Color Blindness and Digital Photography

Greetings folks!

Im relatively new to digital photography, and have been reading through the tutorials and forums here to broaden my knowledge base. One thing I havent seen addressed, however, is color blindness. I have what is called "red/green" color blindness, which makes it difficult for me to detect certain tones of color. No, I do not see in black and white :)

Anyway, I would just like to know if there are any other color blind photographers out there, and if they have run into any problems while shooting, or during processing. I havent installed Photoshop on my Mac yet, and have not been able to play with the tools it offers, but will I need to compensate, or ask a non-color blind person to "check my work?"

Any responses would be greatly appreciated!

-Parker

Parker,

Well, I'm red/green colorblind too, and I've never had much of a problem with photography, Photoshop, or even painting. For me, I just have to be a little more careful than the average person. For example, in Photoshop, if I'm ever unsure about a color, I simply check the RGB value to verify that an orange is really a shade of orange instead of green. Also, I almost always have someone else check my work, but not necessarily to check the color. I find that an extra set of eyes is always advantageous to help me with composition and other aspects of my art, too.

The only real disadvantage I have encountered is that I can occasionally miss a photograph that will show a wonderful red-green contrast, like one tree's autumn leaves against a still-green forest. I might miss that because the contrast isn't noticed out of the corner of my eye. Just to put things into perspective, I've been told by some non-colorblind folk (such as my wife) that they find the contrast between red and green to be greater than that between yellow and purple! With this in mind, you can see how it can be easy to miss something like that.

However, despite our handicap, we still have the ability to see wonderful colors in the world around us. We need to remember, too, that colorblindness is never an excuse for bad composition!

Hope that helped!

-Brett

P.S. You can always decide to shoot B/W! :)

Many thanks for your response, Brett! Lucky for me, the seasons dont really change in Hawaii, so no leaves changing color. I spent 10 years in Oklahoma, however, and did notice that the reds and auburns didnt pop as much as the yellows did. Im glad to know that there isnt any serious impact to being colorblind and a photographer.

Cheers!

-Parker