# Help me interpret this picture **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960 "2007-02-28T01:44:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/1 "2007-02-28T01:44:26Z")
So, instead of being productive like I should, I was poking around the internets, and I came across [this excellent site](http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/index.php) full of aerial photography. Unfortunately, I came across this picture of an [Alaskan lake](http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/affichage.php?reference=084&pais=Etats-Unis), which leaves me completely disoriented. My brain cannot parse this image. I get that there’s a shore reflected in a glassy lake… but… how can this be? The shore, and by extension the lake itself, looks like it’s sloping UP to the right. Where is the horizon in the right hand corner? Why do the reflected clouds look so dramatically different than the clouds seen directly in the sky? I’m so confused! Obviously, there must be some odd trick of perspective or vantage point here, creating a sort of optical illusion. My brain has been in full “CAN NOT COMPUTE” mode since I saw it a few hours ago, and it’s driving me crazy. Help me figure out what’s going on! ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/2 "2007-02-28T01:54:55Z")
It’s an aerial photograph of a small island. ALL the blue is water and ALL the clouds are reflected in said water. The horizon is not visible in the scene, nor is the sky. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/3 "2007-02-28T01:54:55Z")
There is no visible horizon in that picture, which may be part of your disorientation. The clouds look different either because they _are_ different, or the water surface was different on either side of the land formation. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/4 "2007-02-28T01:56:27Z")
It’s not a “shore”, it’s a small island surrounded by reeds. There’s no horizon that I can see - it looks like the whole picture is the lake, and all the sky we’re seeing is reflected. ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/5 "2007-02-28T02:03:57Z")
Ahhh… That makes sense. I was perceiving the reeds as a forest of spindly trees that had already lost their leaves, which certainly didn’t help, because I was also trying to figure out where the rest of the forest was. Thanks for the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tastes_of_chocolate/32/3232_2.png) [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/6 "2007-02-28T17:19:28Z")
Also try tipping your head about 30°, to match the tip of the picture. I found that that immediately dispersed my disorientation. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/7 "2007-02-28T18:17:12Z")
See, now I feel bad, because while perusing that site, I found [this picture](http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/affichage.php?reference=TVDC%20P168&pais=Etats-Unis), of several houses all looking similar. I then, a couple pictures later, found [this one.](http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/affichage.php?reference=097&pais=Etats-Unis) My first thought was: Man, that’s one strict-ass homeowner’s association! They even make you have identical damage to your house! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/8 "2007-02-28T21:01:19Z")
[QUOTE=lazybratsche] The shore, and by extension the lake itself, looks like it’s sloping UP to the right. [/QUOTE] Part of the effect here, I think, is that the trees on the island/peninsula are vertical in the photograph, compared to the angle of the ground, so it looks like they’re growing straight up on a slope. Either that, or the ground is flat, and the trees are growing at a 15-20 degree angle, which would be weird. What’s really going on, of course, is that the photographer is at some altitude, and the apparently odd angle of the trees is produced by looking down and a bit forward at the tip of the island/peninsula. Compare [here](http://www.kap.tug.com/two_trees.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Montgomery\_Burns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/db5fbb/32.png) [@Montgomery\_Burns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Montgomery_Burns)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/9 "2007-02-28T23:20:28Z")
“Man, that’s one strict-ass homeowner’s association! They even make you have identical damage to your house!” Apparently you are required to have a vehicle tossed into your front room. too ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/10 "2007-03-01T00:28:30Z")
[QUOTE=Montgomery Burns] Apparently you are required to have a vehicle tossed into your front room. too [/QUOTE] Not only that, but you must put in an extra wide door in that room through which to extract the vehicle(s). ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/11 "2007-03-01T00:38:59Z")
Find the [3 birds](http://www.yannarthusbertrand.com/yann2/affichage.php?reference=366J-05-25&pais=Etats-Unis) that are exactly the same. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2007, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-interpret-this-picture/393960/12 "2007-03-01T04:30:04Z")
Clearly that’s a sub disguised as an island. Damn Russians.