Human observers compensate for secondary illumination originating in nearby chromatic surfaces.

In complex scenes, the light absorbed and re-emitted by one surface can serve as a source of illumination for a second. We examine whether observers systematically discount this secondary illumination when estimating surface color. We asked six naïve observers to make achromatic settings of a small test patch adjacent to a brightly colored orange cube in rendered scenes. The orientation of the test patch with respect to the cube was varied from trial to trial, altering the amount of secondary illumination reaching the test patch. Observers systematically took orientation into account in making their settings, discounting the added secondary illumination more at orientations where it was more intense. Overall, they tended to under-compensate for the added secondary illumination.