This mind-boggling optical illusion had me totally stumped

We're suckers for a good optical illusion here at Creative Bloq, and every so often one comes along that leaves us genuinely stumped. And that's the case of this photograph, that we're promised shows something other than two dogs and their owner walking in the snow.

I spent a good while looking at the photo unable to see anything other than that original, and it seems I'm not alone. "10 years later: I still see two dogs and a man," one person replied on Twitter (see our pick of the best optical illusions for more mind benders).

Optical illusions come in several forms, from intentional mind benders that take advantage of quirks in how we see or interpret colour, contrast or shapes, to accidental images, which, through their composition or the way that light and shadow fall, make them look like something they're not. 

This case is one of the latter. Shared by the engineer Massimo on the former Twitter, the image appears to show two dogs and their owner, but it turns out that wasn't the intention. In fact, it was probably the owner who took the picture. However, many people are struggling to 'see' what's really going on, and we have to admit it stumped us too. Glad to see that ChatGPT was fooled too.

The shape in the foreground appears that it can only be a person in winter dress, with a woolly hay and jacket. But what if that people were a black poodle? Happily, someone took the time to explain all in the tweet below.

It turns out that the figure that appears to be the dogs' owner is actually a poodle looking at the camera. The "hat" is the poodle's tail, and the fur collar on the apparent coat is the top of the poodle's head. Once it finally dawns on you, it's clear to see, but until it's been pointed out to us, the lack of detail in the dog's black fur makes the contours and shadows invisible. Our brain only interprets the general outline, which happens to look like a person walking away from the camera.

For visual trickery of a different kind, see our roundup of the best deepfakes.