Real or Photoshop
I don’t know the definitive answer because I couldn’t find a good source for the image. This evening, I’ll tell you my guess and why. If you know anything about optics, you’ll probably guess the same as me.
Possible sources for the image:
#ScienceSunday
December 22, 2013
I am guessing photoshopped. Mainly due to the choppy water at the top of the glass. Looks like there were ice cubes. But I am curious about your interpretation.
December 22, 2013
Photoshopped, I would say. The birds on the side edges of the glass should be distorted (squeezed together) a lot, then gradually even out to look normal at the centre.
December 22, 2013
Stay tuned Adam Pressler and thanks for commenting.
December 22, 2013
Real
December 22, 2013
Thanks Per Rosing Mogensen. There’s something more striking that’s missing.
December 22, 2013
Curtis Edenfield do have a reason for your vote?
December 22, 2013
Wondering why the slice of lime does not show a distortion through the glass also. I’m curious about your optical explanation, Chad Haney !
December 22, 2013
Matter of focus with a camera. It probably took twenty tries to get the camera set correctly, position, focus, shutter speed, but entirely possible.
December 22, 2013
Thanks Rajini Rao. I’m guessing because I don’t know the conditions for the photo. However I’ll explain my thoughts this evening.
December 22, 2013
Very true Curtis Edenfield
December 22, 2013
This reminds me of the work of Mariya-Luiza: https://plus.google.com/u/0/101584889282878921052/posts/8NMW2f2iSy6
I don’t think this is real however.
December 22, 2013
I am going with photoshop because the water in the glass is not level.
I very much like this photo tho I never did find its credits.
December 22, 2013
vote’s on photoshopped. the curved glass should be giving the refracted image a bit of a curvature like using a fisheye lens but it still looks flat
not sure how it should look through a transparent cylinder but I’m pretty sure the image would be reversed if shot through a glass sphere
December 22, 2013
It’ll be hard to wait for your explaination! To me the glass itself looks unreal, too perfect, too clean, too dry. I agree with Adam Pressler: there are melting ice cubes in the water.
Anyway, it’s an awesome photo! Thank you for sharing Chad Haney.
December 22, 2013
It’s a beautiful composite…
I believe it’s Photoshopped because of the lack of distortion through the image in the glass
December 22, 2013
I would expect more warping of the birds on the periphery of the glass (diffraction effects) if it were real.
Plus, the water looks choppy. The likelihood of getting such a clear image of the birds seems low.
I’m no expert.
December 22, 2013
I love how the focal length of say, 3 mm-thick glass / water / 3 mm-thick glass has the same value as for the ca. 100 mm-thick glass bottom. Because of this circunference-to-thickness ratio, that part of the glass should have a very very small focal length and the image showing only a row of floating ducks at the bottom should be showing in reality just a thin image of the entire inversed scene itself 🙂
December 22, 2013
I was thinking along the same lines C.A. If this is real I think the fluid can not be water. Perhaps a transparent gel with high refractive index? A gel could explain the choppy appearance of the surface.
December 22, 2013
Its ‘shopped. The appearance of the row of ducks at the bottom of the glass is very unlikely to be real. The bottom of the glass is thicker and should have a higher refractive index but the ducks just look as clear as the birds on the top portion.
And next is the left and right edges of the glass – seeimg how it transitions from black to a whitish halo and then to the birds and the sky looks more like a designers job to me instead of a real photo.
December 22, 2013
Christopher Dreyer The gel hypothesis is interresting. It reminds me something I had seen in a gift store few years ago. A glass with coloured little balls taken in jelly. The whole thing was designed to be put beside a candle light and diffuse its light. But the glass was more globular.
But this is certainly very far from today’s topic!
December 22, 2013
I just noticed that the glass has a reflection on whatever it is it’s sitting on, yet, the birds on the left aren’t affected by it.
December 22, 2013
C.A. Palma is think along the same lines as I was. I didn’t consider another substance as Christopher Dreyer did but that’s a great comment. I’m guessing that the person who made this did go to extraordinary lengths, e.g., a gel with high refractive index.
December 23, 2013
Thanks for that link Kevin Clift. Maybe Richard Green would like to comment on this photo.
I posted my explanation here:
https://plus.google.com/+ChadHaney/posts/hzX8dQSC49o
December 23, 2013
I agree it doesn’t look quite right, Chad Haney, but it’s still a great image. It’s hard to tell if it’s laterally inverted or not, but that’s certainly something I was looking for before I saw your explanation.
December 23, 2013
It is a great composition Richard Green.
December 23, 2013
So beautiful!
December 24, 2013
Looks like a good beer…