Sometimes our eyes fool us and we see things that are not really there or we see them differently than they really are. How does it work now? Which artists are also artists at deceiving the eye? Deception or reality, sometimes our own eyes also deceive us. Warning
Optical illusions can trigger an epileptic seizure if you are sensitive to them! If you experience dizziness or feel unwell, immediately look away from the image that triggers this reaction. The dizziness is due to the conflict between perception and logic.
What do we see and how do our brains fool us?
Optical deception is actually a misinterpretation of visual perception, in other words our brains incorrectly process the information we receive with our eyes.
We all only see in two dimensions. Our brains use all kinds of tricks to see depth. For this purpose, the brain uses, among other things, the differences in the image we perceive with our right eye and the image we perceive with our left eye. People with a large difference between the vision in the left eye and the right eye also notice this. They have much more difficulty seeing depth.
Source: OpenClipart Vectors, Pixabay
Optical deception can, among other things, use this shortcoming of our eyes to fool us, as it were. Other forms of optical illusion use the lag effect. This means that objects that we look at for a long time remain in our retina, as it were, even if we now see something else. This causes the two images to merge together for a short time. When you look at the same point for a long time, the brain cells on one side get tired and the cells on the other side take over, causing you to temporarily see something much larger. Furthermore, experience gained is also used to mislead you, the so-called railway illusion or Ponzo illusion (named after Mario Ponzo, an Italian psychologist). The Ponzo illusion uses our knowledge that a more distant object must appear smaller to mislead us.
Source: Stux, Pixabay
MC Escher
The most famous artist who uses optical illusions is Escher. His engravings have a certain logic without being able to represent reality. As a result, spatial objects are created that are impossible without being able to find where the drawing goes wrong. Furthermore, Escher was fond of images that continue indefinitely and isometric illusions. The Necker cube and Penrose triangle are particularly well known. These figures are even used in science textbooks today. A painting or drawing that deceives our eye is called a Trompe lOeil.
Edgar Mueller
This gentleman is a German street painter who draws 3D illusions on the street, often with chalk. He has gained international fame through his YouTube videos. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records and he once won the Sarasota chalk festival. Together with Julian Beever, Kurt Wenner, Manfred Stader, and Eduardo Rolero, he is one of the top talents in the world of 3D street illusions.
Photography
Source: Aionia, Pixabay
Optical illusions are also often used in photography. Photos of people leaning against a tower that is the same size as themselves. The Eiffel Tower standing on your hand. Real estate agents sometimes also make good use of optical illusion. Photograph a room with a wide-angle lens and it will appear many times larger.
Photo manipulation is often taken one step further. What about photos of a road merged with a photo of your sleeping dog in such a way that your dog appears at least as big as the cars. A photo of a surreal landscape in which you paste your entire family. Or your children in the pantry, just as big as the packet of chocolate sprinkles.