metameric color matching experiment

How to Combine Colors in Clothes - 6 Top Mix & Match Tips

Do you struggle to combine colors in clothes? Do you find it difficult to mix and match your outfits?

Worry not! Because you have just landed on the right page!

Mastering the art of color coordination can seem daunting, but with a few simple tips, you will mix & match like a pro, in no time. You only have to stick to this article and read the following lines.

Ready? Go! 

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How to Combine Colors in Clothes - Top Mix & Match Tips

Color combination is one of the most basic elements of a stylish outlook.

You can wear expensive, top-quality, and trendy clothes but you will degrade your outfit if you miss the right color matching. That would be a pity, no?

So, this is when we come into the scene to offer you some practical, face-saving tips. 

Go Monochrome

The simpler the better.

Dressing up in the same color is a classy and secure solution. You can’t go wrong with that one.

Wear a total-black outfit if you want to show up more elegant and commanding.

Choose a total-white look if you desire a more breezy and carefree appearance, instead.

Opt for a bold color like red or green if you need to stand out in a meeting or an important event.

You can either pick a one-piece outfit or a two, even three-piece one. What you should keep in mind though is to choose similar materials to make your look smoother to the eye. And more classy of course. Oh, and style it with discreet jewelry. 

Experiment with Neutrals

Neutral colors are your best friends.

Think black, white, gray, beige, camel, and navy. These colors come with a huge pro: They can be paired with anything, making them a great base for any outfit.

They also make great combos if mixed and matched. But, avoid adding more than three colors in one outfit. Always keep the 3-color rule in your mind.

Grey and beige, navy blue and white, black and white, black and grey, baize and navy. The combinations are numerous. You can go for a two-color combination in your clothes and add shoes and a handbag of a third color from the list.

Mix Neutrals with Color

Another way to combine colors in clothes is to mix neutrals with vibrant tones. This way you get to have an earthy outlook but with a pinch of fun.

A beige suit can match perfectly with an orange or yellow shirt. If you want to take it a bit further, add accessories of the same bold color.

Alternatively, you can choose a smooth light grey T-shirt and pants and wear a flashy pink coat. Or simply wear a white tunic like the Melony Eyelet Tunic with your orange jeans. Your outfit just gained character. And you won’t go unnoticed for sure!

Color Block It!

Now, if you are more of an adventurous girl and you are in love with bold colors, this tip is for you. Who said you can’t mix and match two vibrant colors? This combination is not only for the IT girls of fashion. You can wear it too.

Opt for the two colors that inspire you and light up your mood. They can be red and orange. Or red and pink. They can be purple and green. Or green and yellow. It doesn’t matter what you choose. Just think block-coloring.

What matters is the result you’ll get. Along with a lifted mood. Isn’t it worth it? Remember though to keep the rest of your outfit and accessories simple. You don’t want to overload it.

A quieter color combination is one with soft shades. This is where you choose the softer hues of colors to create a more discreet yet classy outfit.

You can either opt for monochromatic pieces or pieces with not-so-loud patterns. You can also mix and match them.

he key factor here is to go for the lighter and softer shades of the color palette. Like pairing this Fifer Rose Pink Blu Tunic with white pants. Softy, breezy, and romantic.

Play with Patterns

Patterns can be intimidating, but they’re a great way to combine colors in clothes without going overboard.

You can start with a patterned piece that has a neutral base and a pop of color. Like this Tilly Pink Blu tunic . Then, pull a color from the pattern – in this case pink and beige - to use in your other pieces.

If you thrive in confidence though, you can leave this safer rule aside. Choose similar patterns with similar shades to mix and match. Like a dotty shirt and skirt but with different dot sizes. Or go for animal patterns with slight distinctions if you have the guts. You will simply nail it!

Bonus Mix and Match Tips

Remember your Skin Tone. 

Your skin tone is the canvas for your apparel, and it can influence how certain colors look on you. If you have a warm skin tone choose mostly earthy colors like reds, oranges, and yellows.

Instead, if your skin tone is cooler skin tones you can shine in blues, greens, and purples. You are lucky though if you have a neutral skin tone because you can pull off just about anything!

Consider the Season .

Colors often align with seasons. Spring and summer are great for pastels and bright hues, while fall and winter are perfect for deeper, richer tones.

Don’t forget to accessorize! 

The right accessories can transform your looks more than you can think of. Trendy bags, fancy jewelry, oversized sunglasses, stand-out hats, and sophisticated wraps – like this Modern Tulip Green Reversible one - can complete ideally your apparel.

Trust Your Instincts. 

At the end of the day, fashion is about expressing yourself. If a combination feels right to you, go for it! You are unique and so is your style!

Experiment. 

Don’t be afraid to try new things and step out of your comfort zone. After all, fashion should be fun. The more you experiment with colors, materials, patterns, and styles, the better you’ll understand what works for you, and you only.

Ready to Mix and Match Colors in Your Clothes?

Remember, the best outfits are the ones that make you feel confident and comfortable, at the same time.

Happy mixing and matching!

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Metameric Matches

Background:

A metameric match occurs when two lights with different spectral properties (different wavelengths and or amplitudes) are perceptually identical to each other. Metameric matches are one line of psychological evidence that the human visual system is trichromatic.

In a classic metameric matching study people are shown one light. They then have to adjust the intensities of up to three other lights (typically a red, green and blue), the additive mixture of which should be a metameric match to the first color. Normal human observers require three lights to perform metameric matches. One cannot make a metameric match of all colors by adjusting the intensity of just one or two other lights. Adjusting the intensities of four lights is too many -- the metamer can always be done with just three. Three is the magic number because there are three distinct types of color sensitive photoreceptors -- the S, M and L cones.

A person who is missing one of their types of cones (a dichromat) can perform the metameric match by varying the intensities of only two lights. A person who is missing two types of cones (a monochromat) can perform the metameric match by varying the intensity of only one light. Theory predicts, and data agrees, that the number of types of cones that you have and the number of lights whose intensities you need to vary to make the metameric match should be the same.

The Activity:

Technically, to be a metameric match, you should adjust the intensity of the three lights so that the additive mixture (the wedge where the three circles overlap) perceptually match another light which has different spectral properties. Since all colors on your monitor are created by additively mixing the same three colors, the additive mixture and the to-be-matched color patch will have the same spectral properties (if you have correctly matched the colors.) To be technically correct, you should find an object in the real world and try to find the additive mixture that exactly matches it. That match is likely to be a metameric match. However, if you do so, there is no way of checking your results.

Thus, the activity allows you to match an additive mixture to another color patch. Adjust the brightness of the red, green and blue lights by moving the sliders left (dimmer) or right (brighter) until the wedge in the middle of the three lights matches the perceived color of the color patch. When you are satisfied that the additive mixture and the color patch are the same, you can objectively check your answer by clicking on the "Show RGB" button which will display the proportion of red, green and blue in the to-be- matched color patch. You can compare those values with the proportion of red, green and blue that you adjusted the additive mixture to.

Note that adjusting the additive mixture to the values given when you click on the "Show RGB" button may or may not make the additive mixture perceptually identical to the to-be-matched color patch. Can you explain why? If you don't believe that they are the same physical color, you can click on the "Show color under mouse" button which will show the proportion of red, green and blue under the mouse when the mouse is hovering above the additive circles or the to-be-matched color patch. If you still do not believe it, get a piece of heavy paper and punch two holes in it -- one over the additive mixture and the other over the to-be-matched color patch. Cover up the display with the piece of paper and look at the two colors through the holes. When the surrounding colors in the additive mixture are removed, the colors appear identical. That might give you a clue as to why the phenomenon arises in the first place.

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ISLE 6.5: Color Matching Experiment: Metameric Matches

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Metamerism – colour perception and matching

Have you ever decided to wear all black clothes that look the same colour in your bedroom, but when you go outside, you notice they are all slightly different? Some black garments are more reddish-black, others slightly more green or blueish-black?

Have you ever chosen a carpet or paint for your home that you thought would match your furniture, but once you have it in your home, it looks completely different? It might also appear to be different colours between day and night, or on sunny or overcast, cloudy days.

These are examples of Metamerism, or in fact,   illuminant metameric failure .  The light in your home can be different colours from room to room and also a different colour to the sunlight outside. Some colours look the same under certain light sources but different under other light sources, which can include incandescent, fluorescent, LED or sunlight.

We could also say that colour blindness is a form of metamerism – observer metameric failure – because people see colour differently depending on their biology and the functionality of their eyes – as outlined in the sections on colour blindness and vision difference in this resource.

This also relates to the difference in colour on digital screens.  You might design a website with a very specific colour palette, but you can’t guarantee that everyone who views your website will have a screen that is properly calibrated to accurately show the colours you selected. You can test whether your computer or mobile device is “colour blind” by following some of the steps on this website: Is Your Computer Color Blind? .

How does Metamerism work?

Metamerism is the term we use when colours match under one lighting condition but not another. Colours that do match in this way are called metamers . It’s based on the science of how different coloured substances absorb and reflect light, the amount of electromagnetic radiation, and which wavelengths of the visible spectrum are reflected or emitted.

A practical example of a colour metamer is using two different methods of creating orange paints that appear to be identical

You can create an orange paint by:

• mixing red and yellow paint pigments to create what the eye perceives as orange
• using a ready-made orange paint pigment that was made with different chemicals to the red and yellow pigments.

Your eyes will see the same colour even though the two oranges were created with completely different pigments that reflect slightly different light wavelengths.

When colours that should be the same don’t match under different lighting conditions and are perceived differently, this is metameric failure. Some colours are more prone to metameric failure such as whites, greys, beiges, blacks, pinks and mauves. This is where the science of colorimetry becomes important for testing colour consistency and the specific wavelengths of light reflected or emitted.

How to prevent metameric failures (colour mismatches)

If you are choosing fabrics for a fashion collection and you want them to match, you should collect swatches and samples of fabrics and accessories that will go together in an outfit or ensemble and lay them out under different lights to make sure they match and look good together.

For example, you might think you have the perfect matching zip, buttons, sewing thread and bias binding for a cotton dress, but these items are made from different materials (nylon, plastic and metal) to the cotton dress fabric. They might look the same in one type of light, but if you look at them under a different light source, they might reflect different amounts of light wavelengths and appear different to your eyes.

This is because the dyes and pigments colouring these materials may have slight chemical differences and therefore reflect light differently.

For the same reason, if you are decorating a house, it’s a good idea to try sample paint pots or get carpet and fabric samples and put them on the floor or walls to make sure you have the right colour for the environment and where the light falls. You also need to check if the colours match under daylight from the windows and under the artificial lights in your home.

With digital media, it’s impossible to know if your viewers have screens that are calibrated. It can help to test your website on as many different types of screens and, if possible, older technology, where screens might not work that well or may not have good brightness and contrast.  This way, you will know if your colour designs will look good under different conditions that are out of your control. You could also encourage your audience to take the computer colour blindness test mentioned above.

Colour Theory: Understanding and Working with Colour Copyright © 2023 by RMIT University is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

• ISLE 6.1. Different Types of White Lights
• ISLE 6.2. Dimensions of Color
• ISLE 6.3. Newtons Prism Experiment
• ISLE 6.4. Color Mixing
• ISLE 6.4 (a). Additive Color Mixing
• ISLE 6.4 (b). Subtractive Color Mixing
• ISLE 6.4 (c). Additive and Subtractive Color Mixing
• ISLE 6.5. Color Matching Experiment: Metameric Matches
• ISLE 6.6. Trichromatic Theory and Cone Responses
• ISLE 6.7. Univariance and Color Matching in Monochromat or During Scotopic Vision
• ISLE 6.8. Color Aftereffect
• ISLE 6.8 (a). Color Aftereffect Using Photographs
• ISLE 6.9. Simultaneous Color Contrast
• ISLE 6.10. Hue Cancellation
• ISLE 6.11. Single- and Double-Opponent Cells
• ISLE 6.12. Color Deficiency Tests
• ISLE 6.13. Rod Monochromat Vision
• ISLE 6.14. Dichromacy
• ISLE 6.14 (a). Cones Missing in Dichromacy
• ISLE 6.14 (b). Color Matching in Dichromats
• ISLE 6.14 (c). Simulating Dichromacy
• ISLE 6.15. Illumination and Color Constancy
• ISLE 6.16. Lightness Constancy
• ISLE 6.17. Gelb Effect
• ISLE 6.18. Color Camouflage and Dichromacy
• Bonus Illustrations
• Fechner's Colors and Benham's Top

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• Open access
• Published: 27 October 2020

Perfect appearance match between self-luminous and surface colors can be performed with isomeric spectra

• Akari Kagimoto 1 &
• Katsunori Okajima 2  

Scientific Reports volume  10 , Article number:  18350 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

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• Colour vision

Surface color results from a reflected light bounced off a material, such as a paper. By contrast, self-luminous color results directly from an emitting light, such as a Liquid Crystal (LC) display. These are completely different mechanisms, and thus, surface color and self-luminous color cannot be matched even though both have identical tristimulus values. In fact, previous research has reported that metameric color matching fails among diverse media. However, the reason for this failure remains unclear. In the present study, we created isomeric color-matching pairs between self-luminous and surface colors by modulating the spectral distribution of the light for surface colors. Then, we experimentally verified whether such color matching can be performed. The results show that isomeric color matching between self-luminous and surface colors can be performed for all participants. However, metameric color matching fails for most participants, indicating that differences in the spectral distributions rather than the different color-generating mechanisms themselves are the reason for the color matching failure between different devices. We experimentally demonstrated that there is no essential problem in cross-media color matching by generating isomeric pairs. Our results can be considered to be of great significance not only for color science, but also for the color industry.

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Introduction.

Colors are broadly classified as surface and self-luminous colors. Surface color refers to the color that is created by a reflected light that bounces off an object, such as colors on paper, wood, and fabric. Conversely, self-luminous color refers to the color created by the devices’ own lights, such as Liquid Crystal (LC) Display, Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED), and CRT displays. In colorimetry, a color is numerically expressed by tristimulus values that can be calculated using the color matching functions (CMFs), the spectral power of a luminaire for self-luminous color, or the spectral reflectivity of an object and illumination for the surface color.

Theoretically, the color appearances of lights that have equal colorimetric values should match regardless of their spectral distributions. Such a phenomenon is called “metamerism,” which is the foundation of color science and technology. However, the color appearances of objects with the same colorimetric values on a monitor and a paper are mostly mismatched 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , even under conditions where not only the tristimulus values of the targets but also those of the surrounding environment and observation environment are identical 11 , 12 , 13 .

Three possible causes have been considered for this phenomenon. First, the physical effect is different. As previously noted, surface and self-luminous colors result from different generating mechanisms. For example, the color on printed paper is represented by a subtractive mixture of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Black , and we recognize the color by the light that bounces off the print. By contrast, the display color on a monitor is represented by an additive mixture of the three primary Red, Green and Blue phosphors that are used to coat the screen and emit light by themselves; we recognize a color by the light that enters our eyes directly. However, the quantitative reason for this is unclear. Second, the phenomenon could be caused by individual CMFs’ variability. It has been shown that the range of differences caused by observer variability related to the difference in color appearance is very large 12 , 13 . In addition, human eye lens density increases with age 14 . Because common CMFs are composed of average values, people with different CMFs are not expected to see objects as having the same color appearance even if the colorimetric values are the same. However, the color appearances cannot be matched even when the stimuli are created considering the individual CMFs of the observers 15 . Therefore, we should take into account considerations other than the individual differences of CMFs. Finally, there may be influences other than those of the L-, M-, and S-cones of the eye. In 2000, melanopsin-expressing intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs) were detected in cells of the mammalian inner retina 16 . They have been reported to significantly influence non-image-forming vision, for example, in melatonin suppression 17 , 18 , circadian entrainment 19 , 20 , and pupillary reflex 21 , 22 . However, recent studies have shown that ipRGCs also project to the lateral geniculate nucleus 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 . This suggests that melanopsin influences cortical vision, including color perception. In addition, some reports have suggested a rod intrusion to the color perception 27 , 28 , 29 in both foveal and peripheral vision 30 . According to an electrophysiological recording study, rods contribute to visual responses in the photopic range 31 . Therefore, these photoreceptive cells may also be related to the color appearance. In fact, ipRGCs and rods contribute to the color appearance in foveal vision 32 . Overall, it is necessary to match the five stimuli; L-, M-, and S-cones, rods, and ipRGCs.

Previous studies have not been able to solve the underlying problem of mismatch between cross-media because they have not rigorously examined the physical effects. In other words, the physical and psychological factors cannot be made independent, and as a fundamental problem, it cannot be denied that the difference in physical luminescence also affects the color appearance. Therefore, we need to determine whether we can match the color appearance when we compare isomeric color-matching conditions that have the same spectral distributions between cross-media. Such an isomeric condition has one more advantage in that we do not have to consider the individual differences between observers. However, it is extremely difficult to create isomeric color pairs using common luminaires because the colors are on different media with different features, depending on whether they are self-luminous or surface colors. Some researchers have developed multi-primary displays to increase the accuracy when recreating colors. Yamaguchi et al. 33 used six primary colors and Murakami et al. 34 used seven primary colors to reproduce a color, and created a light condition that was approximated to the spectra of an illuminated printed color. They showed that such an approximation gives imperfect color matching because it is not a perfect reproduction of the spectral distributions. Therefore, we create an isomeric color-matching condition using special equipment to confirm whether there are physical effects between self-luminous and surface colors. Generally, many experiments have been conducted on the color appearance of different devices by fixing surface colors and changing the self-luminous colors. By contrast, we fix the self-luminous colors and change the surface colors using a multispectral light source that illuminates the paper. We also prepare pentamic-metamers that meet the super-metameric condition with five photoreceptors, including the rods and ipRGCs responses. Such pentamic-metamers enable us to determine the effects of rods and ipRGCs on the color appearance of standard observers.

Color appearance under pentamic-metamer pair stimuli

We examined the effect of differences in display and surface colors on the appearance of an LC display and a color patch that was illuminated by a multispectral light source. Figure  1 shows an average of thirteen participants’ response rates under the pentamic-metamer conditions. From the figure, we can conclude that an appearance match with metameric pairs cannot be achieved in cross-media color matching. Thirteen individual results are shown in Table 1 and Figure S1 . Each column in Table 1 represents each stimulus, and each row represents the individual results. There were substantial individual differences among the participants, and hardly anyone could match the color appearances under pentamic-metamer conditions. It was confirmed that the color appearance between display and surface colors was mismatched in common with the previous studies 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , even though the tristimulus values and rods and ipRGCs excitations were considered in this study.

Average rates of the “same” response of thirteen people under metameric conditions. ( A ) Self-luminous color mode condition. ( B ) Surface color mode condition. The error bar indicates the standard deviation.

Color appearance under isomeric pair stimuli

Figure  2 shows the averages of the thirteen participants’ response rates. In contrast to the results of the pentamic-metamer conditions, the isomeric conditions under both color mode conditions were over ~ 90%, which implies that we can obtain a match when the spectra between cross-media are identical. There were significant differences between isomeric and pentamic-metamer conditions (white patch: p  < 0.001, turquoise patch: p  < 0.001, red patch: p  < 0.001, chi-square test). Table 2 and Figure S2 show the thirteen individual results under isomeric conditions; from the table and figure, we can conclude that all participants can match color appearance under isomeric conditions. These results show that the difference in the physical mechanism does not affect the color appearance problem. They further suggest that differences in spectral distributions cause mismatch of color appearance in cross-media color reproduction.

Average rates of the “same” responses of thirteen people under isomeric conditions. ( A ) Self-luminous color mode condition. ( B ) Surface color mode condition. The error bar indicates the standard deviation.

Individual differences

Compared to the results under pentamic-metamer and isomeric conditions for the same participants, some participants’ scores were lower than 10% under pentamic-metamer conditions, and over ~ 90% under isomeric conditions. Participant B’s score was high under all conditions, suggesting that he/she was a standard observer by chance, whereas the others were not.

Difference in color appearance mode

When comparing the color matching rate under pentamic-metamer conditions, the surface color mode condition was slightly lower than that of the self-luminous color mode condition (white patch: p  < 0.01, turquoise patch: p  < 0.01, red patch: p  < 0.001, chi-square test). This means that we can more easily discriminate the color appearance in the surface color appearance mode than in the self-luminous color appearance mode. However, this tendency was only applied to the metameric conditions. In other words, if the spectral distributions are matched, color matching is possible in any color appearance mode.

To solve the problem of color appearance mismatch between cross-media, we conducted an experiment focusing on the fact that the physical properties of the devices were different. As a result, the color appearances under pentamic-metamer conditions were not matched, even though the tristimulus and excitation of rods and ipRGCs were the same. There are several possible reasons for this. First, we used the X , Y , and Z values of CIE1931, which were calculated from the experimental data of Guild 35 and Wright 36 and V(λ) of CIE1924. Judd 37 and Vos 38 reported a modified sensitivity function because the data were slightly lower at short wavelengths. However, even if we calculated the L, M, and S-cones using the modified data, it would be possible for the color appearances to be different because there were individual differences in CMFs 15 . This indicates that the color appearance problem cannot be explained by individual differences in cones. The second possibility is the influence of rods and ipRGCs in color appearance. It has been shown that ipRGCs have a visual impact on peripheral vision 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 . However, the subtypes of ipRGCs, M2 and M4, which innervate dLGN 44 , also exist in the fovea 45 , suggesting that ipRGCs affect color perception even in the fovea. Rods affect not only brightness perception but also color perception 27 , 28 , 29 . Therefore, the effect of rods and ipRGCs may be one of the causes. Moreover, there may be individual differences in the CMFs of rods and ipRGCs as well as cones.

In this study, we focused on cross-media color-matching problems. However, it has also been shown that reflective media versus reflective media 46 and self-luminous versus self-luminous color appearance with different light sources 47 , displays 48 , and projectors 49 cannot match. Such intra-mechanisms are nothing more than the difference in spectral distributions. However, this problem can be reduced to the same problem of cross-media color appearance mismatch. Our result that isomeric color matching achieves perfect appearance matching is not limited to inter-mechanism color matching (surface vs. self-luminous color); it also holds for intra-mechanism color matching (for instance, self-luminous vs. self-luminous color). However, other causes such as individual differences in CMFs or the effect of photoreceptors other than cones for intra-mechanism color matching should be considered as well as the inter-mechanism color matching.

When comparing the color appearance mode, the “same” rate of the surface color mode condition under the pentamic-metamer condition was lower than the self-luminous color mode condition (Fig.  1 ). It is assumed that it is more difficult to perceive the color appearance in the self-luminous color appearance mode than in the surface color appearance mode. This result corresponds to that of a previous study in which the discrimination ellipsoid of the self-luminous color appearance mode was wider than that of the surface color appearance mode 50 .

Conversely, when we observed isomeric conditions, the color appearances could be matched in both color mode conditions, even with display and surface colors (Fig.  2 ). It is only with this result that other studies, such as focusing on the effect of individual differences and the surrounding environment, can find significance. However, even under isomeric conditions, the “same” response rate was not 100%. We assume that the difference from 100% arises because it occurred stochastically. In a previous report 51 , the different rate of color appearance when comparing the same wavelength with stimulus onset asynchrony was equal to 0 ms, and there were approximately 40% difference evaluations. This means that when we compare the same stimuli, accidental errors arise stochastically. There might also be some fluctuations on the display and the multispectral light source; although we carefully calibrated these. Therefore, in our study, the lowest score of 80% within the error was considered. We also focused on the color appearance mode, and there was no difference under isomeric conditions. Therefore, isomeric color matching holds true universally.

It is difficult to perfectly match the spectral power distribution between different devices. Previous studies 33 , 34 have attempted to reproduce some spectral distributions with multi-primary displays that used more than three primary colors. They measured the spectral reflectance of an object and displayed similar spectral distributions for the object with seven primary colors on a monitor. However, the average color difference in these studies was 0.99–1.49. Generally, we can discriminate colors when the color difference ( ΔE *) is greater than 1.2 if the targets are placed side-by-side, and over 2.5 if the targets are arranged separately 52 . However, we succeeded in isolating the color appearance cross-media using a multispectral light source system and demonstrated that there is no physical cause behind the difference in color appearance.

In this study, it was experimentally proven that there was no essential problem in cross-media color matching, and isomeric color matching could perform perfect appearance even between display and surface colors. Our results are significant not only for color science, but also for industry, and lead to the importance of multispectral displays for recreating color images precisely. However, it should be noted that our results are true only in the case when no stray light falls on the target objects because the light affects the appearance.

Participants

Thirteen Yokohama National University students participated in the study (24.6 years ± 4.4, male: 9, female: 4). All thirteen participants repeated the experiment twenty times for all experimental conditions. We used G*Power software to estimate the sample size, and the results revealed that a sample of eleven participants could detect the effect size with ϕ  ≥ 0.30 (statistical power = 0.95). One of the participants was an author, AK (29 years, female), of this paper. Color vision was confirmed to be normal in all participants using the Ishihara color plate, a Farnsworth–Munsell 100 Hue test, and an anomaloscope (OT-11, NEITZ, Tokyo, Japan). According to the Yokohama National University Committee on Life Science Research guidelines, this study protocol was exempted from a formal ethics review. All participants consented to the experiments in accordance with the Yokohama National University Rules on Life Science Research and provided written certificates of consent.

Visual stimuli

The spectral distributions of the visual stimuli were measured using a spectral meter (SR-LEDW-5N; Topcon Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). Visual stimuli for the self-luminous color condition were set on an LC display (RDT233WLM; Mitsubishi, Tokyo, Japan), whereas those for the surface color condition were set on a white color patch that was illuminated by a Digital Light Processing (DLP) Digital Mirror Device (DMD)-based multispectral light source (OL490 Agile Light Source; Gooth & Housego, Florida, USA) (Fig.  3 ). There was a 350-µm slit between a xenon lamp and the DMDs. All stimuli were broadband but composed of multiple spectra with an 8 nm half-bandwidth wavelength. The half-bandwidth wavelength and output intensity of each wavelength were controlled by an application written in C+ + CLI. There were two shutters in the experimental apparatus. One was to block the light from the LC display; the other was mounted inside the OL490. The two light stimuli were alternately blocked by controlling the shutters using software. Before starting the experiments, we carried out an initial aging at least for an hour. Moreover, we continued fine-tuning the stimuli and confirmed that the light source could output the spectral distributions of the target. Therefore, the stimuli in our experiments were sufficiently stable during the experiment.

Experimental setup. ( A ) Plan of the experimental space. Mirrors were set at right angles to each other. The self-luminous color (LC display) and surface color (lighten by OL490) were alternately displayed using a shutter set in front of the display and function of OL490. The light originating from OL490, the LC display, and the shutter was controlled by a laptop that was set outside the experimental room. Participants were placed in a dark room, and observed stimuli reflected by mirrors with their left eye. The lighting was set between the reflectance board and the mirrors for the surface color appearance mode. Two boards were set between the mirrors and the color checker, and the mirrors and the shutter to display the background color in the surface color appearance mode. ( B ) Stimuli from the participants’ views. The left image shows the self-luminous color appearance mode, whereas the right image shows the surface color appearance mode. The left circle of each mode is the surface color (color checker), whereas the right circle is the self-luminous color (LC display). Both sizes are 2°, and the distance between the two is 1°. They are presented alternately. ( C ) Section of the experimental space. Lighting was set for the surface color mode condition. The light switched toward the reflectance board lighted two gray boards, and was only used for the surface color mode condition; it was turned off during the self-luminous color mode condition.

Both stimuli, surface and self-luminous colors, were circular with a viewing angle of 2°. The stimuli had two conditions: (1) isomeric color-matching condition, where the spectral distributions of the display and the color patch were identical, and (2) the pentamic-metamer color matching condition, where the tristimulus values and rods and ipRGCs excitations of the two devices were identical (Fig.  4 ). The tristimulus values were calculated based on CIE 1931 because these values are commonly used in the industry. The spectral sensitivities of rods and ipRGCs were calculated using a pigment template 53 . The peak wavelengths of the rods and melanopsin were reported by Dartnall 54 and Dacey 23 to be 496.3 nm and 482 nm, respectively. Their photopigment optical densities were 0.4 55 and 0.1 56 , respectively. The lens age was set to 32 years 14 ; the macular pigment density 57 was considered because our experiments were conducted in foveal vision (2°).

Spectral distributions of visual stimuli. (1) Isomeric, (2): Pentamic-metamer conditions. “W”: White patch, “T”: Turquoise patch, “R”: Red patch. Solid line: spectral distribution of an LC display, dotted line: spectral distribution of a surface color. These spectra were the same in the self-luminous and surface color mode conditions, and were composed of 8-nm half-bandwidth wavelengths.

To create visual stimuli with the same tristimulus values between surface and self-luminous colors, color stimuli were chosen from 24 color patches (6 achromatic and 18 chromatic colors) in a color checker (ColorChecker Classic; X-rite, Tokyo, Japan), which is often used for color management; a lighting condition (5000 K, 500 lx, LEEM-20083N-01; Toshiba; Tokyo, Japan) was also set. Only 12 out of 18 chromatic colors under the lighting condition can be reproduced in the LC display because the color gamut that can be displayed on the LC display was limited. Three color stimuli were chosen out of these 12 chromatic colors and 6 achromatic colors (Table 3 ). In the case of white patch, there were the most differences of the ipRGCs and rods responses between a display and a surface color. The turquoise patch had the highest response of ipRGCs and rods in the 12 patches, whereas the red patch had the lowest response. The surface colors were generated directly by shining light from the OL490 on the white color patch.

To confirm whether the isomeric color matching could perform not only self-luminous color appearance mode but also surface color appearance mode, two background colors, black and gray, were also set for the experimental condition so that the color appearances were under a self-luminous color appearance mode and a surface color appearance mode, respectively 58 . A light source (LDR 14N-W; Toshiba; Tokyo, Japan) was placed between the reflectance board and mirrors, and the color appearance mode was switched on/off by using light. In the surface color appearance mode, the light source was turned toward the reflectance board, which uniformly lightened the background of the target. Therefore, the spectrum distributions of the surface color mode condition were the sum of the spectrum of the light for the background and that of the color on display or surface color. The spectrum distributions of the surface color mode condition were set such that the spectrum distributions were the same as those of the self-luminous color mode condition by adjusting the output power of OL490. The luminosity of the background in the surface color mode condition was 80 cd/m 2 , which was sufficient to enable viewing of the surface color appearance mode 59 , and that in the self-luminous color mode condition was below 0.1 cd/m 2 . Moreover, by using a 2D spectroradiometer (SR-5000 HWS/ TOPCON TECHNOHOUSE), it was confirmed whether the background 2D distributions of the targets were different. Finally, the lighting did not directly enter the participant’s eyes.

The experiment was conducted to determine whether the color appearances were the same between the display color and the color patch. The flow of the experiments between each color mode condition was the same (Fig.  5 ). First, in a dark room, the participants observed, through an aperture, the space where the targets were displayed. The space was dark (for the self-luminous color appearance mode) or illuminated only the background (for the surface color appearance mode) for 30 s before the experiment as resting time. After a beep sound, each color on the two devices, display or color patch, was displayed alternately for 5 s and repeated twice. This is to prevent any simultaneous contrast effect and to control the gaze duration. Participants observed these stimuli with their left eye at foveal vision with an eye mask to cover their right eye. Finally, participants evaluated whether the appearance of the two light stimuli were the “same” or “different,” using a keypad. There were 10 s between each trial, and the trials were repeated 20 times per condition. Isomeric and pentamic-metamer conditions were displayed in random order, and an experiment of each color appearance mode was conducted separately. None of the participants were informed that the two circles were displayed in different ways.

Presentation sequence of surface color and self-luminous color. ( A ) Self-luminous color mode condition. ( B ) Surface color mode condition.

Data availability

The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP15H05926, JP18H04111, and JP19J15530.

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Metamers in Human Vision

Prepared by james t. fulton.

A major problem in previous discussions of color has been the problem of metamerism. Many sources in object space with different spectral distributions can appear chromatically identical to the human eye. These scenes are called metamers.

Two definitions are important in discussing metamers, that of metamers of course and also of color.

• Color– (a. k. a. perceived color) that aspect of visual perception by which an observer may distinguish differences between two structure-free fields of view of the same size and shape, such as may be caused by differences in the spectral composition of the radiant energy concerned in the observations (W & S, p. 487) 1 .

The above can be considered the formal definition of color. It is based on perception. An alternate definition is frequently useful that describes the color of a structure-free field of view in object space that generates the above perception. This definition of color is frequently described as psychophysical color.

• Psychophysical color– that aspect of a structure-free field of view in object space specified by the tristimulus values of the radiant power (color stimulus) entering the eye.

Both of the above definitions of color play a role in current colorimetry. However, it will be shown below that it is only the definition based on perception that is precise. Many pairs of psychophysical metamers do not in fact appear to be metamers to the human eye. The differences are frequently significant.

metamers have traditionally been defined in the psychophysical context and is the only context discussed in the colorimetry chapter of Wyszecki & Stiles. However, the fact that two different structure-free fields of view with different tristimulus values frequently appear to be perceptual metamers is troubling. As a result, this work differentiates between the two definitions of Wyszecki & Stiles that they considered equivalent.

• metamers– (a. k. a. perceptual metamers) color stimuli that have different spectral radiant power distributions but are perceived as identical for a given observer.
• Psychophysical metamers– color stimuli that have the same tristimulus values but different spectral radiant power distributions.

Wyszecki & Stiles explored the subject of psychophysical metamers in great detail (38 pages). Whereas the data they summarized is useful, the mathematical analyses are less useful. They attempted to explain the phenomena using the CIE concepts of color space and tristimulus values (based on linearity and additive color). The result is a definition of metameric color stimuli unrelated to biological vision. This definition required that two metamers must exhibit equality in three equations, one related to the tristimulus value r-bar, one related to g-bar and one for b-bar. Thornton has shown that colors defined in this way are not in fact perceptual metamers (Section 17.2.8).

Adopting the actual model of biological color vision, the situation is simpler and more precise. Instead of using the tristimulus values of an imaginary "Standard Observer," the actual absorption characteristic of each chromophore of biological vision is used. Omitting any discussion of the O-channel in human vision, three equations are required to demonstrate a complete metameric match between two color stimuli. However, they are not the three equations found in psychophysical colorimetry. Equation One equates the P-channel values for the two metamers. Equation Two equates the Q-channel value for the two metamers. Equation Three equates the R-channel values for the two metamers. These equations allow for a much larger set of metamers and a much more precise match than does the tristimulus formulation. This range of matches can be subdivided into three distinct classes, the first requiring a precise match in each of the P, Q & R values of the color stimuli, the second requiring a complete match of two ensembles of P, Q & R values and the third requiring a chromatic match of only the individual P and Q values.

While precise metameric matches can be calculated, it is not possible to confirm the uniqueness of such precise matches perceptually at this time. As far as is known, the brain only asserts a complete match based on the somewhat more tolerant ensemble values of P, Q & R. Figure 17.1.2-1 shows the experimental environment associated with chromatic and complete metameric matches. The simpler chromatic match shown in frame (A), typically uses the light reflected by two color samples from a single source of illumination. Because of the interplay of the radiation spectra of the source and the reflectance spectra of the samples, such chromatic matches are a function of the source characteristics. Besides the spectral distribution of the samples in chromatic matches, the match also depends on the average reflectance of the samples used. As a result, the chromatic match equating the P and the Q values may not result in equal R values. Experiments are currently under way to resolve the differences in average reflectance between the currently distributed Munsell Color Atlas and the recently developed comparable Japanese atlas. Frame (B) shows the test configuration for achieving a complete metameric match. By using two separate illumination sources of variable intensity, a match may be obtained that equates the individual P, Q & R values. When obtained, the match is based on the radiant spectral characteristics of the sources and the average reflectance of the samples as well as the reflectance spectra of the samples.

Figure 17.1.2-1 Test configurations for metamere experiments

The functions shown in the lower set of frames suggest the parameters that can vary and that must be controlled in these two types of experiments. If two sources are employed, both their intensities and radiant spectra must be controlled or known. The reflectance of the two samples can be significantly different. Scattered light must be minimized for accurate comparisons. The absorption spectra of the actual photoreceptors must be used, and not some arbitrarily transformed set of spectra. While the resulting signal levels at the axons of the spectrally diverse photoreceptors may be of interest, it is the signals resulting from signal processing within the neural section of the retina that are critical to the metameric experiment. It is these signals that are evaluated by the brain in determining a match.

Several second order caveats apply to performing successful metameric matches. Because of the change in the spectral sensitivity of the visual system with intensity of the color stimuli, the experiments should be carried out within the photopic regime, and more precisely the regime of color constancy. To avoid inaccurate results, it is also necessary to carefully define the test protocol used. The most successful tests require a bipartite field with the match determined by concentrating the point of fixation of vision on the midpoint of the bisecting line of the bipartite field. To avoid introducing ambiguities due to Maxwell's spot (Section xxx), it is advisable that the bipartite field have a diameter of less than 1.2 degrees, or much larger than three degrees. Large fields of ten degrees are commonly used. The area surrounding the test samples will affect the state of adaptation, and therefore the color constancy, of the eyes of the evaluator. This area is best made a neutral color not significantly different in illuminance from that of the samples.

This page is in beta release. The author welcomes and will respond to any comments or suggestions left at the comment page . Section numbers of the main manuscript, available on the web, are shown in brackets. The manuscript can provide more detail when desired. The first number shown is the chapter number; it is followed by the section numbers.   Download individual chapters .

1 Wyszecki, G. & Stiles, W. (1982) Color Science, 2nd Ed. NY: Wiley & Sons 2

Copyright © 2006 James T. Fulton

The Impact of Color Matching Functions on the Observer Metamerism and a Solution

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When viewing two displays, a pair of stimuli may match perfectly for one observer, the other observer may perceive as a mismatch. This phenomenon is caused by so called observer metamerism. An experiment was carried out to perform color matching of color stimuli with a field-of-view of 4° between three displays. A matrix-based color correction metric was developed which was used to overcome observer metamerism for displays. The impact of color matching functions on the observer metamerism was investigated as well. The results showed that the color correction metric was effective, and the use of 2006 2° color matching function outperformed the other CMFs.

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Keyu Shi & Ming Ronnier Luo

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Linghao Zhang

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Shi, K., Luo, M.R. (2022). The Impact of Color Matching Functions on the Observer Metamerism and a Solution. In: Zhao, P., Ye, Z., Xu, M., Yang, L., Zhang, L., Yan, S. (eds) Interdisciplinary Research for Printing and Packaging. Lecture Notes in Electrical Engineering, vol 896. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1673-1_3

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-1673-1_3

Published : 17 April 2022

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