ~500 nm Photopic vision: max sensitivity ~550 nm

Purkinje shift Mesopic vision: Humans have characteristics of tetrachromat http://www.cquest.utoronto.ca/psych/psy280f/ch3/purkinje/ps.html

Painters and use of color

D ng Yun (

) (c.934 - c.962)

Simone Martini (c. 1284 1344)

Gu Hongzhong (ca 937-975 C.E)

Painters and use of color

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519)

Rembrandt (1606-1669) Charles-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777)

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851 )

1819 Colour Beginning

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851 )

1835 grand-canal

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775-1851 )

~1845 sunrise with sea-monsters (detail)

Pointillism

Georges Seurat 1884-6 Un dimanche aprs-midi l'Ile de la Grande Jatte

Pointillism

Paul Signac The bridge at Asniere 1888

Paul Signac Harbour at Marseille 1906

Camille Pissaro 1897 Boulevard-Montmartre-Afternoon-Sun-1897

Pointillism

Reduce Color depth to 2 Sharpen Add Noise http://www.state-of-entropy.com/points.htm

Claude Monet (1840-1926) Impressionism

1872/3: Impression Soleil levant (sunrise)

Monet
The port of the Cathedral at Rouen

Morning Mist 1893

Sunlight 1894

Sunlight 1892-4

Monet

Japanese Bridge over Water Lily Pond 1894

Japanese Bridge over Water Lily Pond 1899

Monet

Japanese Bridge over Water Lily Pond 1926

Japanese Bridge over Water Lily Pond 1899

Color vision defects

http://www.psych.ucalgary.ca/pace/va-lab/Brian/acquired.htm

Monet

House seen from the rose garden 1924

House seen from the rose garden 1924

The organization of the retina

Light To optic nerve Ganglions Cells (G)

Amacrine Cells (A) Bipolar Cells (B) Horizontal Cells (H)

Rods (R) and Cones (C)

Falk: Fig. 7.2

The organization of the retina

The rod system (scotopic vision): The experiment of Hecht, Schlaer and Pirenne from 1942

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/ hbase/hframe.html

T.N. Cornsweet, Fig. 2.2

Dark adaptation
The threshold is defined as the intensity at which a subject perceives 60 % of flashes.

T.N. Cornsweet, Fig. 2.6 T.N. Cornsweet, Fig. 2.1 Dark adaptation is complete within 40 minutes.

The organization of the retina

Spatial summation
Illuminate spots on the retina of different size and determine the number of photons needed before the spot can be seen

T.N. Cornsweet, Fig. 2.5 1st spot: only few rods on average Sensitivity constant Sensitivity decreases 2nd spot: smaller than summation area 3rd spot: larger than summation area

Temporal summation
How many photons have to arrive in a certain time interval so that the eye sees a flash?

Adapted form T.N. Cornsweet, Fig. 2.5

time (ms) 0 10 20 time (ms) 0 10 20

time (ms) 0 10 20

Temporal summation
How many photons have to arrive in a certain time interval so that the eye sees a flash?

Adapted form T.N. Cornsweet, Fig. 2.5

time (ms) 0 10 20

time (ms) 0 10 20 time (ms) 0 10 20

Spectral sensitivity of rods

We just saw that the eye does not need more than 2 photons to perceive a flash (a rod can actually be activated by one photon alone). How many photons do we get from a 20 W [=20J/s] light bulb?

6.6 10 34 v 3 108 hc } 3.6 10 19 J ! E ! hR ! P 550 10 9

Therefore a light bulb gives us

20 J / s ! 5.6 1019 photons / s 3.6 10 19 J

56.000.000.000.000.000.000 photons

Lateral Inhibition
A B These two cones/rods inhibit each other, that is the higher the signal for cone/rod A, the more will be the signal for cone/rod B diminished and vice versa. + - +

A =0.5

B = 0.5

A =0.5

B = 0.25

A =0.75

B = 0.5

+ - A=B

+ - A- B

+ - A- B

With lateral inhibition we are much more sensitive to differences than absolute values.

Lateral Inhibition
One ganglion cell receives signal from many receptors, excitatory or inhibitory signals.

+- - -- - + - - - -- - +- - + --

STL Fig. 7.2

One cone/rod can contribute to some ganglion cells excitatory to others inhibitory.

Lateral Inhibition
rest excitation inhibition No difference -> rest Strong excitation No difference -> rest STL Fig. 7.12

Lateral Inhibition

STL Fig. 7.8

If edge information is missing

Spatial frequency and tilt

Afterimages
You can have negative and positive afterimages. The effect comes from the fact that when a cone/rod is stimulated for a long time it desensitizes.

1) The cones perceiving the black square are not excited, the cones perceiving the white surrounding are excited and desensitize with time. 2) When looking at the white surface on the right, the desensitized cones are less excited than the rested cones in the middle and thus you see a white square.

Afterimages
Positive afterimages. You can sensitize your retina by closing your eyes and resting your cones (remember when you close eyes a long time and open them you seem to be blinded first). When you open your eyes shortly (seconds) and look at some bright object the cones get excited. When you close your eyes again the cones will not desensitize and will stay stimulated longer and give you a positive afterimage.

See the TRY IT on page 194 of STL. http://www.michaelbach.de/ot/

Summary
Spatial summation in the eye Temporal summation Lateral Inhibition Edge discrimination Afterimages

Are there non-trivial constraints on colour categorization? B.A.C. Saunders, J. van Brakel Behavourial and Brain Sciences (1997), 20, 167-179