This Photo Is Subtle Proof Our Paths Have Crossed un-edited

What's striking about my photograph is the optical illusion that the two different overlapping footprints seems to rise up from the surface of the sand rather than sinking in. In fact, the footprints are normal footprints. They're sunk in as you would expect. Their raised appearance is an illusion caused by the pattern of shadows. These shadow patterns could result either from bumps lit from the top of the picture plane, or from indentations lit from the bottom of the picture plane. In the face of this ambiguity, the brain makes its best guess as to which is more likely and that is what we see. With this particular image, our brains make the wrong call. Why? Because they have a built-in bias to assume that light comes from above. This is a sensible rule of thumb because sunlight generally does come from above, but not in this photograph. Here, the sun is setting behind me, below the bottom of the picture plane. Under these lighting conditions, only indented footprints could create the pattern of shadows we see. So the footprints in this unedited photo are really indentations after all.

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