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Optical Illusion
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Horacecoker
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It's a photo manipulation that has produced an optical illusion.
tbcass
Forum Pro
How about this where I cloned them on top of each other.i give up, it hurts my brain , just like the universeHere is another variation
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Tom
tbcass
Forum Pro
That fact was already established and Bob AL knew that.
tbcass
Forum Pro
Surprisingly I measured them with a ruler to be the same size. I think we are being fooled by the fact the road is getting narrower due to perspective combined with the fact that the second and 3rd vans are the same size as the first when they should look smaller because they are farther away. In other words, the vans in the back are the same size while the road is getting narrower in the photo so our brains are telling us they must be larger than they are.Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
--
Tom
Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
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Guy Parsons
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Aussie Guy sees three idiots driving too close together and on the wrong side of the road.
Horacecoker
Veteran Member
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They all look exactly the same size to me.Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
Guy Parsons
Forum Pro
I'd like to go back to this version.
Not as obvious as the first one but those vans do lok of a different size to me too.
What I would like to know is how other perceive this version. Which one is the largest ?
That's interesting! I've looked and looked and I cannot see them at the same size.They all look exactly the same size to me.Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
Bobapingu
Veteran Member
That's similar to the one I posted that showed just the three cars. The effect is there because one is behind the other but it's considerably lessened because it doesn't have the benefit of the diminishing perspective of the road and trees which greatly enhances the effect.That's interesting! I've looked and looked and I cannot see them at the same size.They all look exactly the same size to me.Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
grsnovi
Veteran Member
The image of the house is a front elevation with no attempt at showing the sides of the house.
The image of the car is a photograph at an angle that shows perspective of its own.
The image of the car is a photograph at an angle that shows perspective of its own.
That's similar to the one I posted that showed just the three cars. The effect is there because one is behind the other but it's considerably lessened because it doesn't have the benefit of the diminishing perspective of the road and trees which greatly enhances the effect.That's interesting! I've looked and looked and I cannot see them at the same size.They all look exactly the same size to me.Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
I also thought so, but as I said I masked the car image and painted over everything but the cars with a solid color and the cars still looked the same, no difference in size at all.
tbcass
Forum Pro
They still look the same size.
--
Tom
PhotoTeach2
Forum Pro
THIS !!!That's similar to the one I posted that showed just the three cars. The effect is there because one is behind the other but it's considerably lessened because it doesn't have the benefit of the diminishing perspective of the road and trees which greatly enhances the effect.That's interesting! I've looked and looked and I cannot see them at the same size.They all look exactly the same size to me.Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
tbcass
Forum Pro
They look the same size to me which isn't surprising. In the van version, it's the Road and background that gives the perspective that results in the illusion.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
--
Tom
PhotoTeach2
Forum Pro
Yeah, the back house does look slightly larger, but only about 10%, compared to the rear car that easily looks 100% larger.Yes. Because our brains know that if the vans were of equal size they would be smaller in the picture the farther away they are. Since they aren't smaller in the picture they must be larger and larger in reality (says the brain)..That' the part that my brain is still chewing on. I look at the image presented and wonder why the vehicle further away isn't smaller than the closest vehicle. Photo is backwards in relation to what we see in the real world. If objects are the same physical size, they are going to appear smaller with distance, not larger. ????What is more mind-boggling is that you would expect the front-car to be larger than the one in back, (especially if shot with a UWA).Sometime I wonder about the difference between what I think we see and what we do see.
I know that these three vans are of exactly the same size (the one at the front and the one at the back are a copy and paste of the one in the middle) but I can't see it :
what do you see ?
(not my illusion).
Several things beats me. Why is the size difference so big and what creates this effect?
The background gives as a reference when it comes to distance. But that isn't it. I painted over everything but the cars. The effect remains.
Placing three white circles on a black background the same way doesn't create the effect. So it must have to do with that it's a recognizable object.
I made this. It has the same effect. But not to the same extent. The houses farther back look bigger alright, but not as much as the cars do. Beats me.
What also amazes me is that the front car only takes up a minor part of the road (way off to the right-side) -- but the rear one literally takes up half of the road.
Also looking over the roof line, (to the edge of the brown-growth in background), but that same line is half-way down on the rear car. (but maybe all that explains the reason for the "illusion").
But might also confuse things even further.
This image is deliberately drawn without perspective, a bit like the three vans without the background.
If you can view the shape as a flat rhomboid then opposite sides are parallel and the same length. If you see it as a table, or assume there is a perspective, then the sides cease to be parallel and the back looks slightly longer.
In a way what happens is that if you assume a perspective then your brain forms an understanding of the shape without the distortion caused by the perspective of a unique viewpoint. It does this through a process known as consistency scaling. In the case of the vans where there is a **paradox or ambiguity then the brain tends to reinforce the most consistent understanding and so remove the paradox.
Perspective itself does not exist in the real world, it's entirely the product of viewpoint. And so in order to form a real understanding of actual shape and distance we must subtract some of those distortions caused by the perspective of a single viewpoint.
**Although the three vans are each 3D figures on their own, the way they are presented as three vans has no unified perspective, they are simply three identical images next to each other, slightly overlapping. The perspective that links the three vans is entirely assumed by the viewer and their relative sizes assumed. We assume the last van is larger and is scaled consistently just like the rear of the table. Because the three vans are actually identical the effect seems slightly exaggerated and so we don't see it as three identical vans superimposed on a perspective (which is what it is).
This image is deliberately drawn without perspective, a bit like the three vans without the background.
If you can view the shape as a flat rhomboid then opposite sides are parallel and the same length. If you see it as a table, or assume there is a perspective, then the sides cease to be parallel and the back looks slightly longer.
In a way what happens is that if you assume a perspective then your brain forms an understanding of the shape without the distortion caused by the perspective of a unique viewpoint. It does this through a process known as consistency scaling. In the case of the vans where there is a **paradox or ambiguity then the brain tends to reinforce the most consistent understanding and so remove the paradox.
Perspective itself does not exist in the real world, it's entirely the product of viewpoint. And so in order to form a real understanding of actual shape and distance we must subtract some of those distortions caused by the perspective of a single viewpoint.
**Although the three vans are each 3D figures on their own, the way they are presented as three vans has no unified perspective, they are simply three identical images next to each other, slightly overlapping. The perspective that links the three vans is entirely assumed by the viewer and their relative sizes assumed. We assume the last van is larger and is scaled consistently just like the rear of the table. Because the three vans are actually identical the effect seems slightly exaggerated and so we don't see it as three identical vans superimposed on a perspective (which is what it is).
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