Re: Does the flash of a camera affect the brain/eye's perception of color?

Hi Carol:

To put it relatively simply, yes, a camera flash can certainly alter our color perception momemtarily. The reason is, such a bright light can blanch the light sensitive rods and cones in our retinas, especially the cones. When saturated, the cones are unable to discriminate color as well. If you ever walked inside a dimly light house after being out in bright daylight, without sunglasses, you might experience a mild version of this. It will take your eyes a few minutes to adjust to the dim illumination of indoor light. Everything seems darker to you and colors not as easily distinguishable. The eye however, has remarkable ability to adjust to varying illumination, unless of course you have some disabling eye condition, such as retinitis pigmentosa. It takes an average human eye about 25 minutes to completely dark adapt, meaning, it takes this time for your rods (responsible for night vision ) to adjust and "kick in" completely.

Seeing colored lights momemtarily after a camera flash (especially if looking right at it) is not unusual either. Once again, the cones are in overdrive and it takes the retina and brain a moment to adjust. Like I mentioned before, this should not cause a lasting or permanent loss of color perception. However, common sense precludes us from looking directly at very bright objects, especially the sun, as serious and permanent damage can result. If you would like further information, look up the website www.aoanet.org. They have some good information. I hope this helps. Good luck!

Kenton McWilliams, O.D.