Optical Illusion (see large image version to compare)

Notice this fuzzy area here, which is what gives the illusion - it's a slightly faded version of the Einstein image, so you only see it when you are very close. When you move back you can't see it anymore since it's so faded, and your eye picks up the more detailed and opaque image of the celebrity.

The two images are blended after being spatially filtered - the high frequencies of Einstein's wavy hair and wrinkled face are apparent up close but blur into grey tones when seen from afar.

Harry Potter

John Lennon?

marilyn monroe

Salvador Dalí

Madonna?

S. Freud

Sean Connery?

Einstein?

Optical Illusion (see large image version to compare) by jeremiah_owyang.

When I took this picture, up close, I only could see Albert Einstein. Read the Full story at:
www.web-strategist.com/blog/web-strategy-vault/illusion/

Once you step back 20-30 feet you can then see these individual portraits.

The camera isolates the sub-portraits, as shown above.

Now you try...Try clicking on the LARGE image version, it will appear as what I saw up close, all appeared to be portraits of Einstein.

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Comments

jwol3 says:

Very interesting, the camera is not fooled the way the human eye is with these photos.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

jeremiah_owyang says:

perhaps because the human eye can catch the details and nuances that the camera can't capture.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

jwol3 says:

No, I got it! It's a calculus problem. When you look at the full size image here you get the effect, when flickr downsizes it the misleading information is lost. *smacking head* Doh! - I see your description, you got it too....
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

anaperalta says:

Interesting !
cool shot !
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

FreeTube says:

very interesting trick, works in a similar fashion to those multi-directional billboards
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

jeremiah_owyang says:

Good points FreeTube thanks
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

dube1111 says:

It also works if you squint your eyes.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Daniel Cormier says:

Cool. It looks like a high-pass layer of Einstein on top of blurred versions of portraits of whoever you're seeing when farther away.

Neat trick.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

doulosalethinos says:

@jwol/jeremiah

It's actually because of something called "top down processing."
Top down processing is when you brain changes what you see because thats what it thinks it should see. Basically, when you loose enough detail to make it look like Harry Potter, it fills in the gaps. The same theory applies for when they all look like einstein. The camera cannot be fooled because it doesn't have a brain.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

jack satta (fnb) says:

Shading on solarized instances of Einstein don't really make an illusion.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Jaedde & Sis says:

:-)
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

julioc. says:

Fabulous... I'm stunned...

--
Seen in a discussion of *Challenge You*. (?)
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

hjfoley says:

Daniel Cormier seems to be on the right track. The work is likely based on the research of Aude Oliva and her colleagues at MIT:

cvcl.mit.edu/Aude.htm

You can see more of their images (e.g., bicycle-motorcycle) at:

cvcl.mit.edu/hybridimage.htm

The images are a combination of low- and high-spatial frequencies, which causes the perception to change at different viewing distances.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

Don Park says:

odd. i only see two images, one on top of each other.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

jeremiah_owyang says:

@ Don Park

Open the large image and walk to the back of the room, you need to be a significant distance away.
Posted 27 months ago. ( permalink )

thaxi says:

Wow...this is cool! :)
Posted 20 months ago. ( permalink )

BlueisCoool says:

Posted 10 months ago. ( permalink )

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Optical Illusion (see large image version to compare)

Comments

jwol3 says:

jeremiah_owyang says:

jwol3 says:

anaperalta says:

FreeTube says:

jeremiah_owyang says:

dube1111 says:

Daniel Cormier says:

doulosalethinos says:

jack satta (fnb) says:

Jaedde & Sis says:

julioc. says:

hjfoley says:

Don Park says:

jeremiah_owyang says:

thaxi says:

BlueisCoool says:

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jeremiah_owyang's photostream

Boston Oct 2007 (Set)

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