By Vurdlak on January 24, 2012, with 129 Comments
Richard Borwick discovered another phenomenal optical illusion this morning. Sure, we’ve seen the effect in action couple of times before, but then again – how often do you come across incredibly original optical illusions? Not often I guess… Still, what I’ve found so great about his discovery is how innocent it looks at first glance. Almost as if there was no evidence of the hidden illusion it holds… But wait! What if you blurred your vision just for a second? Go cross-eyed, blur your stare or simply step few feet back from your monitor. Now what you see? It has to be magic, right? Just when you’re done, be sure to share his identity…
(257 votes)
Stepped about 4 feet back and could see him, but couldn’t identify him. My vision is quite bad so it looked like a blurred man.
same here
Turn your head left and right continously with your eyes on the image, better than crossing them, I think.
I spy … Gary Sinise
same too. it was too hard to identify cos my eyesight is pure crap.
NPH himself! Neil Patrick Harris!
Wait for it.. wait for it.. wait for it…
I think the person in this photo is “LEGEN- wait for it… DARY.”
I wish you would have a “solution” page where, it we don’t get it we can go to find out what it is we aren’t seeing.
I only see lines in this illusion. I couldn’t figure out what the comic tree was, and numerous others.
Very frustrating.
You have to zoom away
Hey Christine,
you should be able to see the solutions inside the comments, more often than not they contain images, links and text solutions by our fans! for example, in this pots TomT has added the picture you should be able to see…
hey, i just wanted to tell you about the comic tree one. If you look at the leaves on the tree, they form the moustache and hair of the guy on the left and the twigs make up his face. I hope this helps!
He showed up 4 me. And I named it Bob.
I suppose it is Barney from How I met your Mother?!
I can see a man, but I can’t tell who it is.
Same here, had trouble…then stepped about 4 feet back and the figure becomes much more evident, but could not identify who it is…I know it’s silly, but my first impression was that it looks like Dr. Smith from TV’s Lost in Space.
Agree it looks likes Jonathon Harris (Dr Zachary Smith) of lost in space.
Who is it supposed to be? I have this as a widget so it was kind of a spoiler.
I have it on widget too, now that it’s on this site, and I can see it clearly. The original I saw had the instruction “shake your head”, which Vurdlak wisely deleted, as I shook my head to see the image until I was quite sick. Now I notice that I can see the image clearly if I look at it from a long way away (from my kitchen to my study), but the larger it is the more obscure.
I can definitely make out a figure in a suit, but I cant make out exactly who it is.
For those who won’t get it: the person is Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother.
My guess would be Philo Farnsworth…
Could be Dr. Oz.
Could be Neil Patrick Harris, but it could also be country singer Randy Travis, or maybe 100,000 other people.
……it is the talented Neil Patrick Harris! :)
it works much better if you look at the screen from a wide angle
It’s SPOCK………..
It could be NPG, or it could be JFK, or any number of people. I’m with Christine and Scarlett: Who is it supposed to be?
I think it’s Doogie. I saw him if I squinted my eyes. When you say blur or look cross-eyed I was thinking stereogram.
A male bust in a suit, shape of the head resembles Abraham Lincoln but it’s just a hunch, nothing sure. Just blurring is not very helpful – it’s the changing of visin from clear to blurry back and forth that enables to see the picture for a short moment. In small enough pictures you can see the outlines of a man without blurring your eyes, but it’s too small and blurry to recognize this way.
its lee harvey oswald behind bars,or jonny cash or han solo
or chuck norris in a ninjas dark shirt.its LHO.imao
Its definitely the guy from “How I met your mother”, although I never watched it, but I’ve seen the ad like a 1000 times.
when I’m focusing the image, I think I saw someone behind the image..seems like a guy, but I’m not sure coz i’ts blur…hmm…
When i get down my head to pick up my pen,then i just see the screen and seen him….and he is neil patrick harris…..
I’m going with Mr. Smith from Lost in Space
Had to move way back from the screen, but I think it is Tony Curtis???
It looks a bit like that famous picture of JFK?
well.. it seems a man, very good illusion, but can’t recognise hime.
When i read comments, the background seems to be moving.. it’s a very good optical illusion, but now i feel like i have to puke..
Once I stepped back, could see it a bit clearer. First person that came to mind was Rick Astley… Is this a rickroll? =P
I thought the same exact thing. :D
Doesn’t look like NPH to me, looks like Connery as bond, but every time I try to look more carefully to see who it is my eyes focus and I can’t see it again.
Steve Jobs?
I couldn’t make him out until I put the wrong glasses on. Is he the brother of Charlie from ‘Two and a Half Men’?
Looking again it could be Tom Hanks
The image appears also if you drag the mouse pointer from right to left over the picture, and follow the pointer with your eyes.
It´s awesome!!!!!
Neil Patrick Harris!!!!
It’s Bames griffin’ Jond
Shrink the image right down and the figure becomes reasonably clear.
I can’t actually recognise him. Perhaps Feynman?
Just save the pic and see the thumbnail.. its a man in tucsido.. but couldnt recognise the person!!!
i know who he is……john a macdonald…..
Held it at arms length (I have long arms) does look like Neil Patrick Harris for lack of better visage, illusion is clear at a distance, will pop right at you. Not like those bogus illusions that only 6 people can see.
Maxwell Smart
tom hanks
I think it’s a young Abe Lincoln, sans beard and hat.
At more than a metre away from my screen, I do indeed see someone with a suit and a tie. George Orwell???
Not a suit – a smoking jacket and a cravat. Bunny in the background?
Had to shrink the image down to 50% in the browser then there it was!
Works better if you zoom the browser window out.
I got the impression that it was supposed to be Neil Patric Harris too, but I’m not sure.
Looks like JFK
It is Abraham Lincoln.
Looks like George Orwell to me.
Big Brother is watching you
looks like JFK to me.
With my glasses, it looked like Tom Hanks. Without my glasses, it looked like Dick Clark
It’s either Hamilton Burger from Perry Mason or the waiter in Magical Mystery Tour that keeps piling the spaghetti on the fat woman’s plate, I’m not sure. Maybe another hit will make it clearer…
JFK
Anthony Perkins
This is the photo from the official Barney Stinson Facebook page. The illusion, when seen, looks exactly like that.
Neil Patrick Harris is a real good guess but I wouldn’t bet my life on it.
It’s mos def NPH. TonyT’s pic is right on. I saw it most easily when looking at the pic from askew. DON’T look at it directly in front of your screen. Move to the side, or angle your monitor up or down. ANYWHERE but straight on.
just push your laptop screen down to see the face
The illusion also works well if you just drag the window around your screen. I was able to view the man from 12-18 inches away from my monitor. Nice illusion.
It is definitely Barney!
George W. Bush
I can’t do it at any distance
It looks like NPH, if you tilt your screen top away from you at about a 45 degree angle, you don’t have to squint or look cross-eyed and it comes through really clear.
I thought it was GWB. :D
Very Strange!!!
With my glasses off I can see the illusion… but not well enough to tell who it was (it did look a bit like Maxwell Smart though).
With my glasses on the illusion vanishes.
A DOUBLE ILLUSION so to speak.
guys it is definitly b.a.r.n.e.y
Too difficult for this to work for me.
I could see it if I put reading glasses on and stepped away.
NPH? OK, but it also looks like a young George Wallace.
I thought it was Abraham Lincoln but it was hard to tell
its cool but can hardly see it tryed it like 10 times befor i could see it
The truth is, you would only guess Neil Patrick Harris if you know who Neil Patrick Harris is!
I have never heard of him :-(
So it was a bit anoying
I saw JFK at first, but when I enlarged I saw Lee Harvey Oswald.
I see nothing resembling Neil Patrick Harris
I See Dead People!!
Just stand back a few feet and move to the right or left to see it.
Doogie Howser!
I can see it clearly when not wearing glasses yet when I have them on, I struggle to see it!