It has its moments. I am not going lie and say I just get by because I don’t. I need help like other color blind photographers out there. In fact, when I was in college and taking the color course I needed help then. My color blindness isn’t as bad as some others. Some people have it really bad. I get some orange and browns mixed up. Sometimes a dark blue and black can look the same. For me it depends on the colors that are next to each other and then other colors surrounding them. When it is dark out it makes it really tough.
I’m not very fortunate when it comes to my eyes. I have bad vision (my glasses RX is pretty strong), I’m color blind and I have sensitivity to light. During the day I have to wear sunglasses while driving or I squint too much. When coming out of a dark room I have to slowly open my eyes in a 5 minute time span otherwise I start tearing.
I was lucky enough that my professor helped me for two semesters of dealing with pure color. Hopefully you would be too!
I’m not writing this to get sympathy from anyone because I make do. My reason for writing this is to let you know that if you are color blind it is OK to ask if you need help. If you are in school and are having trouble, tell your professor.
On another note, there are groups and websites out there you to meet other color blind photographers. Here are a few:
- https://www.flickr.com/groups/blind_photographers
- https://www.flickr.com/groups/53128764@N00/
- https://blog.blindphotographers.org/
- https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Colorblind-Photographer/92198256099?v=wall.
- https://www.thecolorblindphotographer.com/
- https://twitter.com/CVMINC
- https://twitter.com/BlindPhotogs
Julieanne Kost posted a great tip for soft proofing in photoshop if you are a color blind photographer. You can read it on her Adobe blog.
Lastly, please don’t be shy. Get in touch with me with any questions you might have about being a color blind photographer. I’d gladly answer what I can.
Thanks for reading and happy shooting!
Scott
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