How does Color effect Depth preception?

Hello Allviaweb,

There are several good references on line that describe this effect.
Perhaps the simplest and most understandable is an example w/ related
text at:
  http://www.yorku.ca/eye/red-blue.htm
  http://www.yorku.ca/eye/red-blu1.htm
This is part of a much larger web document titled "The Joy of Visual Perception" at
  http://www.yorku.ca/eye/
The effects it describes are related to both brightness and color
(frequency). If you have some related information you need - this book
may also address those questions as well.

A source at Pantone
  http://www.pantone.com/products/products.asp?idArticle=112&idArea=16
indicates you should use warm colors for the foreground and cool
colors for the background to enhance the perception of depth. There
are also some related documents such as
  http://www.extension.usask.ca/ExtensionDivision/papers/Misanchuk/AECT95/A&SPartI.pdf
titled "The Art and Science of Color in Multimedia Screen Design"
which suggests using red / green in the center (the eye is less
sensitive to those colors at the periphery) and to use blue to enhance
depth perception (and gives two references to back up those claims).
These are examples of guides to professional designers to improve
their images / publications.

There have been a number of experiments on the effect of color on
depth perception. For example:
  http://www.scitechfestival.org/IntermediateAbstract2004.pdf
scroll down to the item titled "Color's Effect on Depth Perception"
for an example of an 8th grade study. Its conclusion includes that
"... the subjects completed the tasks most successfully when wearing
lighter colored lenses."

I am not quite sure how technical you want to get. There are also some
detailed papers such as:
  http://cns-alumni.bu.edu/~slehar/webstuff/percep0/percep0.html
which talks about perception in general and the effects of color and
depth perception as part of one or more examples. For example, there
is a nice example of shading where some ovals appear to be concave or
convex dimples. A and C for example are merely rotated versions of the
same image yet appear quite different to the viewer. If you need more
of these detailed papers - let me know and I can dig up several more.

I found these using search phrases such as
  color effect depth perception
  color affect depth perception
  "color effect" "depth perception"
  "color affect" "depth perception"
  "effect of color" "depth perception"
The latter three give you a much smaller list of references but are
generally more focused on the topic you are asking about.

Please use a clarification request if this answer is somehow
incomplete or you need further explanation on some aspect of the
answer.

  --Maniac

Particulates in the air, and microscopic water droplets tend to fade
colors with loss of brightness toward a grey tint which humans
typically use to help judge distance.   Neil