The disclosed method diminishes the resolution or the perceived resolution of images and compares the images to evaluate the color image quality of images. The method determines how far away images have to be or how much the resolution needs to be reduced for the images to be perceived as the same. A smaller viewing distance or a lower reduction in resolution corresponds to a closer similarity between the images. A relatively longer viewing distance or a greater reduction in resolution where the visual difference becomes unperceivable is indicative of a large difference between the images.