"Afghan Girl" by Steve McCurry

Probably all of you saw this picture at some point of your life. Titled the “Afghan Girl”, this photo was named the most recognized photograph in the history of National Geographic. Although girl’s name was not known, her picture appeared on the June 1985 cover of the magazine. The image of her face, with a red scarf draped loosely over her head and with her piercing sea-green eyes staring directly into the camera, became a symbol both of the 1980s Afghan conflict and of the refugee situation worldwide. Gula was known throughout the world simply as the Afghan Girl until she was formally identified in early 2002.

Over time, many variations of Steve McCurry’s original photo appeared. At some point even in optical illusion form, as we see below. All I could find about this illusion, is that people can’t seem to look at it for too long. Apparently you get a headache, or become nervous at best. Maybe this isn’t the true nature of this illusion, but it just didn’t make me hallucinate like some other animations did. Wait few seconds for the animation to load (it’s 1MB big), and share your experience afterward.

Open this picture in full-size, then scroll it up and down!

Akiyoshi Kitaoka is a Professor of Psychology at Ritsumeikan University, Japan. He has specialized himself in visual perception, and visual illusions of geometrical shapes, brightness, color, in motion illusions and other visual phenomena. Akiyoshi became most renowned through his Rotating snakes illusion, which many of you have seen already. Btw, Rotating Snakes illusion currently holds 4th position in our “Top 10 Illusions of all time” gallery.

Recently, Akiyoshi updated some of his most popular illusion with additional “Plastic” layer – which resulted in drastic improvement of the optical illusion effect they hold. Check out both of the thumbnails included in this post, and don’t forget to open them in full-size to see the illusion better!

View in full size to see the complete effect!

Before I log out, I’d like to thank those of you that helped me with some great tips about NYC. We’ll definitely go and see some Broadway musicals, and I’ll be sure to get my tickets at TKTZ stands like Crystal Xizzle recommended. Seeing a Naked-Cowboy is a must, and don’t worry Maria – all those museums will be checked :) Thehpdrifter don’t be surprised if I contact you, to show us some nice Jazz clubs, etc… ;) Any other suggestions? Are there any regular stand-up shows held at the Seinfeld-type-of-bars? Where is the best place to get some NBA or MLB tickets? Looking forward to hear your comments!

P.S. – When you open the gallery of this post, there is another hidden gem inside! Let’s see how many of you find it…

Which one is largest? - Illusion of 3 Audi's

Click To View the Solution Animation

You are free to play with the color backgrounds, switching them when you wish. After the colored background disappears, our little birdie remains colored. I’d like to thank Jerry Carpenter for sending me this one.

A properly thrown curve ball spins in a way that makes the air on one side move faster than on the other. This causes the ball to move along a gradual curve. From the point of view of a batter standing on home plate, though, curve balls seem to “break,” or move suddenly in a new direction. This year’s winning illusion may explain this phenomena. Arturo’s animation shows a spinning ball that, when watched directly, moves in a straight line. When seen out of the corner of the eye, however, the spin of the ball fools the brain into thinking that the ball is falling towards the left. We had another VERY SIMILAR example posted few months ago.

So, as a baseball flies towards home plate, the moment when it passes from central to peripheral vision could exaggerate the movement of the ball, causing its gradual curve to be seen as a sudden jerk. Be sure to observe the falling ball directly, and indirectly (from aside) while reading the text embedded inside the animation. See the difference? Other winning illusions will be posted shortly. More can be found here.

When I was younger, the local churches would send these odd little optical illusions in with their propaganda; their way of saying, “You see Jesus everywhere, so deep down, you must be a Christian too. By the way, can you send us some cash?” Well, we never sent the money, but my brother and I would play with the little Jesus illusion card for hours. The idea was, if you stared at the negative type image for long enough, then closed your eyes, you’d see Jesus. My brother and I saw Jesus a lot, until my mom bought us a Nintendo.

This illusion is a little similar. The directions are, stare at the center for ten seconds, then gradually start to move your eyes around the outer perimeter of the circle. The image appears to move, preferably, according to the “experts”. In my opinion, it’s more like it’s squirming… The sensation is interesting; I always liked the illusions with directions like, “stare at it long enough and…” rather than seeking hidden objects. It’s more fun to find something that shouldn’t be there, by all accounts, but because of the mysteries of our eye’s biology, we found it!! This one is a like that. Enjoy, and let us know how it worked for you in the comments.