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The Optical Illusions Thread

rynner2 said:
McAvennie_ said:
It isn't time lapse, I forget what it is called, but my photography geek mate showed me an exciting technique that makes footage of normal everyday style stuff look like it is actually model village style sized stuff.
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I'm pretty sure this sort of stuff has been in the papers in the last couple of months, but I can't remember what it's called either!

I think it's a sort of Photoshopping that blurs background and foreground to give the impression of a small depth of field (as you get when snapping models).
Click to expand...

That description matches with my memory of it. A very cool effect that will no doubt crop up in an advert or something soon enough.
 
rynner2 said:
Is this the world's best body art? Stunning eye-deceiving images reveal an artist at the top of his game

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldne ... z0Vhs5qAQI
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I wasn't sure whether, or not, it was the photos of celebrity cellulite, I was supposed to be looking at, at first. But yes, pretty impressive soft porn. Probably better to paint than to look at.


Edit: Subjects and Posts merged. P_M
 
Room at the inn? Extraordinarily realistic Nativity mural painted on pub wall
By Bill Mouland
Last updated at 1:56 AM on 24th December 2009

It is the time of year when customers at the Blisland Inn can generally be forgiven for thinking they are seeing things.
That wall, for instance, which has always seemed so solid with its feature barometers and real ale adverts and the old picture of the village football team.
Suddenly, like the legs of one who has had one too many, the wall does not seem so sturdy as before.

Thick stone pillars form a solid archway and the rough-hewn oak door opens to the sort of Nativity scene that has mesmerised people for more than 2,000 years.
There is Mary, cradling the baby Jesus in her arms, while Joseph, three wise men and a shepherd pay dutiful homage.
The scene is so realistic that one regular at the Bodmin Moor pub in Cornwall remarked, before taking a drink, this week: ‘I have been coming here for 40 years and I never realized that door was there before.’
Which it hasn’t been. For while some rely on humdrum tableaux of the Nativity this Christmas, the Blisland Inn is basking in the glory of a trompe d’oeil – a 3-D mural which makes it seem the pub has really grown an extra room – the stable where Jesus was born.

The extraordinary painting is the work of 56-year-old local artist Janet Shearer, whose previous commissions include a backcloth for the rock band Pink Floyd’s The Wall album and murals for Heathrow Airport and the film Aliens.
‘It’s the art of illusion,’ she said.
‘In reality it is just a blank wall full of barometers and pub memorabilia.
'My job was to make the painting appear to be part of the fabric of the building.’

Janet took three weeks to complete the canvas which is now stretched across the wall of the pub ready for its Christmas Eve unveiling.
For some locals, the picture is made all the more realistic by the fact that their faces have been used for the figures in the tableaux.
Landlord Gary Marshall, for instance, is Joseph while his barmaid Becky Van der Plank is Mary.

The Three Wise Men and a shepherd are played by customers Roger Winn, Ian Haggart, Steve Whiter and Janet’s partner Steve Jackson.
Janet has also included her five-year-old Jack Russell Ruby and painted some jokes on the door which say ‘Maximum Height – 5 Cubits’ and ‘No Camels’. 8)

Gary Marshall said: ‘I was delighted to let Janet turn this blank wall into such an incredible scene. It was something different and has turned out to be absolutely brilliant.
'My customers absolutely love it. It has made our Christmas.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... -wall.html
 
Trick of the eye: Photographer turns everyday images into mind-boggling works of art
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:44 PM on 28th April 2010

A Swedish artist has turned the world on its head by taking images of everyday life and distorting them into mind-boggling works of art.
In one shot a man appears to pick up a tarmac road and drag it behind him like a sheet; in another a young man seems to be ironing his own body.
In all photographs everyday scenes are given quirky twists, offering the viewer a different take on reality.

etc...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z0mUC4hqlA
 
Shocking new 3D speed bump illusion of girl crossing the road that suddenly 'appears' in front of drivers
By Niall Firth
Last updated at 4:08 PM on 8th September 2010

It sounds like a terrifying experience that would make even the most seasoned of drivers panic or even crash.
But a school in Canada is using a bizarre 3D optical illusion of a young girl crossing the road to try and make drivers slow down.
The image of a girl chasing after a ball is painted on the road and elongated to make it appear three-dimensional when seen from an approaching car.

Critics say that the child’s image could surprise drivers so much that they will slam on the brakes or even swerve off the road if they do not realise the girl is just an illusion.

At a distance it just looks like a marking on the road but when the car is 30 metres away it appears to suddenly rise up from the road.
When the driver is closer than 30 metres the image appears to sink back into the road.
If a car is travelling at the speed limit for the road, 30km/h, then he should be able to stop in time before he reaches the image.

Safety experts say the alarming image is designed to teach drivers to always be prepared for the unexpected.
The illusion is to be placed on the road outside École Pauline Johnson Elementary School in West Vancouver in Canada and will be accompanied by a sign which reads: ‘You’re probably not expecting kids to run into the road.’
Council bosses in the area say that the illusion will encourage drivers to drive defensively, as though a child could run out into the road at any moment.
The image will be removed after a week.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z0z1gK7eRU
 
Ten of the greatest optical illusions
By RICHARD WISEMAN, Professor of psychology, University of Hertfordshire
Last updated at 2:49 AM on 26th September 2010

From normal-looking upside-down faces turning grotesque to horizontal lines appearing to slope but are in fact parallel, RICHARD WISEMAN chooses his ten favourite optical illusions

....

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive ... z10dAupx5f

Some of these are new to me. (But the Einstein one doesn't work for me.)
 
This upside-down picture of ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher looks perfectly normal (left) but when you rotate the photograph the right way up, the face will appear grotesque (right)
Click to expand...

I am not saying a word.
 
Yup, a laptop screen with a fist-print looks the same from either way.
 
The science of optical illusions

Optical illusions are more than just a bit of fun. Scientist Beau Lotto is finding out what tricking the brain reveals about how our minds work. Here he explains his findings.

Sight, hearing, taste, touch, smell. We believe what our senses tell us but most of all we trust our eyes.

But our brains are extraordinarily powerful organs.

Without us realising it, they are instantly processing the information they receive to make sense of the world around us.

And that has been crucial to our evolution.

etc...

R Beau Lotto is a lecturer in neuroscience at University College London. All images supplied by R Beau Lotto. See more at the Lotto Lab website

His illusions feature in Horizon: Is seeing believing? on BBC Two at 9pm on Monday 18 October or afterwards via BBC iPlayer

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11553099
 
An excellent Horizon. Goes well beyond illusions, into synesthesia, blind sight, and magnetic field alignment.

It also gave rise to a coincidence for me: the oddly named Beau Lotto appears in the prog, and tonight I read about passengers on a 19th c. steamship playing a game called Lotto - which seems to have been very like Bingo!

(Sadly, Wiki has nothing useful to say on the history of these games...)
 
I spotted this 'Magic Watering Can' in a garden near St Ives today:

Magiccan.jpg


A clever piece of artwork, however you classify it. 8)
 
rynner2 said:
I spotted this 'Magic Watering Can' in a garden near St Ives today:



A clever piece of artwork, however you classify it. 8)
Click to expand...

Thank you for posting this pic. Wonderful!

I'd really like to set up something like this in my own garden, but it might be too attractive to the kiddies. :roll:
 
Trick or feat? Magician Dynamo 'walks across Thames'
Spokesman for British magician says claims he apparently walked on water are genuine
guardian.co.uk, Monday 27 June 2011 11.28 BST

These pictures show magician Dynamo apparently walking on water across the River Thames - and his spokesman claims they are completely genuine.
The 28-year-old Briton apparently took a stroll towards the Houses of Parliament on Saturday night.
A spokesman said photographs of the extraordinary feat were not faked.

The new series will show him performing a variety of tricks, including transporting a mobile phone into a glass beer bottle, bringing a flutter of paper butterflies to life and transforming snow into diamonds.

Musician Ian Brown, Australian singer Natalie Imbruglia and boxer David Haye will all make guest appearances in the series.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/jun/2 ... ss-thames#
 
And now for something quite - er - similar!

Boy, 16, cycles across 75ft deep lake in gravity-defying stunt... but won't explain how he did it
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:41 PM on 17th July 2011

A schoolboy has been snapped crossing Lake Buttermere - on a bike.
But 16-year-old Matt Whitehurst refuses to reveal how he made it across the 75ft-deep lake.

He carried out the miraculous stunt in the heart of the Lake District to raise money for victims of the 2009 floods in the area.
Matt, from Papcastle, Cumbria, is adamant that the feat was not faked, though he won't let on the secret of his achievement.
'I can't and won't say how I did it, but plenty of people saw me and they'll confirm it wasn't a camera trick,' he said. 'The photos are real.'

The apparent miracle was carried out to publicise a forthcoming charity cycle ride through towns affected by the devastating Cumbria floods, which ripped through the district two years ago.

The ride will go across several bridges destroyed in the disaster and since rebuilt - though presumably Matt won't need them if he exercises his new talent.
The entry fee for the event, which takes place on September 18, will go to the Cumbria Community Foundation, a charity active in the local area.
Participants can choose from three different routes, all starting and finishing in the town of Keswick.
For £10, cyclists can take an eight-mile route through the Lakes. Two longer routes, one of 40 miles and one of 85 miles, going out to the Irish Sea, will cost £25 to enter.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1SN5oFhFC

Only one photo is actually shown, though, but at two different sizes.

Funnily enough, it was only the other day I was wondering how to fake a Nessie-style head to float in our local lake. Underwater floats sound easy, but there'd be stability problems... :?
 
Crazy paving: Britain's top street artist will cheer you up with his amazing 3D illusions
By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 1:29 AM on 13th August 2011

From white-water rafting in a shopping centre to an encounter with the world’s biggest butterfly, these amazing images have all been created using nothing more than chalk and a lot of imagination.

The work of British street-artist Julian Beever, the pictures use a technique known as ‘anamorphia’.
This means they are drawn in two dimensions, but when seen from a particular angle they appear three dimensional.

Beever, who was born in Melton Mowbray, Leics, has been travelling the world for 15 years creating the scenes, which have been collected in a new book, Pavement Chalk Artist.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1UtYGnl7b
 
Interesting idea:

From day to night: The incredible photos that capture an entire day in New York City in just one image
By John Stevens
Last updated at 8:26 PM on 21st August 2011

They are the incredible photos that capture an entire day in New York City in one shot.
Photographer Stephen Wilkes took pictures of the same spot in Manhattan for 10 hours.

He then blended the thirty to fifty individual images together to make seamless collages showing some of the city's most famous landmarks from day to night.

...

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1VkWDKcJv
 
It's just an illusion: Mathematician uses thousands of Lego bricks to recreate Escher's gravity-defying images
By Nadia Gilani
Last updated at 1:57 PM on 2nd October 2011

For decades people have wondered how master graphic artist MC Escher played with perspective to create his clever optical illusions.
Now a British mathematician who created these 3D Lego replicas including a gravity-defying piece featuring figures climbing stairs in his attic has offered yet another take on the artist's baffling visual puzzles using real Lego blocks.

Andrew Lipson, 47, from Cambridge carefully assembled thousands of Lego bricks over many weeks to create these incredible pieces inspired by his hero Escher.
The Dutch artist is best known for his mathematical inspired woodcuts, lithographs, and mezzotints.
He also produced impossible architecturual constructions and tessellations that often explore the theme of infinity.

Mr Lipson said: 'One day I was in a toy shop buying stuff for my kids, and I saw a Lego Technic helicopter kit.
'On a whim I bought it for myself, and I was hooked. Almost every mathematician I know likes Escher.
'He had a deep understanding of some quite mathematical ideas, and used them in his work. So I was looking at some Escher pictures with a friend.
'I said I thought it would be pretty funny to build it out of Lego. We both fell about laughing because the idea was so ludicrous.
'Then since we are both obsessive idiots we started trying to figure out how to actually do it.' :D

Andrew would not say how he has managed to achieve the seemingly impossible angles and mind-boggling perspectives found in his creations.
However, he confirmed that he has not used glue or any other adhesive to keep the Lego blocks in place.
'Every piece is genuinely constructed out of Lego and holds together,' he said.
'Lot's of people assume I used glue, especially for my version of 'Relativity', but I didn't.

'The 'Balcony' creation involved distortion of the image, but that's the whole point of the picture so I don't think that can really be seen as cheating.
'Actually the whole problem with 'Balcony' was figuring out exactly what distortion Escher had used and reversing it to get an undistorted view of his picture.
'I then had to build a Lego copy of that and then distort a photograph of the result.
'The other Lego Escher pictures involved no photographic manipulation to get the effects.

MC Escher was born in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands in 1924.
By the time he died in 1974 his drawings of impossible structures made him one of the most celebrated graphic artists of the 20th Century.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... z1Zj9vrHQw

(Article edited to remove duplicated text... :roll: )
 
A Strange Sunrise Over Argentina

Why would a rising Sun look so strange? No one is yet sure. What is clear is that the above unusual sunrise was captured last month from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The body of water in the foreground is Rio de La Plata, considered by many to be the widest river in the world. Although the above image is actually a combination of a normal and a very short exposure needed to avoid oversaturating the bright Sun, the photographer saw this unusual structure with his own eyes, indicating that this effect was caused by neither reflections nor distortions in the camera or lens. What looks like arms on this monster illusion might actually be, for example, low level clouds just thick enough to scatter sunlight without completely blocking the Sun. Additionally, the distortion visible on the lower part of the Sun's image might indicate a Etruscan Vase or Fata Morgana mirage possibly created by a curious refracting layer of air over the water. Unusual atmospheric phenomena are frequently thrilling to see personally, and although most can be traced to well known phenomena, others, for lack of more data, remain mysterious.

APOD Source (with photo)
 
Look again, there's more than initially meets the eye: The intricate oil paintings that hide remarkable double images
By Damien Gayle
Last updated at 4:35 PM on 24th December 2011

Often in art, a closer look yields something more than initially meets the eye.
These amazing oil paintings by Ukrainian artist Oleg Shuplyak show remarkable double images hiding behind dramatic scenes and tranquil landscapes.
Through carefully placed objects, characters, colouring and shadows, a second image is cleverly concealed within the first.

Born on September 23, 1967, in the Ternopol region of the Ukraine, Mr Shuplyak studied architecture at the Lviv Polytechnic Institute.
His passion was always painting, however, and he has used the technical precision of an architect to create these intriguing optical illusions.
Often his pictures depict famous historical figures like Charles Darwin, Vincent van Gogh and William Shakespeare.

The works are similar to those of the famous Mexican artist Octavio Ocampo, who is well known for evocative paintings in which detailed scenes weave together to create larger images.
Ocampo has dubbed this the metamorphic style, and in his works the second image can sometimes be so subtle it is hard to discern without squinting.

Shuplyak, by contrast, makes the second image so easily recognisable that observers can miss the original.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... mages.html
 
let's go straight into the comments section shall we:

The back of mad magazine comics have been doing this for decades

- Siobhan, Australia, 26/12/2011 02:26
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:lol:
 
BlackRiverFalls said:
let's go straight into the comments section shall we:
The back of mad magazine comics have been doing this for decades
- Siobhan, Australia, 26/12/2011 02:26
Click to expand...
:lol:
Click to expand...
FFS! What's the point of that? Everyone knows that DM readers are fuckwits (especially if they live in Australia).

And what kind of a name is Siobhan anyway? If my parents had called me that, I'd have killed them!


Isn't it nice how Christmas brings out the best in people? :D
 
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