Optical illusion of sunset photo leaves internet divided

Online users have been left baffled by an optical illusion of a man taking a photo of a sunset – dividing viewers over which way he is facing.

A tricky optical illusion of a man taking a photograph at sunset has left viewers divided over which way he is facing.

The image, posted to Reddit, shows the silhouette of the man holding a camera up towards the distance as if he was trying to capture a sunset, The Sun reports.

At first glance, it appears as if he is facing front on but at a closer look, the man appears to have his back to viewers.

The post is captioned: ‘Is he facing away or towards the camera?’

The illusion split opinions on the content-sharing platform, with an audience able to see both possibilities.

One person wrote: “Wow, this is a really good one. I can swap it back and forth and still can’t really decide which is correct.”

Another was sure they’d figured it out, commenting: “I saw towards first but once I saw away I can’t unsee it. The cheekbones gave it away.”

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The silhouette of the man holding a camera up towards the distance makes it difficult to discern which direction he is facing.

Someone else agreed, stating: “Definitely away. It’s slightly more obvious only looking at him, but you need only see the other people to surmise that’s he’s obviously looking at the same thing they are, and they are facing away.”

One other said: “He’s looking right into his camera, assuming he’s using a camera and not a phone.”

The photo left another viewer stumped, admitting: “Can’t tell the camera’s in his hand and silhouetted.”

One person joked: “He’s actually facing both ways at the same time.”

It comes after another optical illusion left viewers scratching their heads trying to figure it out.

A clip appears to show a red box being held but observers were left baffled by the time it finished.

Another trippy optical illusion depicting a cat could reveal more about your true personality, a test claims.

The illusion asks onlookers to look at the direction that the animal is travelling and claims it says something important about you.

In one other mind-bending optical illusion, a video of a black and white horse on a black background shows the animal marching to upbeat music.

But which way is the horse walking – backward or forwards?

This story originally appeared on The Sun and has been reproduced here with permission.