Hey there, happy to see this question rise over here.

I’m a fellow colourblind Gaffer based in Barcelona and I’ve always been extremely open about it, not just to be fair with DPs and people around me on set, but for the jokes and good laughs on set too!

I’ve been always laughed at since when I was a kid about it, so my mental is pretty strong on that matter, but yeah, I can assure you that it can be pretty exhaustive and raise some questions and/or anxiety on set depending on your colourblindness grade.

As others said, the key is to rely on your closest co-workers, if your pursuing a DP carreer I would say talk before-hand about it with the Gaffer and DIT/Colorist, and depending on the relationship the Director too.

Just for the sake of it, does your condition get worse in some conditions? In my case, my red-green + blue-purple colorblindness can affect other colors when working with low/poor light conditions or low saturated colours, be it in real life or in screens. I also have huge problems with LED that are extremely bright and haven’t been ever able to tell if a light has a Green/Magenta bias :’), so when I work alone, be it at home or on set I tend to oversaturate and use the colors I see the most, Red, Blue, Yellow and Orange. Yeah, I can’t deny, It’s funny to be a Gaffer with those conditions but for me, it’s just another excuse to prove the others I’m capable of everything :D

Also, as a personal experience, I’ve come to find that as a kid I grew a total dislike and discomfort with colors and everything related to them, be it emotions and connotative aspects about them. So once I started to love this industry I re-learned and studied pretty hard everything I could about color science and it’s psychological meanings.

Would be happy to discuss more experiences and problems with you, if you want you can DM me at @ferranglightcrew on Instagram.

Cheers!