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September 14, 2006 by Vurdlak  

Check out what comes from National Geographic! Steve Greenwood submitted this fabulous illusion via email: “If you check out the attached photo from National Geographic you will see that the black shapes are NOT the camels, the narrow stripes below the shapes are, the black shapes are the shadows of the camels, as this photo was taken from overhead. Good stuff!”. Now here’s another asignment for you: try to find one that has someone riding it. I’m not sure, but I think I even spotted two with riders on them. Another thing, is there one with two humps on it’s back? Am not sure, but let’s try t find one! Thanks Steve!

National Geographics Shadow Camels

Comments

34 Responses
  1. ricardo_africa

    really nice picture

  2. Chris

    That’s quite beautiful, National Geographic photographers are the cream of the crop, in my opinion.

  3. db

    Why do some of the shadows seem to have shadows?

  4. Daft SPARTAN-117

    haha, thats great. I love the pictures taken by Nat. Geo. and this ppic is really cool looking

  5. joe

    Very cool image, though I find it strange that the shadows cast by the camels don’t go over other camels. Dosent seem right to me…anyone have any suggestions? The best example of what I’m talking about can be seen on the 4th camel in from the lower left.

    Cheers.

  6. Merlijn

    thats nice

  7. rohtop

    you can say that Chris!
    beautifull picture!

  8. STATIC

    Thats totally awsome

  9. Pouch

    to Joe… the sun is at a lower angle - the shadow of the camel is going right under the other camels legs. and DB - the shadows that seem to have shadows are caused by the side of the camel that isnt getting sun light - the “dark side of the camel” per say.

  10. scott

    Joe, the camels’ shadows do go over other camels, its just that the contrast of the shadow is much easier to see on the sand than on the other camels. Think about it; if you stood in someone else’s shadow, it would go over you, but you wouldn,t look very dark compared to that person’s shadow on the ground.

  11. chris

    @joe
    shadows are cast from each camel downward, no matter how deep down the sun already is. so no shadow from one camels back can cast on another camel of the same size. the shadow of your 4th camel from the lower left is of course cast onto the legs of the camel next to it. but that can’t be seen from the top, since the foto is taken from a 90° angle
    cheers

  12. grant

    the reason shadows aren’t cast on the camels themselves is because of the angle of the sun, the shadow goes under the camel, i guess a little bit of shadow on the legs, but can’t see that from the angle

  13. grant

    actually i was wrong, didn’t look enough. there are shadows. simply look over one more camel, the group of two just right of the ones joe was talking about, you can see that a shadow is indeed cast onto another camel

  14. joe

    Thanks guys and gals for clearing up the mystery of the camel shadow for me :)

  15. dylan

    booooooooooooooooooooo

  16. Dylan!!!

    Veeery clever picture!! I can see more than two riders on the camels though.And there are’t camels with two humps on their backs,they’re the riders.

  17. fabio

    great pic!!!

  18. lymon

    dylan with the little d is stupid. why did you say boo you loser.

  19. Francis E. Lawlor

    Why are the camels white? Are they all albinos ?
    Or was the Photo “doctored” ?

  20. HighDesert

    Strange! Where are the SHADOW PEOPLE????

  21. quirky-gal..x

    neat picture ♥in it

  22. kittypoo

    Neat cool awsome!!!

    Meow!! oops!

  23. Anonymous

    How come they have 2 shadows each?

  24. Anonymous

    i think some of the camels cast shadows on each other and some dont is because some of the camels are up on dunes and some aren’t

  25. Anonymous

    Beautifull!!! especially the colors of the sand.

  26. Tawn

    Wow..this is a beatuiful picture! I see at least 2 camels with riders.

    BTW…love the Random Illusion!!

  27. Anonymous

    No riders, just crossed shadows. Beautiful picture!! Love it!!

  28. Anonymous

    ITS BLACK CARDBOARD CANT YOU SEE!!!! the ’shadows’are standng up…. but it might be becouse of somthing else

  29. s

    this is awasome ,what is it?

  30. OuRaNoS

    I think I saw a deer on the near middle left…..

  31. Anonymous

    Reply to joe: one reason why the shadows of particular Camels do not cross those that are near by may be, every Camel isnt the same height, there could be a shorter camel next to a taller one. it also depends on the geography of the land as well. Because it is a “satelite” shot, it is dificult to see whether certain Camels are higher up due to higher points in the dunes.

  32. Anonymous

    I found 3 camels with two humps but its quite hard to see the second hump in the shadows.
    As for finding the camels with riders I wasn’t quite shore what to look for. I mean, where abouts on the camel would the rider be?

    Really good photo by the way.

  33. w00t no name

    this is realy good you can see the real camels and were looking at them from above

  34. Lou

    Why do the shadows have shadows? It doesn’t matter what angle the sun is at, there can’t be 2 shadows of the same animal.

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