An optical illusion making the rounds on TikTok has amazed some viewers while leaving others feeling spooked.
Optical illusions employ colours, light and patterns to deceive the eye into seeing things differently from their actual form. The fascination with these illusions is often intense due to the varying experiences individuals have with them.
Some may not notice the illusions at all, providing an insight into the intricate interplay between our vision and brain function. A specific illusion shared by the TikTok username Magic Eye Guy has stirred up significant buzz online—captivating many and unnerving others in equal measure.
At first glance, the image looks like nothing more than a vibrant cluster of shells, but there’s more than meets the eye. If you follow the voiceover instructions which guide you how to see hidden 3D shapes within the picture, things get interesting.
“Wait, this isn’t just a picture, it’s a stereogram – let me teach you how to view it. Turn the screen sideways, hold it close to your face, and slowly move it away while not focusing and a 3D image should appear,” it explained as reports the the Express.
Stereograms are two-dimensional images that can reveal three-dimensional scenes when looked at in a particular way. The comments section quickly filled with users eager to share what they saw—or didn’t.
One person exclaimed: “I finally saw something! ! I still couldn’t tell what it was but, I saw it! ” Another expressed their astonishment and slight fear: “THAT WAS TERRIFYING IT WOULDN’T GO AWAY,” while someone else celebrated their first success with such images: “This is the first stereogram that I’ve been able to see.”
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One puzzled individual sought advice, asking: “Help! Where do I focus? In the middle? In the corners? up? Down? I just can’t,” which led to guidance from the creator: “You don’t focus. Your eyes need to fix on two separate places but you can’t do that by trying to focus. Relax your eyes and stare through the image and they should separate.”
Subsequently, several users shared the images they managed to see following the instructions. One person revealed: “A fish jumping out of a hoop and a seal about to eat it.”
Another described: “Big something trying to eat the little fish,” receiving a “well done” from the original poster for their correct interpretation.
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