Saturday 17 March 2012

The Hippolyte Optical Illusion


The Hippolyte rock beyond Cape Hauy and The Lanterns - 12th February 2012
Two edits of the same photo, to illustrate the optical illusion sometimes visible.
Click on one of them to enlarge, then you can swap them back and forth.

The Hippolyte rock sits around 5km off Cape Hauy. You can see it from the top of the hill before heading down to the cape. When the air is clear, it is hard to tell from some places how far away the rock is - it seems to be quite close, and from the right place the perspective makes it look like the top of just another lump of rock sticking out next to The Lanterns.


I doctored this photo to show the difference the atmospheric conditions make. When the air is damper or hazier, it softens the contrast and the distance to the rock is fairly easy to discern. If you walk there, see how it looks to you. Can you tell which is the real photo?

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