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Optical Illusion

Kevin Stecyk

New member
Do you think A and B are the same?

20100916checkershadow_illusion4full.jpg

Again, do you think A and B are different?

20100916checkershadow_prooffull.jpg

Go ahead, bring the image into Photoshop and use your eyedroppers. Have at it. And have fun! :)

Read why the illusion works.
 

Andrew Stannard

pro member
HI Kevin,

Have seen this illusion before, and it still baffles me when I see it today! It shows both how easily we can be fooled, and how clever our brain is at interpreting what we see into what we expect to see.
 
HI Kevin,

Have seen this illusion before, and it still baffles me when I see it today! It shows both how easily we can be fooled, and how clever our brain is at interpreting what we see into what we expect to see.

Indeed. Our brain works by comparing patterns. Taking in all the details would cause information overload (or slower interpretation), so shortcuts (relative instead of absolute brighness) are taken. These shortcuts can be exploited in imaging by creating a greater sense of dynamic range than there really is, something the old master painters already knew.

What we see is a manifestation of simultaneous contrast mixed with 3D shadow and light interpretation.

Here is another example by the same author.

And here is another example, where 3D doesn't play a role.

Cheers,
Bart
 

Ken Tanaka

pro member
Yes, this is a nice illusion. (I used to bookmark such sites.)

But let's see some practical photographic applications of this observation.
 

Kevin Stecyk

New member
Yes, this is a nice illusion. (I used to bookmark such sites.)

But let's see some practical photographic applications of this observation.

Ken, I had this illusion embedded in a different post where I commented on another person's post on their Rock Ledge. Asher mentioned that this illusion detracted from the key topic. I agreed with Asher's observation and yanked the illusion to its own post.

My point is that we humans enjoy color contrast and are not so hot at being light meters. I used this illusion in an attempt to show how we are drawn to contrasts.
 
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