Mighty Optical Illusions » Illusion

Kaleidoscopic Motion Illusion

Vurdlak — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 22:07:31 +0000

What I’m about to show you proves that there are still new optical illusions out there, just waiting to be discovered by some brave soul! On your right you may see a rotating wheel that seems to pulsate each time it aligns with the inner, star-shaped stationary object. You may also have noticed, that at the same time, the inner stationary shape seems to wiggle when the alignment occurs. Why is this happening, when it’s obvious that the inner shape is stationary, while the outer wheel’s rotation is perfectly smooth?

It turns out that the pulsations is caused by color assimilation, and the wiggling happens due to “ambiguous figure-ground segregation” (whatever this means), as Peter van der Helm discusses in his paper (2007).

Neon Heart Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 14:52:59 +0000

G. Sarcone really makes great optical illusions. If you don’t believe me, just check some of his stuff we featured earlier. Take his “Neon Heart illusion” for example – can you see the faint glow surrounding the heart? It might help if you squint your eyes a little. Well, I’m afraid the neon glow you perceived is just an illusion, and that the yellow unicolor background is same for each box in the grid. It’s just the part of the grid painted black that’s responsible for this. I think it has something to do with contrasts, but don’t take me for granted. BTW, the effect gets much stronger the more you shrink the image. If you wish, you can download our desktop widget (if you haven’t already) and see how it looks in the “Illusion of The Day” widget.

Impolite Fish Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:58:20 +0000

It’s one of those “When You See It…” type of photos that really had me puzzled at first. But then when it suddenly popped-out, I spilled my coffee all over myself. So how long did it take before you were able to see it? If you can ignore the meaning just for a second, I think you’ll agree it’s one of the better submissions we saw lately. Agree? Huge props to Michael J. Höller for bringing this to my attention via our FB channel.

Beyonce Afterimage Illusion

Vurdlak — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:49:29 +0000

I don’t know much about Beyonce’s controversial pregnancy, but what I know for sure is that she makes one hell of an optical illusion! What I want you to do (once again) is to stare at this negative photo of her for a minute or so. Don’t forget to fixate the dots on her nose while you’re doing it. After some time, turn your eyes to a plain surface right next to the image (a ceiling or a blank wall would serve fine as well). A “negative of a negative“, a proper image in full-color if you will, will then appear momentarily. The more you blink, the better afterimage effect you’ll experience! If this version wasn’t enough, you may try the full size version located here.

Who’s Hugging Whom?

Vurdlak — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 21:13:40 +0000

Here’s another accidental optical illusion photo that’s been circulating our Facebook channel lately. When I first saw it, it seemed as if the guy’s head wasn’t in proportion with rest of his body… Only then I realized his girlfriend wasn’t the one reading the newspapers. Instead, she is the one standing behind the couch and hugging her boyfriend. It becomes harder to see the illusion once you understand what is going on here… You decide if it’s good!

Cross Your Eyes To See Him!

Vurdlak — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:17:32 +0000

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…

Frazz’ Optical Illusion Oak Tree

Vurdlak — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 21:26:06 +0000

Dunno whether you’ve heard of Frazz or not (I haven’t), but I guess it’s a popular comic in western hemisphere. From what I’ve learned, the comic regularly appears in over 200 newspapers worldwide, including the Los Angeles Times, Seattle Times, Chicago Tribune and Detroit News. Invented by Jef Mallett, it follows the adventures of an unexpected role model – an elementary-school janitor who’s also a Renaissance man. While he’s sweeping the hall, he’s whistling Beethoven. Or Lyle Lovett. He paints the woodwork in the classrooms; he paints a Da Vinci on the cafeteria wall. He’s a trusted authority figure who is every kid’s buddy. One such recent comic, included an optical illusion I thought you might like. How long does it take before you see it? Enjoy!

Deep In The Forest…

Vurdlak — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 23:14:20 +0000

Karl Kwasny is an Australian illustrator, currently based in Manhattan, New York. Few days ago one of our readers (thanks Neli!) sent me this illustration Karl made, followed by a poem which can be found immediately after the picture. I tend not to post skull illusions that often, probably cause we’ve seen so many, but occasionally such a nice item appears it would be shame had we left it aside. The illusion it hides is quite easy to see, and the story it holds is for you to imagine!

Deep in the forest, where heavy feet sink,
you mightn’t be quite as alone as you think!

Ninja’s Colorful Shuriken Illusion

Vurdlak — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:10:59 +0000

A shuriken, our word of the day, is a traditional Japanese concealed weapon that was generally used for throwing, and sometimes stabbing or slashing. They are sharpened hand-held blades made from a variety of everyday items such as nails, knives, washers, and other flat plates of metal. When translated from Japanese, it literally means “sword hidden in the hand”. Here in the west it’s most commonly known as “throwing star”, “ninja star” or inaccurately as “Chinese stars”, though they took many different shapes and designs during the time they were used.

So what does all of this have to do with our latest optical illusion, you ask? Not much except visual similarity, I guess. I just thought it would be cool to mention ninjas and shurikens in the paragraph above. Ok, now let me explain how the illusion works – If you concentrate on the central dot in the animation below, after seeing the first frame consisting of two overlapped colored objects, you get the impression next two frames are showcasing isolated objects filled with appropriate fluorescent color! In reality, all frames except first lack color, and what you perceive as color afterwards is just an afterimage burnt in your retina! Don’t worry though, it only lasts couple of seconds…

Concentrate on the black central dot, and see the colors magically appear!

Abbey Road Meets Charlie Brown

Vurdlak — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 16:05:46 +0000

I’m certain most of you know about The Beatles, and have probably at some point in your life seen the album cover where they walk across the Abbey Road. The original image of the Beatles on the crossing has become one of the most famous and imitated in recording history. One such spoof was recently done featuring the Peanuts’ gang Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Woodstock, & Marcie. Check it out below! The most interesting part is how the anamorphic chalk drawing appears when seen from a side.

For their front cover design (scroll further down), a photograph of the group traversing a zebra crossing, the photographer Iain Macmillan was given only ten minutes to take the photo whilst he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up the traffic. In the scene, the group walk across the street in single file from left to right, with Lennon leading, followed by Starr, McCartney, and Harrison. McCartney is barefoot.

It might be interesting to mention how to the left of the picture (parked next to the zebra crossing) is a white Volkswagen Beetle motor-car which belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across from the recording studio. After the album was released, the number plate (LMW 281F) was stolen repeatedly from the car. The crossing is also a very popular destination for Beatles fans and there is even a webcam featuring it!

Craig Tracy’s Body Art

Jill Harness — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:44:37 +0000

Vurdlak has already featured Craig Tracy in the past, along with some of his most incredible body-paint works. In fact, he even named Tracy’s snow leopard image as one of the best optical illusions in 2009. Of course, it’s precisely that amazing level of skill that made me want to display few more images by this amazing artist! So here we go:

“How good is he?”, you may ask. Well, let me put it this way: the image just on the right, if Tracy weren’t such a fantastic body painter, would most certainly be labeled NSFW (*Not Safe For Work). Fortunately, instead you are seeing a gorgeous tiger eye staring at you intensely. If you really want to see what kind of effort goes into creating these exquisite masterpieces, be sure to visit the authors website where you can see an array of photos and videos depicting the creation of these works of art.

In fact, if you are truly inspired by Mr. Tracy’s work, there is even an information on how you can volunteer to become one of his models, thus becoming a part of the creation yourself. Who knows, maybe one of you will be featured on Mighty Optical Illusions one day…

But don’t think for a moment that Tracy’s artwork is solely limited to realistic images of big cats being painted on human canvases. No, his talent ranges from Liu-Bolin-styled camouflage pieces…

to stunning floral paintings (that just happen to be painted on a naked person)…

to detailed depictions of non-feline creatures.

Follow The Spiral!

Vurdlak — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 02:28:00 +0000

Every once in a while the moment arrives for a complete visual redesign of this website! A total makeover, if you prefer. Reasons are many; trends change, web-design advances… but most importantly -I get tired working in the same surrounding and need something to boost myself in order to continue updating this blog with same enthusiasm!

Up-till now, visual design of Mighty Optical Illusions was done by myself. Obviously, it didn’t take very long before I’ve reached my limits. For a control-freak and detail-obsessed person I am, admitting this wasn’t the easy part. Yet it helped tremendously in freeing myself and in finding the right person to do it. It was about time to outsource design to a professional!

Before I introduce the proposed idea, and go live with our new identity, there are still some minor details to be polished. Still, I’d REALLY appreciate to hear your thoughts and suggestions! So here it goes – below you may find the early mockup of our new appearance. What do you make of it? Be sure to open the template in full size before you make up your mind. I still haven’t decided should we keep the grayish header bar (reserved for advertisement), as well as the current logo suggestion? How about the general feel? What would you add/change? Looking forward to hear your opinion! …Oh, almost forgot to mention the illusion above – it appears there is one continuous black and white spiral, while in fact there are many concentric circles inside!

Click on the template above to open it in full size!

Reverse Color Blindness Test

Vurdlak — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 21:00:25 +0000

In the past we have featured multiple color blindness tests, where individuals suffering from this particular “disorder” could’ve felt put on a side. Even though, only 7% of male population is color blind, I thought it would be interesting to explore reverse color tests, where rest of us would have difficulty solving them. I have found exactly what I was hoping for at G. Sarcone’s website! In fact, most color blind people can easily read what is written in the picture above. That means, if you fail the test, you probably have the full range of color sensitivity that is attributed to color-sighted people. Anyway, this test is not to be considered by itself sufficient to determinate defective color vision. Now let’s see a mockup of what they were able to read, while rest of us couldn’t:

Color vision deficient people have a tendency to better night vision and, in some situations, they can perceive variations in luminosity that color-sighted people could not. It might also be worth mentioning how U.S. Army discovered that color blind people could spot “camouflage” colors that fooled those with normal color vision!

Regular Color Blindness Test no.1

Now let’s see if you are able to find a circle, star, and/or square in this Demonstration Card below. In reality, everyone should be able to see a circle, star, and square as this is a demonstration piece only.

Regular Color Blindness Test no.2

Let’s see how the previous, “normal” tests worked like. Try and find a circle, star, and/or square in 3 seconds or less in this picture below. While the colorblind individuals should only see the yellow square. Color normal individuals should see the yellow square and a “faint” brown circle.

Regular Color Blindness Test no.3

The question is same -are you able to find a circle, star, and/or square in 3 seconds or less in this picture below? Just the opposite from previous test, colorblind individuals should now see the yellow circle, while color normal individuals should see the yellow circle and a “faint” brown square.

Trees Full of Life Gallery

Vurdlak — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 01:31:00 +0000

People, words and objects hidden inside tree branches are undoubtedly one of the most popularly exploited illusion-motives on this site (up to date). Still, good illusions are always welcome. It doesn’t matter if they closely resemble some we’ve already seen before!

For example, look what Deviant artist megaossa has managed to come up with! Most interesting part is how I discovered his illusion gallery accidentally, thanks to our Facebook channel.

When I recently started promoting our FB page, I have secretly hoped for a critical mass, where at some point, good illusions and great talent would spontaneously find their way and reach us! Could it be that we have reached that point?

But let us return back on the topic. If I asked you, would you be able to spot all of the illusions in megaossa’s portfolio? For example, are you able to see the baby inside the below photo? Do you find this real-life version or the original Baby Tree Illusion better?

Dove and Peace Optical Illusion

Vurdlak — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 16:15:38 +0000

Just in time for Christmas, I’ve dug up this marvelous painting by world-famous Octavio Ocampo. What at first seems as randomly scattered flock of doves, when observed closer makes a portrait of a beautiful female face.

What you probably knew from before – Dove (domesticated Rock Pigeon, usually white in color) is a traditional Christian symbol of love and peace. According to the biblical story, after the flood, a dove was released by Noah in order to seek for land. When it returned back to Ark carrying an olive leaf in its beak, it then became clear to Noah that somewhere out there, flood has withdrawn and land has emerged!

So, in spirit of Christmas, no matter which faith you belong to (and even if you don’t care much about religion), I wish you all a peaceful and merry Christmas! Stay well my friends, and be sure to remember -one person DOES make a difference. Only those “foolish” enough to think they can change the world, end up changing it!