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Illusion of the Week: Steel Magnolias

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American


The Steel Magnolias illusion, by graphic designer Michael Pickard of Sunderland University in the UK, was a Top 10 finalist in the 2007 edition of the Best Illusion of the Year Contest.

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Steel Magnolias is an impressive and beautiful example of illusory motion from brightness modulations. Nothing actually moves in the scene, but the careful arrangement of increases and decreases in luminance of various visual elements results in the perception of magnolia petals and leaves undulating in the wind.

 

Susana Martinez-Conde is a professor of ophthalmology, neurology, and physiology and pharmacology at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She is author of the Prisma Prize–winning Sleights of Mind, along with Stephen Macknik and Sandra Blakeslee, and of Champions of Illusion, along with Stephen Macknik.

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