false color

noun

1. photography using infrared-sensitive film that produces images in which heat-emitting areas or objects appear red.

Other Word Forms

• false-color adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of false color¹

First recorded in 1965–70

Example Sentences

False color images give us a glimpse into this dynamic world, but traditional methods such as spectrophotometry are often time consuming, require specific lighting conditions, and cannot capture moving images.

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Researchers then use false color to translate these otherwise-invisible wavelengths into a visible image.

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It was overlaid with false color to emphasize hot spots and burned areas.

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The false color has the added benefit of creating some very beautiful and otherworldly images.

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False color scanning electron micrograph of Vibrio vulnificus, a species of Gram-negative, motile, curved, rod-shaped, pathogenic bacteria of the genus Vibrio that lives in marine environments such as estuaries, brackish ponds, or coastal areas.

Read more on Salon