Optical Illusions Art Collection #2

Stare; look away.	Scary.

Black Shapes

Unlike the last "LIAR" illusion, where I just gave away what you were supposed to be looking for in the title of the page, and above the image, I'm not going to do that here. Of course, if you keep reading this without looking at the illusion above, it's going to be a dead giveaway, so stop reading and start staring at the picture above to figure out exactly what this is a picture of!

This is another classic example in the history of optical illusions. Usually, our eyes are used to reading black text on a white background, so at first when you look at these shapes above you see just that - shapes. But, after you look for a little longer you'll see that the white space actually spells a word - LIFT.

Kevin emailed us to tell us this, because he thought everyone should know about it: Thanks Kevin!

"while looking at the illusion with lift in white, I noticed after looking at it for another moment it starts to move, you didn't mention that in the caption and thought I would say something to you about it -- Kevin"

We should add that the most likely reason for this is because black and white can create an strong afterimage, and unless you were staring at the absolute center, your eyes will tend to move around and then it's slightly off center. The exact same thing happens if you stare at a lightbulb for a few seconds. Go ahead, try it, and release your inner child!

Please rate this illusion/picture. Your ratings help us choose which new optical illusions to create:

Best of the Best ...

Most Popular for October 2009:

	Same Shade Diamonds Our newest optical illusion. We just created it on 10/10/2009 Wow! It will look like the diamonds on the top are much darker than the diamonds on the bottom. You won't believe how amazing this incredible optical illusion is.
	Moving Backgrounds Created 9/24/2009 It moves! You must zoom in to get the full illusion. You'll see the rings rotate, even though they are not moving at all. We've created several sizes so you can use as your desktop background.
	Scary Faces Illusion Created 9/17/2009 Watch as the scary faces disappear before your eyes. The longer you stare the stronger the illusion. Perfect to send to your friends for Halloween!
	The Obama Illusion We made this original Barack Obama Illusion and then we made it famous! Stare for about 30 seconds and you'll see his ghostly image appear on the wall!
	Valentines Day Love Test Illusion This is one of our most highly rated illusions by our visitors. Watch the hearts disappear before your very eyes! This is really cool. You'll start to see the hearts disappear as you fixate at the center. Don't miss it.
	Moving Spiral Illusion A version of our original moving spiral illusion was recently published in a popular college textbook. It uses multiple illusory principles to give the illusion that it is moving when it is absolutely not moving. Big enough to be your desktop background!
	Build Your Own Impossible Triangle Instructions so you can build your own impossible triangle. Tell M.C. Escher that it's not so impossible after all! Comes with a printable PDF guide with dotted lines for the folds and clearly marked lines to cut. See pictures of visitors submitted triangles too!

If you don't have time to see the hundreds of illusions today, see if you can at least catch all of these...

Cool Optical Illusions Blog - Don't miss it!
Love Test - Don't you just love optical illusions.
Blue Spiral Wallpaper - Love it!
Moving Spiral
Scary Illusion
Optical Illusion Collection
Inverted American Flag
Freaky Desktop Wallpaper
Floating 3d Cube Sculpture - HOT
Rotating Moving Spots - Very Strong.
Build your own impossible triangle - A classic, one of our most popular of all time.
Color Blindness Test - Better test yourself before it's too late, like it was for Dwayne in the movie Little Miss Sunshine!
Illusion Links
Jesus Illusion - Always fun, even if you've already seen it!

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