Illusions contest: Non-glossy gloss

When photographic prints are given a matt or glossy finish, it’s all down to the photo paper’s reflectance. But now Maarten Wijntjes and Sylvia Pont from Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands have managed to make a digital image look glossy without changing its reflectance.. They used an image from the computer model of a fractal that had a matt finish. When the depth value in the model was changed, as well as the direction of light hitting it, the 2D surface looked like it had a glossy finish.

“A possible explanation is that highlights are created where you would normally expect them to be if the surface was glossy,” says Wijntjes.

See more: Don’t believe your eyes: This year’s best illusions