Look On The Bright Side

I finally find out how it's possible to draw a picture that fools the eyes into thinking it's a blinding white light that actually hurts your eyes if you try to look into it. It's an optical illusion.

LOOK ON THE BRIGHT SIDE

Light and moving artwork by Akiyoshi Kitaoka

(click for Wikipedia article on him)

It was perhaps more than 20-years ago when I first saw this phenomenon for the first time. I was playing Secret Of Mana on the original SNES years ago. There was a scene where I was playing with my friends. I fell off of a tall bridge directly into the flow of a waterfall.

From there I found my way around it to see a sword sticking in the rock in the water. A voice called to me, urging me to remove it. Classic stuff.

Voice: ... David ... Remove the sword.

David: Who are you ... and what's this sword doing here ?

David: Urrghh ... (pulling sword) Huh ?

David: Ow ! That light ... so bright I can't see !

And it was at this point, the screen lit up and it was blinding to see. So bright it did, as it did my player, hurt my eyes. And for years I wondered how they pulled that effect off.

For they weren't just fading the screen to white. No. It was a particular way of doing it that caused my eyes to hurt, as if I were indeed looking at a light - brighter than was even possible to create on the screen.

For years I wondered how they did this, then finally I got involved into other things and forgot about it.

It was only recently (today 09-04-17) by looking at some optical illusions did I see the phenomenon again AND to see who the original author of it was. (seen above).

So TODAY I can actually show it to you !

I'm going to pad the screen a little so you can scroll down to see it. If you look directly into the center, it may hurt your eyes and indeed leave an after-image in your eyes as if you were staring into a bright light. But this is not an animated picture nor a trick of your computer hardware.

It is JUST the way it is drawn on the screen that causes this effect in your eyes.

Here we go ... !

Yeah, that's what I said. How ? Just how the hell are they doing this !?

It shows me that we have a lot more to learn about the human brain and - perhaps some of its safeguards, in this case, to prevent us from hurting our eyes by looking at a bright light.

Somehow - in our mind, it is imprinted what a really bright light looks like and tells us that this is something we need to avoid looking straight into. And it actually causes pain in the eyes to warn us of the danger.

. . .

There are some other interesting optical illusions below also by Akiyoshi and a few other artists. But the one above. That was the clicker. THAT was the very phenomenon I experienced so many years ago that I could not explain, realizing now it was done entirely by placement of colors.

It's hard to focus your eyes on this one.

Whoa ! Are the leaves really moving on their own ?

Here's another interesting one.

Are the spokes really turning ?

This one is also tricky to focus your eyes on.

Is the pinwheel really turning ?

Another pinwheel. This one is interesting in that if you stare

at the center, the whole image blinks in and out of focus.

This is a really curious illusion.

You can either see a cut into your screen or a cube from the top facing you.

In both cases, the designs move around as you look at it.

Also hard to focus on. This one gives you a bit of a headache

trying to look around the rings as it appears to be pulsing.

These globes really do look like they are moving

around each other. But it is just an illusion.

Another tricky one.

It appears as if the canvas design is trying to move towards the center.

Here's an interesting illusion. This one relies on what we know of

shadows and it APPEARS that both A & B are different.

But you can in the 2nd illustration that they are in

fact the exact same shade.

Here are some just for fun.These are called Paradoxical Illusions.

Some of these may even look like they can be constructed with a little effort.

The ones that follow now require you to stare at the center dot

then either continue to stare to see the effect or to look at a

white part of the screen for the effect.

Stare at the black dot for 30-seconds. Stare intently, try not to blink.

If you do it correctly, all the colors, with purple being last, will vanish.

This one requires you to focus on the center dot and move your head

in and out from the screen. Do the gears appear to rotate ?

This one requires you to stare at the 4-dots of the image directly

to the left for no less than 30-seconds, then immediately

shift your gaze directly to the white space to the right.

Who do you see ?

Roses aren't green, are they ? No, but if you stare at the center cross

on the image to the left for 30-seconds, and then to the B&W image

of the rose on the right, you will see the rose's true colors.

Like the earlier one, stare at the row of dots for no less than 30-seconds.

Then look to the white area to the right to reveal a famous President.

Having trouble ? Try blinking your eyes rapidly to reveal him.

By moving this picture up and down, you may have already been

able to see who it is. If not, put the image fully on the screen,

move your chair out of the way, and then step back 10-feet

or so to look at your screen. Can you see who it is now ?

One last illusion to finish this writing.

This one, as you can see, is animated.

You are to stare directly at the center for no less than 30-seconds.

Now look at ANYTHING. Your coffee cup, a table, even a bag of crisps.

They will warp and distort around you ...

. . .

Got any interesting illusions you'd like to share ?

Feel free to include your comments and the image or video links below.

Remember to keep both eyes open in this world or you may miss something !

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