“Dreams of Flying” is an ongoing series that began in 2002 from photographer Jan von Holleben.  Drawing inspiration from childhood books and modern superheroes, he uses children from his local neighborhood in Southwest Germany to create entertaining and whimsical scenes.

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This photograph, taken at the Phaeno Science Center in Wolfsburg, Germany, shows a very strange set of columns.  They look like they could be pieces for a very large chess set.  These particular columns are unique because they also have an alternate meaning – the spaces between the columns appear to resemble human figures.

This illusion was originally created by David Barker in 1989 for Exploratorium, the San Francisco museum of science, art, and human perception.  They were initially placed on a sidewall that received a lot of traffic.  Barker notes that:

I observed that people – mostly kids – would catch a glimpse of the shadowy angel figure from the corner of their eye.  As they turned, they would see the illusion.

Currently, the columns are located in the portico of the museum and continue to be a very popular exhibit.

Last year, we featured a video showing the Mirage 3D Hologram Generator in action.  You place a small object inside the unit and it projects a hologram (using mirrors) of the same object that appears to hover above the unit.  They are a really cool item to have on your desk or give to someone as a gift.  Brusspup recently got his hands on one of the larger versions and put together a pretty interesting video where he plays around with it and shows exactly what you can do with it.  See for yourself!

If you’d like to get your hands one of these (the normal-sized one, not the giant one!), you can order one here.

Do the two ends of the green line passing behind the gate appear offset or aligned?

The two ends of the line are completely aligned, although they appear to be offset.  If you don’t believe it, use something straight, like a ruler or sheet of paper, to confirm.  German physicist Johann Christian Poggendorff discovered this illusion in 1860.  As such, it is often referred to as the Poggendorff illusion.

Thomas Barbèy has a collection of photographs that were taken over a period of twenty years.  By combining multiple photographs from his archives, he creates unique and beautiful surreal scenes.   According to his official website, “Every single one of his images has to pass what he likes to call the “So what?” test. If a combination of two or more negatives put together doesn’t touch him or have any particular meaning, he starts over.”  Barbey only works in black and white, but will sometimes incorporate Sepia toning for added effect.

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Many organizations incorporate some sort of optical illusion or other deceptive element into the very logos that they build their identity around.  For example, did you know that the FedEx logo includes a hidden graphical message?  The white space between the E and the X is an arrow pointing to the right.  This arrow is very subtle and many people who have seen this logo a hundred times do not recognize it until it is pointed out.

Lindon Leader, the creator of this well-recognized logo, had the following to say in an interview from 2004.

The power of the hidden arrow is simply that it is a “hidden bonus”.  It is a positive-reverse optical kind of thing: either you see it or you don’t.  Importantly, not “getting the punch line” by not seeing the arrow, does not reduce the impact of the logo’s essential communication.

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Have you ever seen a sadder looking bathtub?  What exactly would a bathtub have to be sad about anyway?  Seeing faces, or other recognizable images, in inanimate objects is a phenomenon known as pareidolia.  Two additional examples of this are the Apache Head in the Rocks and the Elephant on Mars.

I originally came across this image while visiting the Deceptology blog which is one of the handful of sites that I visit regularly.  This blog is updated frequently and features topics related to deceptions, pranks, magic, hoaxes, and optical illusions.