It's been a very long time since I spotted an optical illusion I wanted to share, but this one is so beautiful and so confusing it's like a 3D render. In fact, I didn't believe it was real at first. It's not a new illusion, but it's resurfacing online and deserves another moment in the spotlight.
The clip is shot from the air and shows an aeroplane seemingly stopped completely still hovering in midair over a bridge, something that would be impossible. But as with the best optical illusions, it's all a trick. And this one is down to the parallax effect. See it below in a tweet from Science Guys, and read on for an explanation.
An optical illusion called the parallax effect, 📹William Manidis pic.twitter.com/HU3czHrWXaJanuary 13, 2024
So what's the parallax effect? Well, as web designers will know (see our pick of the most beautiful parallax scrolling websites), it's when the foreground and the background move at different speeds, creating a 3D-like sense of depth. In this real-life case, it's the position of the viewer and how they are moving around the plane that makes it look like it's standing still.
This video was originally uploaded to TikTok by @abc7la, William Mandis, who was on the plane that passed the Delta flight you see hovering over the bridge – a case of the right place at the right time.
Another real-life illusion captured by a bemused onlooker was this flying boat, which we also highly rated, even though it didn't have links to web design.
