This optical illusion isn't as beautiful as it seems

When it comes to optical illusions, sometimes the old ones are the best. This photo slipped me by when it was first doing the rounds online a few years ago, which means I had the delight of being surprised for the first time when it recently resurfaced.

At first glance, the photo seems to show a beach scene at night with waves rolling over the sand. The little light in the scene appears to be spilling from a source behind the photographer. Perhaps a bar on the beach? The shot is slightly out of focus, a little noisy. But then that could all come with low-light photography. Or it could all be an optical illusion.

As originally revealed on Twitter by @nxyxm, the scene does not show a beach at all. It's a damaged car door. When people didn't believe him, he elucidated further: "The bend in the door gives illusion of beach , the seal panel is damaged and scratched which gives illusion of water on the edge of beach."

A lot of people appear to be amazed when they finally see what the photograph really shows. For those still struggling to see it, try rotating image. Some have endeavoured to provide help via diagrams of the illusion.

Some people were so convinced by the optical illusion, they still couldn't see anything else. "I'm sorry but i can't see any car gate. I put the pic in a thousands ways and i still seeing a beach, sky, stars," one person wrote. "Either I'm very artistic to see the beach and sky or whoever took this picture has a very good aesthetic sense cause this picture is not ordinary!" someone else wrote.

For more mind benders, see our pick of the best optical illusions we've seen so far this year.