# Flashed-Face Distortion **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 24, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973 "2012-05-24T17:38:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/1 "2012-05-24T17:38:14Z")
This is freaky - a newly-discovered optical perception effect that makes pics of ordinary faces appear bizzare. > **[Flashed Face Distortion Effect Makes Ordinary Portraits Look Hideous](https://petapixel.com/2012/05/22/flashed-face-distortion-effect-makes-ordinary-portraits-look-hideous/)** > > If you ever create a slideshow of portraits, you might want to avoid showing them aligned side-by-side with a gap in between. The video above shows a ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/2 "2012-05-24T18:08:05Z")
Weird! ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/3 "2012-05-24T18:21:20Z")
Woah! Cool, thanks for sharing! ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2012, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/4 "2012-05-24T19:30:10Z")
The top one was kinda weird, but that didn’t prepare me for the second (bottom) video – what a freaky ride that was! ---
**Author:** ![Sarabellum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarabellum/32/3492_2.png) [@Sarabellum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarabellum)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/5 "2012-05-25T02:32:05Z")
WEIRD! The mysteries of human vision. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/6 "2012-05-25T11:22:36Z")
> [@Sailboat](#): > > The top one was kinda weird, but that didn’t prepare me for the second (bottom) video – what a freaky ride that was! That’s weird - I found the first video to be more effective than the second. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/7 "2012-05-25T11:30:11Z")
What if someone’s face is already hideous and ogre like? ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/8 "2012-05-25T12:01:04Z")
I’m not seeing it. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/9 "2012-05-25T12:36:09Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > What if someone’s face is already hideous and ogre like? Then you need to make sure you only appear for very brief periods in public, between other people, and keep your eyes lined up with theirs. That way you have an excuse. ---
**Author:** ![Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/4bbf92/32.png) [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heart_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/10 "2012-05-25T13:17:11Z")
That’s awesome! The bottom set looked especially bizarre, but the top set looked just like [Al Hirschfeld](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=588&q=al+hirschfeld&gbv=2&oq=al+hir&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=img.3.0.0l10.2082.3824.0.4905.6.6.0.0.0.0.176.526.4j2.6.0...0.0.OPVSFzBP2nU) caricatures! And that totally makes sense: > [@](#): > > …the human brain begins to compare and exaggerate the differences… …which is precisely what a good caricature does. Since the top set was famous people, perhaps they seemed more cartoonish and less grotesque to me because their features were still recognizable, even when exaggerated. It probably helped that they went a little slower, too. But those bottom folks, man! It was a carnival sideshow: pinheads, the Elephant Man, and Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy. Yee-ikes! ---
**Author:** ![Malthus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/85f322/32.png) [@Malthus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malthus)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/11 "2012-05-25T13:37:36Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I’m not seeing it. I actually find it a little difficult, because of the natural tendancy to look directly at the faces. What you have to do is concentrate on only looking directly at the cross in the middle. You see the faces with your peripheral vision, and they look all distorted and bizzare - ogre-like. ---
**Author:** ![Baal\_Houtham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baal_houtham/32/13604_2.png) [@Baal\_Houtham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baal_Houtham)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/12 "2012-05-25T13:42:11Z")
The effect is more intense when there are two portraits, but if you cover up one of the portraits (and stare at the cross) the remaining one still suffers distortion. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/13 "2012-05-25T13:45:52Z")
That was really bizarre. I even kept my mouse on the pause button because I’d swear they were sneaking other things in there. Nope, all normal looking people. > [@Heart\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That’s awesome! The bottom set looked especially bizarre, but the top set looked just like [Al Hirschfeld](https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1024&bih=588&q=al+hirschfeld&gbv=2&oq=al+hir&aq=0&aqi=g10&aql=&gs_l=img.3.0.0l10.2082.3824.0.4905.6.6.0.0.0.0.176.526.4j2.6.0...0.0.OPVSFzBP2nU) caricatures! Never heard of him, but looking that the images you provided, yup, the thing I noticed most in the first video is really high eye brows which is similar to the drawings in your link. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flashed-face-distortion/622973/14 "2012-05-25T13:59:19Z")
This doesn’t just happen on websites, it happen IRL too. A few years ago I was talking to someone in a restaurant. A woman in my periferal vision was kind of overweight, had short curly blonde hair, and was wearing a sweater that she stole form Cliff Huxtable. She looked like an amiable but grotesque clown.