Cones are the photoreceptor partners to the rod cells in your retina. There are three types which respond to different wavelengths of light and allow you to see colour. They work a bit like the pixels on your screen in reverse – magenta, as in the small drawing here, is a mix of cyan and […]
Your retina has two types of photoreceptor cells, rods and cones. Rods detect light intensity rather than colour, they are what enable you to see in the dark. This is why as light levels drop it gets harder to see colour. Photons of light are detected by chemicals within the outer segment of the rod, […]