My first experience with an afterimage illusion was in the fifth or sixth grade when I saw one of our textbooks had an inverted photo of the American flag, with a small dot in the middle like the one below. The instructions were to stare at the dot for thirty seconds or so, then look up a blank white wall, and then miraculously, the American flag in it's true red, white and blue glory would drift upon the wall for a few seconds before graciously fading out.
Wow. As a kid, I thought this was the coolest thing. Decades later, I finally know the name for this optical illusion. It's called the "Afterimage Illusion".
Looking back through the years, before social media, we'd pass around weird stuff to each other in the office, and sometimes it would be an inverted photo or picture that would give you that awesome, afterimage illusion.
I always thought it would make an interesting gallery showing where all of the works are all afterimages.
And what is one of the most famous gallery images, we know of?
Obviously, it's the Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci, and it makes an incredible afterimage.
So, if you want to try it, stare at the black dot for 30 seconds and then direct your vision to a blank white wall.
Pretty awesome!
If you want to try some of your own, I found this online inverter where you can simply upload a photo and save down. Afterwards, open it in Paint and place a small dot, in the center. http://pinetools.com/invert-image-colors
Have fun and try it for yourself. Please tag me in your post if you make your own afterimage, and use the #afterimages keyword.
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