The Laser Cup Illusion

Michael Ciuffo is the author of this SF optical illusion. What is neat about it, is that many of you that have laser pointer pen and advanced digital camera, can make one of your own! I let Michael describe his submission himself: “For this shot, I took my camera into a room with no windows and focused it on a mug. I then turned out all the lights and opened the shutter for a 10 second exposure. While the shutter was open and the room was dark, I “drew” on the mug with a laser pointer very quickly. I then removed the mug and positioned my hand where the handle was and then flashed a strobe to expose the background. The result is a “wire frame” of the mug.” To be honest, it took me while to figure this one out, even though I consider myself really smart. Be sure to check more optical illusions that involve cups, you can find them if you search this site for “Cups” – anamorphic tea cups, transparent coffee cup, 3D painted mugs, impossible table cup, anty-gravity milk glass, two floating cocktails, bent pencil glass

19 Replies to “The Laser Cup Illusion”

  1. Wow, that is one of the coolest open-shutter light play photos i’ve ever seen.
    btw vurdlak, we talked about ‘after images’ in my phil of the mind class today. I showed them your blog for reference.

  2. you guys are artarded!!! all this is is a painted cup with a picture of what it seems like what would fit the backround..if u cant see that from the start, sorry you are an ARTARD!! bambajama!

  3. It reminds me of picasso’s minataur. He also used a lazer pointer in a dark room, and let the flash go off just as he finished.

  4. Newbercake!, ever hear of Occam’s razor?  
    What do you suppose is more likely, that

    a) someone painted a cup exactly like the background, set it in the exact right location, then took a picture of their hand, then photoshopped the fingers to look transparent,

    or b) that someone left the shutter open when taking a picture and playing with a laser pointer?

    I’ll go with b. I’ve never made any images this neat, but it’s really pretty simple.

  5. IF YOU PEOPLE WOULD JUST READ THE DESCRIPTION YOU WOULD KNOW IT WAS DONE WITH A LASER POINTER, A MUG AND MULTIPLE EXPOSURES

    NO PHOTOSHOP

    NO PAINT

  6. i don’t think it’s that hard to figure the trick out actually, it’s pretty simple:
    1) the room is dark so the only source of light is the laser.
    2) the laser illuminates the whole mug + the places where it’s moving (thus the “wire frame” effect)
    3) when you turn the lights on, the shutter, sensitive to the speed of the light, records the entire process of lighting, esch tiny mili second, which leads to an illusion of transparency

    now i’m not saying i’m right, it’s just my theory …

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