You can't trust your eyes.

[andrewr]

I came across the optical illusion tonight that shows how easily our eyes can be fooled.

In the image below the squares marked A and B are the same shade of gray.

http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/images/checkershadow/checkershadow_illusion4med.jpg


Don't believe it? Visit this link for the evidence.

http://web.mit.edu/persci/people/adelson/checkershadow_proof.html

I found this illusion while researching the white balance reference card the WhiBal. Their site has a demonstration that shows how this illusion works by cutting the squares out in Photoshop and dragging them on top of each other. It's pretty cool.

http://pictureflow.fileburst.com/_Tutorials/WhiBal/08/index.html

Andrew

[bmrstudios]

Hi Andrew,
Nice illusion. I took a look at the WhiBal site and the product looks like a good one.

Barry M. Robinson

[bocaminus]

Excellent article ...

[andrewr]

Hi Andrew,
I took a look at the WhiBal site and the product looks like a good one.


I've been using one of the original WhiBal for a couple years and I think they are really good. Mine had four cards attached with a rivet so you could fan out the cards, but the rivet has broken, the cards are getting scuffed and worn, and there is no way to make it stand up on it's own. So I'm always searching for something to prop it up in the shot.

The new ones come with a stand, no longer use the rivet and have a couple other nice features. So I'm thinking about ordering a new one. They also have a new 8.5x11 card, which could be useful when I'm shooting interiors and have to place the card quite far from the camera.

I've been looking at other white balance options like the expodisc, but I think the WhiBal is the best and most versatile option.

Cheers,

Andrew