Posted on 02/09/2018 5:02:24 PM PST by Swordmaker
Two roads diverged — and confused the internet (again). In a sequel to that blue-and-black-or-white-and-gold-dress and those green strawberries, another optical illusion is confusing the internet, and this time, not on color. This week, a Redditor shared a photo of what appears to be a road taken from two different perspectives. Big deal, right? Except the images are actually one and the same.
The post shows two images of a street side-by-side. The one on the right, however, appears to slant more towards the right. That’s problematic, because if you overlay the images with each other, it’s easy to see that both images are identical, pixel for pixel.
So why do the two roads look like they could be the opening of a Robert Frost poem? The answer probably has something to do with how our brains interpret lines in a two-dimensional image.
If you take just the photo by itself, the image depicts a concept that photographers call converging lines. If you stand in the middle of a straight, flat road and take a picture, the lines that make up the edge of the road in the distance will eventually appear to merge together. Our brains, however, know that those lines don’t actually touch, but that distance simply makes them appear to grow closer together. Instead of seeing converging lines, the brain sees depth. In the street image, we know that the van isn’t larger than the truck, we know that it’s just closer because those lines allow the brain to see the depth in the image.
That’s why converging lines are popular in photography, because that effect gives a two-dimensional image the appearance of depth. Converging lines give our brains clues of depth in the original scene, since the image is actually flat.
If the brain knows that converging lines don’t actually converge, then why do those identical photos look different? The answer is in the placement of the photos. View the same images one on top of the other instead of side-by-side, and they look like the same image. When the images are placed next to each other, however, the brain uses those same converging line clues to measure depth and assumes that the road on the right is actually forking off of the first road.
As another Reddit user points out, if you cover up the bottom half of the image, the top halves look identical. Move your hand to view the images in their entirety again, and those converging lines tell the brain that those roads are heading in different directions. Mind = Boggled.
Me too. Maybe our brains don't fool us, eh?
I think there’s a dime on the ground in the one on the right. Mercury head.
You know what is interesting? I dragged it to my desktop to copy it, and in the thumbnail that displays...they look exactly the same. Opening them in Photoshop, between 16.7% and 25%, you began to see them diverge from each other in perspective.
All those little visual cues that fool the brain must not be present when it is too small...
See, it is posts like yours that make me pay money to login to Free Republic...:)
> There is only 1 image file, both images are contained in it. You got something wrong.
Oops. :-) Thanks for catching that. The method I used was fine, but I wasn’t comparing what I thought I was.
What I did is right-click the left photo on this page and download it, then right-click the right photo and download it (without ever displaying them). If I had, I’d have noticed that each file contained both photos. :-)
Too bad the individual photos weren’t posted from different files. That way a simple automatic comparison would be possible using the method I used.
Whenever I work with multiple images in a browser, I left-click (like selecting text) and slide my cursor across them; If they all “light up” at the same time, I know it’s all one image file.
Me too.
The sharp and blurry stuff is an artifact of your brain’s visual processing, or your eyesight diverges - the images are identical.
Same here! Mildly annoying...
Ta-da!
I was convinced that I saw the left photo blurry. It still is! my brain an eyes are fine!
I just realized I was commenting on the second set of photos and not on the first. (not the ones with A and B)
:)
Good tip, thanks. I wouldn't expect a problem doing that with ordinary images. I wondered, though, if when I left-click an image that serves as a link to another page, I'd be taken there. Apparently not, though, not if I hold the mouse button down as you say and slide to the right before releasing it (I'm using Firefox and a desk computer). Here's a test example for persons who are using something else -- W3 schools example.
With plain html, that would probably always work. If I recall correctly, JavaScript writers can read both the mouse button press and its release, and perhaps do things we don't want as soon as it's pressed. In nearly all instances, though, you wouldn't be taken to another page if the mouse is moved before it's released.
Your method looks like a good quick way to determine what's included in an image. I'll try to remember to use it from now on.
Someone just now changed the second set of photos.
Originally it didn’t have that black square and mouse pointer on the right side photo.
If you start with your cursor outside the image before you click and slide, its being a hyperlink wont matter.
As you say, JavaScript is a whole ‘nuther ball of wax.
If anyone is still convinced that the photos are different, you can prove yourself wrong by doing a screen capture of one of the images (Windows snipping tool works), then saving that image as a file. Now open that file and save it under another name, without modifying it. Then open both identical image files side by side. Whichever image is on the right will appear to angle right.
They look identical to me, too.
I too love these brain teasers. Try these:
Regards.
Kokichi Sugihara is a master at these. Here is my favorite of his:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWfFco7K9v8
Regards.
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