Yoko MIZOKAMI^1,2, Mitsuo IKEDA¹ and Hiroyuki SHINODA^1,3

¹Department of Photonics, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Nojihigashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan
²Department of Psychology, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, U.S.A.
³Department of Computer and Human Intelligence, Ritsumeikan University, 1-1-1 Nojihigashi, Kusatsu, Shiga 525-8577, Japan

(Received March 19, 2004; Accepted May 10, 2004)

It is known that color constancy does not hold in a photograph. This could be because the photograph is recognized as a two-dimensional paper. Based on the concept of the recognized visual space of illumination (RVSI), it is predicted that color constancy holds in the photograph if it is perceived as a 3-D scene. We examined whether the color constancy held under a special viewing condition. A photograph of a room under incandescent illumination was shown under daylight illumination. We tested the neutral color perception of a stimulus on the photograph both with and without a dimension-up viewing box showing the photograph alone monocularly. The results showed good color constancy when a subject observed the photograph with the viewing box. It was also shown that the degree of color constancy decreased for a jumbled photograph without 3-D information. Our results suggest that the recognition of a space and illumination are important in color perception.

Key words: color constancy, color appearance, illumination, photograph, three-dimensional perception, recognized visual space of illumination