Optical Illusion Tricks the Viewer Into Thinking a Person is in This Photo
An optical illusion has been making its rounds on the internet — tripping people out when they are told that there is no human in the picture.
At first glance, it appears that a dog walker on the lefthand side of the image is strolling beside two dogs. The person appears to be dressed all in black with their back turned away from the camera. But look a little bit closer, and the person’s clothing seems suspiciously fluffy.
The photo has been shared to various Reddit communities in the past year with most apparently clueless that there is no human being in the photo. So what is that figure on the left side of the frame? Scroll down for the answer.
Three Dogs and No Human
The only human present in the scene is the one taking the photo: that’s right, there are three dogs in the picture. The human figure is actually a black poodle that is looking directly at the camera.
The pooch’s tail just happens to look like a human head, although upon closer inspection it is a little too small. The front legs of the dog appear like the legs of a human and its head — which lacks any kind of clarity — becomes a general shape that just about passes as a person’s back and shoulders.
While the photo relies on poor image quality and a serious lack of dynamic range to pull the optical illusion off, it is still a pretty good one that confuses people. In a Turing-type test, I tried feeding the image into ChatGPT to see whether an AI could tell what’s in the photo. Disappointingly, the AI chatbot was able to discern the image.
“This image is a snowy outdoor scene with three animals and an intriguing visual illusion,” says the chatbot. “Upon first glance, it may look like a person in dark clothing standing with their back turned, but upon closer inspection, it is actually a black dog with curly fur and a fluffy tail. The optical illusion is caused by the dog’s posture, which mimics the silhouette of a person.”
If optical illusions tickle your fancy then why not check out this mind-bending photo of a bird or try to spot the leopard in this photo.
