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Colour & Colour Management

Metamerism

The phenomenon in which two samples match under one light source but differ visibly under another.

In depth

Two colours can produce the same response in the eye's three receptor types while having quite different spectral compositions. Change the illuminant and those spectra interact differently, breaking the match. It is a constant problem in product and reproduction photography, and the reason critical colour work specifies a standard viewing illuminant.

Examples in practice

Two jacket panels that match perfectly in the shop's fluorescent light look obviously different in daylight outside.