By Vurdlak on December 17, 2006, with 146 Comments
Steve Chabot is the person who managed to beat gravity! As you see, he managed to do something, no one else has done before! There are already hundreds of followers, who made a Mystery Spot memorial sight, to honor this exciting invention! Can you guess how this optical illusion took place? Be sure to comment your thoughts. This is what Steve says: “Yes, It’s me on the pic. It was taken in the sand dunes near Tadoussak, Quebec, Canada.” Thanks for this marvelous photo! If you wanna’ check some copy-cats, be sure to see previous Anty Gravity Illusion.
Another thing I wanted to ask you all: I’m planning to build a house in a distant future, and would like to check some possibilities of exterior/interior design. I know there are programs that can help you build virtual house, and place all the furniture inside, reposition walls, doors etc. Anyone has experience with this? Which one is the best, and where could I find it online? Thanks!
(26 votes)
1. Comment. That looks awesome!
Is it perhaps that he is standing on the side of a steep hill, leaning just a bit to add to the illusion, with the camera tilted?
Hey Vurdlak. Ever heard of SIMS? Try that. It’s good. Maybe there’s a Tycoon of houses. Cause there’s like Roller Coaster Tycoon, so there might be a house tycoon or something.
That’s what I’m thinking, since it’s said to be taken in the sand dunes. Just a simple matter of rotating the camera.
His shirt is leaning right, so is he really tilted? Or is this just a tilt of the camera with him standing? I think that there may be rock by his shoe that he is leaning on. I’m probably wrong though. I would say its that the camera is tilted, but as I said before, his shirt is leaning right, right? Some please correct me if I’m wrong. At any rate, its a cool illusion.
or perhaps he was just falling and they took the picture right before he hit the ground. wouldn’t be that hard a picture to take.
I’ve seen one like that before…
i know it’s photoshoped,NO ONE can stand like this.. and i dont think so otowi
His left hand is holding something, probably a rope that’s holding him from the floor, that’s behind his left leg.
Ahah.. photo has been modified.. he’s standing on something on his left that has been deleted.. :D
no, look at his shirt. it’s hanging down, so he must really be tilted. and there’s no way he’d be able to stand on a hill that steep if it’s made of sand.
How did he do that?
He’s standing on a hill, look at the trees behind him, they seem to be parallel w/ him
If you look at his legs, they appear much shorter than they should be in relation to his body.
I think that his feet are buried. He is “rooted” at that angle.
Ooh! Ooh! First, he’s standing on a slanted hill. Second, Google SketchUp (sketchup.google.com) is a great architecture modeler.
look at the trees, he’s on a hill, and has buil up some sand at his feet to make it look as if he is standing straight, looks really cool though
SKETCHUP by Google is, by far, the best program out there! My wife is an architect and she is always using it. Its amazing what it can do.
He is actually falling; camera caught it just before he instincts forced him to move his arms for a protected impacet. Loose sand made it possible. This would not be done on a hard surface, unless the guy is smoking something expensive. Note the rigid placement of his hands – he is not at ease, although daring.
I don’t know.. his right sleeve isn’t falling down due to gravity, so I’ll have to say he’s just standing on a steep hill with the camera tilted.
One Word: photoshopped
You n00bs this is done by a bit of TV magic… one of his hands is covered by his back where he holds on th a pole which is then edited by any image editer really… like honestly come on get a clue lol jk it is pretty cool none the less
He is FALLING. Think about it – get out a movie camera, tell your friend to fall and not try to catch themselves, and take out the frame where he’s at the most angle. The guy’s on sand, so really, he wouldn’t be hurt by falling.
I was gonna say he has really, really strong ankles, but everyone else’s answers are far more convincing.
Cool illusion! I saw this on your awesome Mac widget and had to check it out. I thought he must be on a hill too, but the little bump of sand behind him would be pretty unlikely if the picture were rotated and he was on a hill. I like the buried feet idea (though it would hurt his knees), as his shoes look unfilled and discontinuous from his pants. Either way, well done!
he IS on a hill but he is also leaning slightly so that gives the look of his shirt hanging down – his ankles are bent and the trees are not quite at the sames angle as him.
Ok, I think I might have it, but of course it’s a bit of a stretch. See how his right leg is wider than his left? Also, do you see what appears to be a cylindrical shape to (his) right of (his) right thigh, and his hand is covering it? I think there is a metal pole, possibly even leaning a bit itself, that is sticking up out of the ground, through his pant leg.
Hey. About that virtaul house thing, you can use Google Sketchup. I know this was mentioned earlier, but it really is an awesome program and I can give you some tips on how to use it if you ever need it, so…yeah. http://sketchup.google.com
my email is twilight.lair@gmail.com
Its really cool. it kinda looks like he’s standing on a hill with the camera slanted and there is a breeze that makes it look like his shirt is being pulled by gravity.
Why is it that the first thing everyone thinks of when they see an illusion is photoshop? I believe otowi was correct. It appears that the person in the photo is on a steep hill and is leaning a bit to add to the effect. The leaning causes the shirt to hang to the side and make the trees appear skewed relative to the person. Besides, scrub trees growing out of steep hills don’t grow vertical anyway. Really a very easy illusion to do, just need a camera. No ropes, no posts, no invisible rocks, no photoshop. Remember Occam’s razor when looking at these illusions. The easiest solution is usually the correct one.
Naw… theres a post right behind him. Look at the way his hand is placed on his left side. and the jeans is bulging upward. Next time your buddy is next to a pole in the ground… dig a bit of a hole and just make yourself lean. and all you have to do is ask him what is showing.
And he is not on a hill… look at the Direction the grass is growing. and the direction the tree trunk is directed.
Very cool, if you look closley then you can see that he is on a hill. Therefore the camera was just tilted. But i still think that it is cool.
do u ppl actually think for more than 1 second b4 typing in your comments?only one of u has got it right so far,the guy that said it was taken while he was falling.isnt that obvious?
#9 I think is right.
maybe he is falling and he is using a rigged shirt like the one with the guy walking in the wind…
He is standing straight. He is on a hill, and the explanation for the shirt is the wind. Sand dunes are made by wind blowing into the hills.
zonkerz got it. he’s anchored into the ground somehow.
maybe he’s like the previous illusion where the guy has clothes that make him seem like he’s moving?
looks to me like somebody just took a picture as he was falling over.
If he was on a hill, the weeds would be parallel to his slant. they arn’t so the ground is horizontal.
It’s Easy: He is standing on a sand dune that is steep. If you look at his right foot it has a stone under it helping him to stand upstraight( well he is also leaning as can be seen in his left ankle). And the clothes look like they are dropping due to the wind against him.
I don’t think that he’s standing on a hill because I’ve never seen a hill that big before (look behind him it’s quite a large space) but I think the idea that his feet are rooted might be right.
He is on a hill, the wind is blowing so that it looks like the shirt is falling down. the trees and the brush and his feet all support this. but a very good job on a old trick
what if the shoes are stuck to the ground.. and hes tilting but the shoes give it the illusion that hes more tilted then he really is?
Have you seen the commercials for the new still frame cameras? I have one and the really make it seem as if you are standing still. It is obvious that he is just falling onto some nice soft sand and one of his friends wanted to test his cool new still-frame camera! it is still a very cool illusion though
If he was actually falling then there would be a blur to his right side. Durr. Maybe if you’d actually try and get your friend to fall down while you take a picture then you’d see what I mean.
i think the guy was trying to fall off when camera captured. :D
I think someone could just be taking the photo as he is falling. He’s not screaming because he planned to fall!
Otherwise I say he’s a martian that can defeat gravity :)
I think #31 is right. There is a fence pole behind him that he ran through his right pant leg, his right hand is trying to obscure the “bulge” in the seat of his pants. The ground may be *slightly* uphill too to add to the illusion.
Good job!
to he honest, hes not on a hill because you can see the grass would be pointing the same direction as him, the bulge in his right leg is obviously a wallet of phone if you look closely and hes not holding anything and you can see his hands are flat against his sides. The only explanations i can see are that he is either falling and not putting his arms out, or he is anchorred in somehow like his feet are buried. You can get sports cameras that dont blur aswell.
Actually, Scotty is getting ready to beam him up and he has to stand at a 45 degree angle so the transporter doesn’t malfunction. That darn Scotty should pick a better orbit to be in!
I have no idea how anyone could think that he is falling. He is obviously not falling. I don’t know exactly how he did it, but for you people who for some reason believe he is falling and they took a picture before he landed… look at the picture. You’re wrong.
Nth mysterious, if not where is Stephem Hawking? where are the general relativity physicist?
BUt its a cool illusion though
+ this website is the best lively optical illusion site
To #46: There does not have to be a blurr because you can get a mode on digital cameras for movement, so that even if the person is moving the picture will not blurr!!
On closer inspection, I think he is leaning on some sort of post.
i think that behind the trees there is a crain holding him thier
i think thhier is a crain holding him up behind the trees because if you look you cant see the top of the trees
I think the answer to this one is simple. Aliens.
Just in case you wanted a definitive answer here – I’ve been where he’s standing. It’s a bloody great hill, and that’s all there is to it.
He looks like he is a well padded fellow not afraid to fall on the sand for a good ruse. A common shutter speed of 1/60th of a second or faster would eliminate any possible blur as he is not moving very fast. His shirt is being pulled down by gravity.
He is a fall guy.
or he is a believer and member in good standing in the 45degree angle earth gravatational center society.
He’s standing vertically on a hill. Because the hill is slanted, it appears like he is leaning to the right. The camera is on the same slant as the hill. Tilt your head to the right so that he’s upright. It’s an easy trick.
yes…he’s a clever one.
this is a poor atmit to get attion u a whole
if you look in the back round you see the tree tiped, but, if you turn your head it is up straight, it only grows on an angle because it is on a hill wich the camera was turned to make it look like it was flat. also when you step on a sand dune the sand pushes flat downwards, but in this picture “straight up the sand is pushed on an angle, again turn you head and it will appear right.
if you look at the left sleeves ( well both) they are out like if you were standing straight, but if he really was tilted his left sleeve would be on his arm, but, it is not.
if you look at the grass you see it growing on an angle! because…it is on a hill!
I agree with Anonymous.
He is just falling.
his feet are at a different angle that his legs are at
his foot is dug in the ground and their is something holding him in then
there is prob no trick! he probably just fell like that and someone took a quick picture of him falling so that it looked like he was standing liek that! i did this with my friends and it worked! duhh!
It’s simple man look at his right hand… He’s holding onto a bar/pole and hid it behind leg and body.
Dude he’s hold a pole with his right hand… he hid it behind his leg and body.
Ok – My theory, He’s on a hill with a tilted camera and also adding to the effect by leaning a bit himself to increase the effect and make his shirt hang like that. If you look at the shirt it’s leaning – but not as much as him and also the tree in the background is leaning at an angle, but not as much as him. I think the bar theory is too complex to bother with.
Well if he’s really falling he sure looks like he’s having fun!
I haven’t read all the comments, but…
1 – don’t always say “photoshopped!!!” when you can’t explain something
2 – regarding the hanging clothes: maybe he tilted a bit and the rest was made by the camera; in fact, you can tell how much he tilted by rotating the pic until his shirt remains vertical … this makes sense to me
3 – what if he was just falling down with a smile? :)
theres a reason he’s bald
i think. he’s really standing up-right, and the camera is taking him upright as well.. no slope, no hill, no slanting of the camaera whatsoever. the reason he appears to be falling is– the photo is being cropped such that the entire image is slanted. if u are to save this picture and crop it and rotate it, it’ll be pretty clear. as to the shirt looking like its falling under the influence of the gravity, its cos of a breeze.
its actually kind of easy if u use photoshop, u can take 2 pictires of the same spot put them on top of eachother and have im tilted a little bit
THIS PHOTO WAS TAKEN AS AN ACTION SHOT. HE WOULD HAVE FALLEN OVER RIGHT AFTER THE SHOT WAS TAKEN. HE PROBABLY ONLY DID IT BECAUSE THE SAND IS A SOFT LANDING
Alright most of these illusions are mega fake like in this one:
WHY THE HELL HAS HE STUCK HIS FOOT IN THE GROUND???????
To, THE EDITOR
=-P I just told every one it fake!!!!
i belive it is the rubber stamp tool form photo shop or somthing like that. he had somthing to prop him self up then you use the rubber stamp tool to copy the bush things on the ground on top of the thin that is holding him up then you rotate then to make them look diffrent from the ones on the other side.
wow……