Frisbee Shadow Illusion

Tonight I did hell of a job updating this site. It took some amount of time to update Outdoors category, the biggest section in Mighty Illusions sidebar. This category consists of almost hundred illusions. There I usually place all the illusions I can’t find other proper section for. Help me, and browse through that category, and see if all the links function properly. Now let’s find out what todays illusion holds for us:

Brian Morphy sent me this photo, and wrote an explanation: “I stumbled upon your site recently and, as a big fan of optical illusions, I am really enjoying your postings. I snapped this photograph at a Frisbee Golf tournament at the school where I work in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). It appears as if both the black and orange Frisbee are simultaneously airborne yet in actuality, the orange one is lying on the ground but the position of the shadow of the black Frisbee makes it seem as if the orange disk is flying too. I have seen the shadow illusion illustrated in other pictures but I was delighted to catch it myself (though totally by accident).”

33 Replies to “Frisbee Shadow Illusion”

  1. the frisbe is larger than it appears to be and its shadow is(or would be) cast on top of the shadow of the tree the man reaching out for it is just to make you think its closer than it is

    1. ummm…no. they explain it at the top. i dont know what your thinking or what your saying because you dont even explain which one you are talking about. the black one is the the one that the man threw, and its shadow got in just the right spot to make it seem like the yellow one is flying, when really its just sitting on the ground.

  2. “Brian
    on 9:29 PM

    the frisbe is larger than it appears to be and its shadow is(or would be) cast on top of the shadow of the tree the man reaching out for it is just to make you think its closer than it is.”

    Did you read the description and the notes posted by the photographer? The Black frisbee is the one in flight. The yellow one is on the ground. It’s the shadow that makes the illusion work. The shadow of the black frisbee makes it look as though the yellow one is in flight too. If you look close enough, you can confirm this by the grass blades around the yellow frisbee.

    Give it a shot..

  3. That is too cool! I didn’t get it until after I’d read the narrative and looked at the pic AGAIN. Very nice timing there! =)

  4. really cool!! @first, I thought the black frisbee was lying flat on d ground and the yellow one was flying. just convinced myself that its the opposite because of the sun reflects directly on the black one when its underneath the shadow of the tree.. tricky.. nice shot!! :))

  5. This blog is mesmerizing. Just found it for first time tonight. Thanks for the fun. Great job. Namaste, Thea

  6. its cool…but how come the shadows of the 2 people go in different directions to the frisbee shadow???

  7. @medge

    the black frisbee would have to be very big! and + the shadow is smaller than the yellow frisbee :P but still, great timing :D

  8. Cool, at first glance I was like, so it’s 2 frisbees in flight. But we have to do our reading to reap the rewards, right Brian? Cool pic and yes great accidental timing.

  9. you should tell people how to look at the different pictures, because I don’t know what I’m looking for here. lol.

  10. That what the first time I saw a swear word that you said!!. You should do it more And I thought I was the only fucking person that swore.

  11. Dang!!! This website is addicting… Something, if you cover up the shadow beneath the yellow frisbee, it becomes very obvious that the yellow frisbee really is sitting on the grass.

  12. yes i know that we are supposed to be focusing in the foreground action but what about the background if you look in the top right hand corner of the screen you will see a Frisbee shape in the sky.

  13. i thought that the black/grey frisbee was on the ground, and the orange on was in theair, and not theother way around!!

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