Brrr! The air is starting to get pretty chilly in the mornings, and you know what that means…autumn is here and Old Man Winter isn’t far behind! I, myself, am not a big fan of winter. I really can’t handle the cold and would love to follow the many birds and butterflies that migrate to warmer climates down south every winter! Like these butterflies…

Unfortunately,though, these poor butterflies seem to be a bit confused. Instead of flying straight down south, they appear to be flying in a circle. I doubt they’ll get very far, but it’s a fun flying butterflies illusion anyway! If you’re having trouble seeing this flying butterflies illusion, try looking slightly to the left or right of the image; you should see them move, as if they’re flying in a circle.

If you love moving illusions, you won’t want to miss this crazy moving tunnel illusion! It’s one of my favorites!

Moving Optical Illusions

(2 votes)

There’s a good chance that what I’m about to show you will blow your mind! It’s a pretty awesome building illusions that, if you don’t know how it was done, will leave you wondering!

There’s not really much explaining this building illusion yet, so I’ll just have to show you and take it from there. You might even be able to figure it out on your own before I reveal the spoiler pictures at the end of the post.

This first image really isn’t that strange. I’m not really sure why people are sitting on their window ledges, but hey—to each their own, right? But, things start to get weirder from here…

Now this is a strange building illusion! People seem to be falling, crawling, and hanging all over the front of this building! Seems a little dangerous if you ask me. But is it really? Let’s check out another picture…

Are things starting to become a little clearer to you now? If not, this next image should completely give away the secret behind (or rather in front of) this awesome building illusion…

Do you understand now? The “building” in this building illusion isn’t a building at all. It’s nothing more than a mock building facade created on the ground, and a huge mirror is placed above the building facade at a 45 degree angle.

This interactive building illusion, constructed by Argentinean architect Leandro Erlich, allows people to get an interesting perspective of themselves. They can sit, crawl, stand, and lay down on the building facade and look up to see themselves in the mirror. I would love to play around on this interactive illusion! Alas! I don’t see myself making it to the Jing An Kerry Centre in Shanghai, China any time soon, so it looks like I’m a bit out of luck.

Wouldn’t you love to play on this interactive building illusion? If you ever travel the world, you can also make a stop in Holland and stay in this funky hotel! Don’t forget to send me a postcard!

Art Illusion

(9 votes)

Technology is advancing at an exponential rate, and these days we have the world at our fingertips! Almost anything we need to know or learn is literally only a click or tap away. The potential for learning and expanding our minds is almost limitless. It’s crazy! People have all of this information, and…we choose to use it to look at funny cat pictures and other weird things.

Well, I guess a funny cat picture or two really isn’t gonna hurt much in the long run. Some of them sure are a hoot, and a marathon meme session can be a nice stress reliever after a long hard day. Even I get sucked in by a funny cat picture from time to time. (Okay, probably more often than I’m willing to admit…)

In fact, I love this funny cat picture that was sent to the Mighty Optical Illusions Facebook page by reader Kovács.

In addition to being a cute and funny cat picture, it’s also a pretty neat photo illusion! The cat’s ear and head blend in perfectly with the guy’s head, and it’s a little hard to tell where one ends and the other begins!

Thanks again, Kovács! And if anyone else has any illusions they’d like to submit, you can send them in a message to the Mighty Optical Illusions Facebook page.

If you liked this funny cat picture, head over and check out this cat with a human reflection for another little chuckle!

Animals

(9 votes)

I hope everyone had a fantastic and safe Labor Day weekend! But, it’s back to the grindstone for us working stiffs. Bummer. Then again, those bills won’t pay themselves, now will they?

Today, I have a pretty cool ambiguous face illusion drawn by Humberto Machado. Tell me—is this a mad or sad face?

I have to admit that this one almost stumped me. It took me forever to figure out the mad or sad face illusion here! In reality, there are actually two faces in this picture. One face is just harder to see than the other one. You either have to look at the image just right or cover part of the image to see both faces.

You most likely spotted the sad faced man right off the bat. Finding the mad faced man, though, will be a bit trickier. If you see it, don’t spoil it in the comments! You can leave hints and clues, but try not to give it away completely.

If you liked this mad or sad face, don’t forget to rate it below!

If you liked this mad or sad face Humberto Machado illusion, head over and see if you can find both the swan and the squirrel!

Animations, Art Illusion

(12 votes)

Bummer! I should have posted today’s Star Wars light saber illusion last Friday for Force Friday. Oh well, better late than never, huh? So, here’s a fun image for all of you Star Wars fans!

Looks like The Force is strong in this one. He’s just riding around on his pony with his handy dandy light saber at the ready! Or is he…?

The light saber that the boy is holding isn’t a light saber at all. If you look closely, you can see that his hand doesn’t actually wrap around it. The light saber in this image is just the crack between the barn doors in the background. Light is coming through the top and the bottom half is dark, giving it a Star Wars light saber illusion.

I really thought that this little boy was holding a light saber when I first looked at this image. And, he has a pretty funny surprised look on his face, so that just added to the light saber illusion for me. I mean, it’s not every day that you get to carry around a light saber while riding a horse! I’d be pretty surprised too!

Make sure to take a moment to rate this Star Wars light saber illusion below! Then, head over and check out this Yoda optical illusion and this Star Wars bookends optical illusion!

Funny Illusions, Photo Illusions

(13 votes)

I hope everyone is enjoying Labor Day weekend here in the states! After all of that hard work all year long, it’s kind of nice to get a little recognition, eh? Who am I kidding? It’s nice to get a day or three off and spend some time with The Fam in the backyard around the grill!

Today’s illusion was sent in through the Mighty Optical Illusions Facebook page. Thanks again, Ruben!

This is another perfectly timed photo illusion. It was taken at just the right time and looks like the Buddhist statue is catching a plane as it was flying by. If this photo was taken just a second or two earlier or later, the effect would have been lost.

What did you think of this Buddhist statue catching a plane? Let us know what you think of it by taking a moment to rate it below!

Want to see another illusion like this Buddhist catching a plane? This statue looks like it’s juggling a plane!

Impossible Objects

(11 votes)

I just got a chance to check through the messages on the Mighty Optical Illusions Facebook, and shame on me! I see that some of you have sent in a few pretty neat funny photos. I’ll try to get these up this weekend.

First up, can you see what’s wrong with this picture, which was sent to us by Nikola?

This one took me a bit, so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get it right away. I’m not going to give away the answer just yet, but I’ll give you a hint—it has to do with one of her hands.

The next funny photo, sent to use by Kovács, is probably a little easier to figure out, but it’s a tad stranger looking at first glance…

Can you figure out who’s grabbing who here? It may not be as weird as you think!

Let us know what you think of these funny photos by rating them below! Five stars if you loved them, and one star if you hated them.

If you liked these funny photos, you might also like our caught in the moment collection, which has a few pretty funny photos in it!

Multiple Meanings

(18 votes)

Multiple meaning illusions are probably some of my favorite illusions. When you first look at them, you may see one image, but when you look a little harder, you’ll see something entirely different. Most people will see one image or the other at first, then the second image will slowly come into focus. Sometimes it can be hard to see the second image, because it’s so well hidden, but once you see it, it’s usually pretty hard to unsee it!

That was the can with this cow illusion for me, so I’ll use it as an example. Take a good look at the cow illusion below…

Now, which cow illusion did you see first? Depending on a number of factors, you may have seen one of two things first.

When I first looked at this image, I saw two black cows grazing, one on each side of the image. They are facing each other and all you can see is the sides of their faces. It took me a bit, but after a little focusing, the second cow illusion came into view—a white cow grazing. If you don’t see the white cow illusion, focus on the white space between the two black cows. The white cow is facing the viewer.

If you’re like most people, you probably noticed the two black cows first. Our eyes are instinctively drawn toward the darker areas of the image, and our eyes have a hard time bringing shapes in the negative space—the white areas—into focus.

All in all, I’d say this cow illusion is pretty nifty! If you agree (or disagree), make sure you take a couple of seconds to rate this illusion with the stars below!

If you liked this cow illusion or just negative space illusions in general, you might also want to head over and check out this awesome Buenos Aires zoo ad campaign!

Animals, Multiple Meanings

(14 votes)