What is metamerism?
Metamerism is an effect created when objects having different spectral distributions look alike under one light source but appear different when viewed with a dissimilar light source. Metamerism is most frequently seen when two colored objects match in daylight, but differ markedly in color when viewed in tungsten-filament light. This arises because the visible absorption spectra of the two objects differ significantly, although the tristimulus values in daylight are identical (the colors have the same set of color coordinates but different spectral reflec tance curves). Pronouncing “Metamerism”: me*tam*er*ism (just in case you wanted to talk intelligently with others on this subject — hey, we never knew how to pronounce it until just last week 😉 Click to HEAR this word spoken… AIFF format WAV format Examples of Metamerism in 2000P Output: John Custodio of New York City sent us some great examples of metamerism. John supplied us with a grid of his images and color patches that wer
Metamerism is a psychophysical phenomenon commonly defined incorrectly as “two samples which match when illuminated by a particular light source and then do not match when illuminated by a different light source.” In actuality there are several types of Metamerism, of which the first two described below are most commonly referred to and also most commonly confused: Sample metamerism: When two color samples appear to match under a particular light source, and then do not match under a different light source this is “sample metamerism.” One can conclude that the spectral reflectance distributions of the 2 samples differ slightly, and their plotted reflectance curves cross in at least 2 regions. By illuminating them with lights with consideralby differing spectral power distributions you can witness and even exaggerate the visual differences between the 2 samples. The example below is how most remember this is the most commonly experienced form of metamerism. Example: most people have exp
Metamerism refers to the situation where two color samples appear to match under one condition but not under another; the match is said to be conditional. Metamersim is usually discussed in terms of two illuminants (illuminant metamerism) whereby two samples may match under one illuminant but not under another. Other types of metamerism include geometrical metamerism and observer metamerism. Two samples that conditionally match are said to be a metameric pair. If two samples have identical reflectance spectra then they cannot be metameric – they are an unconditional match.
