New Year's Eve Before Image Optical Illusion

On New Year's Day last year after quite a wild party a friend found this image left on a car in the neighborhood.

This is different then most optical illusions it is what I call a before-image optical illusion. You have invariably seen many after-image optical illusions, the type where you stare at an image then look away and see an illusion.

This optical illusion is a before-image illusion, you stare at it and while you are staring you start to see what came before that left this image.

What do you see?

If you are partying away from home please designate a driver in advance and have safe, sane and consensual New Year's Eve experience.

Happy New Years All!


Update: Daria pointed out that the origin of this photo and possibly the real story behind it can be found here.

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Santa Claus Illusion?

Early Christmas day this jet reported striking a rather large bird. Upon landing it was discovered to be a large man dressed in red. The authorities are still puzzled how this man was struck by the jet at 10,000 feet. It has been speculated that he may have been part of a new fad of high altitude free fall jumpers.

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Christmas Angel Illusion

Angel Of The Sunset
Copyright 2005 HippieDude
Part of his Christmas Art set
Used w/permission

Here is an optical illusion for the Christmas season.

Do you see the angel trumpeting the arrival of Christ?

Merry Christmas Everyone!






For those that can't see it here is an angel I found on Google that is similar to the optical illusion above. The angel is in the opening in the clouds above in the center of the top area.

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Park Guell Architecture Illusion

This is an excellent photo. The architecture and the person blend to give the viewer a slightly brain bending feeling.

What is happening in this photo?

The below image is part of Park Guell in Barcelona. The Barcelona Tourist Guide says the following:

Park Guell was commissioned by Eusebi Güell who wanted to create a stylish park for Barcelona aristocracy.

Guell park contains amazing stone structures, stunning tiling and fascinating buildings. (read more)

Parc Guell by Antoni Gaudi
Copyright 2005 Müjgan
Used w/permission

The above building is leaning like this by design and the person in the photo leaning back against the building just adds to the dizzying effect that this image creates.

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Checker Shadow Optical Illusion Revisited

It occurred to me today that the Checker Shadow Optical Illusion that I presented here could have been better presented if it fit my blogs color scheme so I decided to modify the original. I gave it a black background and changed the light source.

The bottom line is still the same. Square A and Square B below are the exact same color. Hard to believe isn't it?

I look at this and find it hard to believe. But I used the extension in Firefox called colorzilla which provides you with an eyedropper tool. I checked both of squares and sure enough the RGB values of the grays in both square A and square B are 135-135-135.

©1995, Edward H. Adelson (modified by Walt)

If you don't believe it print the image and cut out both squares then hold them next to each other. I have done exactly that. I know they are the same color, but my eyes refuse to allow me to see it by just looking at the picture. Try and convince yourself that they are the same color. I know it is true but I don't see it as being true.

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Starry Night Optical Illusion

Barbara, AKA Pandarine over on Flickr took the below illusion photo.

I love this photo. She did not add or remove anything from this image. This is a real photograph, although there is the possibility that she adjusted the color slightly for effect.

What do you think? How was this photo taken?

How did she capture this beautiful starry night sky?

Oh by the way there are no stars or snow in this photo.

Starry Night
Copyright 2004 Pandarine
Used w/permission

For the truth behind this illusion click on the image.

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Sandman's Daughter Optical Illusion

This photo was taken by Jair Ribbeiro, a Brazilian, living in Florence, Italy since 1998. Jair posed the question in his Flickr area:

"Sand sculpture or real woman covered by sand?"

Copyright 2004 Jair Ribbeiro
Used w/permission

Jair had this to say about this photo.

I was walkin' in the Farol da Barra Beach (Bahia Brazil) last August '04 when I saw this ~...~ in the sand.. It was really unbelievable..

So what do you think?

Is it possible that this is a real woman covered in sand? Could this be a woman on the beach that has been photoshopped to provide the sand texture?

Bottom line is if she takes up the family business there will be a lot of men that will suddenly become insomniacs.

Sandman \Sand"man`\, n.
A mythical person who makes children sleepy, so that they rub their eyes as if there were sand in them. [1913 Webster]

Whatever the truth is this is one interesting illusion.

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Fork Optical Illusions

Devil's Fork

March 1965 cover of MAD Magazine by artist Norman Mingo. MAD introduced the figure as the MAD "Poiuyt." MAD magazine bought the figure from one who claimed that it was original, but MAD soon found out that the figure had been previously published.

No one is sure who originated this optical illusion. It seems to have surfaced in various publications in 1964, including the American Journal of Psychology in a paper published by D.H. Schuster. Besides being known as the MAD Poiuyt it is known by many names The Impossible Trident, The Devils Fork and Three Stick Clevis being three of them.

Fork Illusion
Copyright Syd Mannion
Used w/permission

Being aware of the various renditions of the illusion at the top of this page Syd decided to create the above photo. He states,

I wanted to give this theoretical diagrammatic idea a "real" life existence. I entered it into a professional photographic exhibition where it won first prize.

Well done Syd!


The below image is unlike the two above. It is an actual picture of a fork. Gaja posted the following comment with this image,

"Does anyone else have trouble seeing which way this fork goes?"

Copyright Gaja J Snover
Used w/permission

So do see what Gaja saw?

I see three things with this fork.

Right off I see a fork and can tell exactly which way it bends.

The second thing I see is a weird bend down. This makes the fork appear to be abnormally bent to its right.

The third thing I notice is the same effect that Gaja noticed. As I scan the image there are times where the fork appears to bend in the opposite direction. Gaja wasn't attempting to create an illusion but did notice it later after reviewing his images.

Thank you Gaja and Syd for allowing me to present these two fork illusions here.

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Firefox Browser Optical Illusion

On Oct 19th the internet browser wars reached a milestone, Firefox hit the 100 million download mark. I'm sure that Microsoft thought that Firefox was just an optical illusion. A year ago it was barely a blip on the radar but now it has an 11.5% global market share. Here in the United Sates that percentage is higher at 14.1 percent.

Now Google has teamed up with Firefox to make Microsoft's optical illusion a giant reality ready to throw a monkey wrench into Microsoft's plan for world domination. You can be part of the team that attempts to keep Microsoft in check by clicking the button to the right and taking 5 minutes to install the worlds best browser.

(It's free and you won't have to enter any personal information)

Also by clicking on this button and installing Firefox w/the Google toolbar you are supporting this site. Google will make a small contribution for every new user of Firefox installed by clicking on the banner. If you have broadband, support this site, by taking 5 minutes and installing Firefox now. You won't regret it.

I've been using it for so long that having to use Internet Explorer drives me crazy. Its like trying to put a bike together without all of the tools required.

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