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The optical illusion uses
the concept of "complimentary colors". Colors that are complimentary are
more or less "opposite" of each other. As you focus on the image, your
eyes take in the colors and specific cones in the back of your eye
become active. When you replace that image with an exact (greyscale)
copy, your eye "fills in the blanks" with what's called an "after
image": a brief inverse of the colors you just focused on... which in
this instance are the "correct" colors you'd see in a photograph.
Creating these illusions is easy
with Adobe Photoshop:
1. Open Photoshop and load an
image into the program.
2. Click on Image > Adjustments > Desaturate.
3. Save a copy of the image as "illusion_01.jpg".
4. Use the "Undo" feature or history toolbar to undo the desaturation.
5. Click Image > Mode and switch from RGB to CYMK mode.
6. Use the "Channels" tool to delete the black channel from the image.
7. Click Image > Mode and switch back to RGB.
8. Click Image > Adjustments > Invert.
9. Save a copy of the image as "illusion_02.jpg".
Tips:
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Select an image with lots of
bright colors. I tried creating a few illusions using pictures from
a trip to London last winter; the colors were so dull and washed out
in the original images that the after image effect was almost too
subtle to notice.
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Focus on something in the
center of the photograph (like the NASA logo in my illusion). If
there's nothing in the center of your image to focus on, add a black
dot to the center of the picture using the text tool.
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