[pics] Black and white photo trick

[roty80]

It worked for me. I thought it was a trick so I watched it with the dot off the top of the screen and it is definitely black and white:

 

http://i.imgur.com/QV5xw.gif

[featured_spectre]

doesnt work for me....

[dgsmith]

Wow that's actually really cool! Works really well for me. I had to check that it wasn't actually a colour photo that turned b&w on the sly after a second, and nope it really is genuine. I'm not clever enough to begin to understand how that works!

[Fuzzz]

It works for me! (For a fraction of a second I can see the photo in color).

[Steve21]

That's really cool

 

Steve

[Paul_L]

WOW! Yes that works for me as well, infact so well that if you just keep staring at the dot it stays in colour until it changes back! :-)

[cromertech]

Worked for me. I'm thinking it has something to do with the way eyes perceive colour, sort of the same effect you get if you get dazzled by car headlights or the sun and you can see shadows of red blue and green for quite a while when you close your eyes.

I'm sure there is a science type bod on here that can give us the real reason

[MK-2]

From another site:

 

This is actually color adaptation - your eyes try to balance the colors you see. The same thing happens if you've ever had orange ski goggles on for any length of time. Eventually, you see normal colors, and when you take them off, everything's blue! It's because your eyes have adapted to orange, so your brain compensates - when the orange goes away, your brain is still compensating for it. Same thing is happening here: you're forcing your brain to compensate for the color negative by adapting in the other direction, which also happens to be the correct colors of the castle when you take the colors away.

Edited June 8, 2011 by MK-2

[witch]

Doesn't work for me either - why would that be?

[peterp]

For a good idea of why this effect works see Beau Lotto: Optical illusions show how we see | Video on TED.com

It's truely amazing. No wonder we have so much trouble trying to get computers to see.

[Pete10141748]

Awesome! After a few tries I can now get it to stay in 'colour' until it turns back into the negative!

[CESIL]

It works even if the dot is not visible...the dot is just there to give you a point to focus on...

 

Although vision is amazingly powerful as a sense it is really quite easy to fool it...as with all the other senses...

[enjay]

Works for me. Those of you for whom it doesn't are possibly not keeping your focus in one place, but flitting your eyes back to the instruction and progress bar at the bottom...

[Fuzzz]

I think this is how it works: Color - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[jinnantonnixx]

Excellent illusion.

 

Interestingly, the photo becomes b&w when your focus moves away from the dot, but when you look back at the dot the photo becomes colour again. This shows that it's a physical phenomenon affecting the eye, rather than a perception effect (as pointed out in Fuzzz's link)

Edited June 8, 2011 by jinnantonnixx

[aerospacemango]

Wow that's actually really cool! Works really well for me. I had to check that it wasn't actually a colour photo that turned b&w on the sly after a second, and nope it really is genuine. I'm not clever enough to begin to understand how that works!

 

That is EXACTLY what I just had to do! Works really well for me!

 

*EDIT*

 

In the interests of science, I have just tried again....

 

Despite only see the progress bar relatively late, I focused on the point, and was able to hold the colour image until it changed back.

 

Then I continued staring at the dot for another full cycle.....Colour was continuous!

 

Amazing...to be honest!

Edited June 8, 2011 by aerospacemango

[jinnantonnixx]

Well, that's the afternoon gone.....