Colour Blind

Same problem so I've avoided much color correction. Interestingly, I shot slide film almost exclusively back in the film days (mostly Kodachrome or Ektachrome until Velvia came out). I took a picture off the coast of Mousehole, Cornwall of a fisherman in a small boat on a gray windy day. I viewed the projected picture many times and thought it to be a good composition. First time I showed it to someone, they exclaimed "wow! Look at the color of that raincoat." Turns out the fisherman was wearing one of those orangish-yellow slickers. I had never noticed it before. Once it was pointed out, I could see it from that point forward.
I learned I was color blind when I applied to Army flight school. I always thought some of those dot things were tricks that did not contain a number since I could see some and not others. No one mentioned to me that I had a color defect.

i have posted this story before, I don't want to be repetitive, but here goes. I used to administer the color blindness test for new hires in a photo lab, some were candidates for color correction, others became print cutters or assemblers based on the test. Women are very rarely colorblind, some say never. most of the men that found they were color blind did not know it. All of them showed some refusal to beleive it.
learning what color is based on the ambient light, the density of the shade and past experience with similar objects has got to be difficult, but all of them had learned that an apple under incandescent was one tone, under sunlight was another tone, and that both of those were red because they had been told that apples were red.

Well I suffer from the red/green side of the defect. Normally I do pretty good but as it has been stated, the problems I face are more shades than actually determining different colors. My main issues are colors tinted with reds. I often confuse shades of purple with shades of blue. I've also grabbed pants from the closet thinking they were black and when I get them in some natural light they were dark navy. For the most part I have learned to make an adjustment to what my eyes see (ie that looks blue but I know I'm usually wrong so its probably purple) lol. But proper lighting makes a huge difference in the colors I see.

At least my wife stopped yelling at me for some color combinations I would wear once she found out I was colorblind

I am so glad I started this thread - The responses have been great, personal experiences and very informative. Also some links to really good resources or websites.

Thanks All

A while back in the thread I jokingly said I may shoot only in B&W - well, I have PP'd a couple of shots as B&W and generally, when posted in the Critique Corner (or the equivalent in another forum I am in) the B&W shots get good write ups! I am by no means a good photographer, but to get good feedback like this has steered me a little. I am going to do more B&W!I may even be better at it BECAUSE it's B&W!

Cheers!

Craig

birdfromboat wrote in post #9722913
i have posted this story before, I don't want to be repetitive, but here goes. I used to administer the color blindness test for new hires in a photo lab, some were candidates for color correction, others became print cutters or assemblers based on the test. Women are very rarely colorblind, some say never. most of the men that found they were color blind did not know it. All of them showed some refusal to beleive it.
learning what color is based on the ambient light, the density of the shade and past experience with similar objects has got to be difficult, but all of them had learned that an apple under incandescent was one tone, under sunlight was another tone, and that both of those were red because they had been told that apples were red.

Women tend to have superior color vision to men even if there's no diagnosis of a color vision deficiency.

vip_uc wrote in post #9722346
There is a blog called the Colorblind Photographer, which may be of interest.

http://www.thecolorbli​ndphotographer.com/

Thanks!