Matt Soniak
Why Can’t Some People See Magic Eye Pictures?
by Matt Soniak - January 18, 2012 - 5:23 PM

Earlier this month, I explained how Magic Eye pictures work. A lot of people commented about how they can never see the hidden image. So what gives? Is there something wrong with these people’s eyes? Are they cursed? Are there really no hidden pictures? Is this all a hoax?

Most Magic Eye problems have to do with the way the eyes work with each other and the brain. To view 3D stereo images, your peepers have to work together as a coordinated team. If they’re not pulling together, you’re going to have some glitches in your binocular (two-eyed) vision or stereo vision (where the two slightly different views from your eyes are combined in the brain). A number of things can cause binocular and stereo vision impairment — most commonly, deviations or misalignments of one or both eyes (“crossed eyes” or “wall eyes”), situations where one eye is dominant because visual stimulation either transmits poorly or not at all from the other, astigmatism or cataracts. If you think you have an eye problem, go see an eye doctor who can test and treat your stereo vision.

If your eyes are fine, then your Magic Eye problems could just be a matter of technique. The makers of Magic Eye offer this advice:

Hold the center of the printed image right up to your nose. It should be blurry. Focus as though you are looking through the image into the distance. Very slowly move the image away from your face until the two squares above the image turn into three squares. If you see four squares, move the image farther away from your face until you see three squares. If you see one or two squares, start over!

When you clearly see three squares, hold the page still, and the hidden image will magically appear. Once you perceive the hidden image and depth, you can look around the entire 3D image. The longer you look, the clearer the illusion becomes. The farther away you hold the page, the deeper it becomes. Good Luck!

They also invite people to email them if they’re having trouble wrestling the hidden image from the pictures. Plenty of flossers also threw their own techniques in in the comments of the Magic Eye explainer.

[Special thanks to my friend Molly, who can't see 3D movies and encouraged me to steal her story idea for a Big Question Post.]

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Comments (48)

  1. I used to be able to see them when I was a child, but since I have developed severe astigmatism I can’t see them at all.

    posted by Kjlsomebody on 1-18-2012 at 5:30 pm

  2. So, if I have astigmatism, that might be why I can’t see them? Sometimes I can, but it always takes a LOT of work and gives me a headache…I’d be happy to learn that there’s a good reason why it’s so tough!

    posted by Alie on 1-18-2012 at 5:30 pm

  3. I see it, that’s cool!

    posted by chris on 1-18-2012 at 5:56 pm

  4. Alie I have astigmatism too (in one eye) and I can rarely see the pictures. Maybe we’re not broken ;)

    posted by anna on 1-18-2012 at 5:58 pm

  5. I have NEVER been able to see one of these. I have tried countless times and read the “how-tos” but they never work. I can’t imagine it being my vision as I have my vision tested regularly and there’s never been any issues. I’m a southpaw and I jokingly attribute my inability to do certain things on my handedness, so that’s what I’m gonna continue to do in this case. Lefties can’t see Magic Eyes!

    posted by Adam on 1-18-2012 at 6:01 pm

  6. I have never been able to see these pictures and don’t have any eye problems that I am aware of.

    posted by Leslie on 1-18-2012 at 6:02 pm

  7. i was actually in “eye therapy” as a teenager for a convergence disorder. This was right around the time these magic eye things became hot. It wasn’t until the post a few weeks ago that i realized i could now see them! (i hadn;t tried in years) i spent the rest of my work day finding pictures on the internet and giving my eyes a real workout! I now get the excitement – almost 20 years later!

    posted by Jen on 1-18-2012 at 6:02 pm

  8. I’ve had monocular vision since birth. So, I have never seen one of these “mysterious” hidden images.

    What bothers me more is having to wear 3D glasses to watch 3D movies, even though I don’t see the 3D effect.

    posted by Morris on 1-18-2012 at 6:53 pm

  9. I’ve never been able to see Magic Eye, and now I know why. I have severe astigmatism, and the vision in my left eye is much, much worse than the vision in my right eye. (When I was last tested, the vision in my right eye was 20/30 and left eye 20/50, and that was with corrective lenses.)

    posted by rainbow on 1-18-2012 at 7:16 pm

  10. I can see some of them. I have no depth perception except for a few minutes when i first put mu glasses on. And that is the only time I can see it. Then it fades off and I have to take the glasses off and put them on again.

    And I agree with the comment on the 3d glasses. 3d makes no sense to me and I resent having to wear the glasses to see nothing new.

    posted by veets on 1-18-2012 at 8:23 pm

  11. Adam! I too am a Magic Eye challenged southpaw – adding my vote to “Lefties can’t see Magic Eyes”! :)

    posted by ceej on 1-18-2012 at 8:37 pm

  12. add me to the “Lefties can’t see Magic Eyes” group

    posted by Kellie on 1-18-2012 at 9:41 pm

  13. I am almost blind in one eye. I never could see anything in those things. 3D movies do nothing for me either. 3D is way overated anyway.

    posted by Chad on 1-18-2012 at 9:50 pm

  14. add me to the magic-blind lefties. I have no eye issues known and i’ve not been able to see them for the past 15 years or so. Maybe i’ll be able to see if I cut off my left hand?

    posted by Todd on 1-18-2012 at 9:57 pm

  15. To those who say they can’t see these even though they have perfect vision….

    Vision is a lot more than just optics. When people say they have perfect vision, they actually usually only mean acuity, the part tested by trying to read those eye charts at a distance of twenty feet. Acuity is, of course, extremely important and the most obvious place for things to go wrong. But even with that corrected, you may have vision problems.

    Acuity deals with the lens. That’s where vision starts. After it passes through the lens, and is correctly and clearly projected onto the retina (which may require corrective lenses or cataract surgery), things start to get really interesting. The retina has a complex network of photosensitive cells that detect elements of the image and transmit that information to the brain by the optic nerve. Some processing takes place right there in the retina, in particular, color processing. Then this gets sent on to the brain’s vision centers. This image is not what you perceive. Not remotely. Your brain does extensive processing, marrying it not only with the image from the other eye, but filling it in with information obtained from saccades (extremely rapid and largely unconscious eye movements vital for reading, sports, and other activities requiring a high level of contextual information), suppressing input during the actual saccade, and, crucially, controlling the movement of the eyes and the focus of the lenses at all times while scanning the environment.

    This is actually very complex, and the average human does not master it in the first year of life. It can take until age 7 or 8, which is part of the reason students often have a huge jump in reading ability at that age; it’s when they’ve mastered their saccades and appropriate convergence of the eyes. Fluent reading requires a high degree of control over these largely unconscious processes — and so do single-image stereograms like the Magic Eye pictures.

    Coincidentally, my eldest is about to complete a course of vision therapy. While it has greatly improved her reading fluency (the difference is quite extraordinary), she still refuses to attempt the Magic Eye pictures. My leftie husband attempted it, however, in effort to encourage her. He succeeded. ;-) It helped that he used a book I’ve got full of stereograms which are accompanied by little dots to assist the aiming process. It’s not easy; it took me a couple of weeks to get good at seeing them. (I’m a rightie, if that matters.) You have to unlearn your brain’s idea of where the focus should be with a particular convergence.

    posted by Calli Arcale on 1-18-2012 at 10:18 pm

  16. I’m a lefty, and I can see Magic Eye pics just fine.

    (And the other Chad doesn’t speak for me when he speaks against 3D movies. I think they’re awesome.)

    posted by A Different Chad on 1-18-2012 at 10:25 pm

  17. I figured astigmatism and/or color-blindness has always kept me from seeing these or being able to tolerate 3D movies.

    I don’t really get what the big deal is anyway. I live in a 3D world and see it every day.

    posted by David on 1-18-2012 at 10:26 pm

  18. I have one eye that is near-sighted and the other is far-sighted. (Coincidentally, I thought for the longest time that everyone could do the “Camera 1, Camera 2″ from Wayne’s World so they could see stuff closer or further away, but I digress…)

    Anyhow, I have glasses to correct this issue now so they kind of meet in the middle. I’m pretty sure it’s because of this I’ve never been able to see these, or watch 3D movies … and my depth perception just kind of sucks all the time anyhow. Good times! :)

    posted by Monica on 1-18-2012 at 10:34 pm

  19. I have ambliopia (sp) and can’t see them.

    posted by H on 1-18-2012 at 10:35 pm

  20. I can only see them by crossing my eyes and then uncrossing them until the image appears. And it’s always inverted when I do it that was (as in, what would be popping out from the page is pushed in). Anyone else like this?

    posted by Case on 1-18-2012 at 10:36 pm

  21. I’m a leftie and have an astigmatism and can see them. Rather quickly too. This may sound weird..but I look deep into the image, almost like you are looking through it, then zoom out.

    posted by FlockofSeaKelp on 1-18-2012 at 11:04 pm

  22. I couldn’t see them then and I can’t see them now so I don’t bother with the headaches and eye strain from trying!!

    posted by Darryl on 1-18-2012 at 11:26 pm

  23. When lord? When do i get to see the g*d d*mn sailboat?

    posted by jake on 1-19-2012 at 12:01 am

  24. My eyes are fine- for a while, were better than fine- but I’ve never been able to see Magic Eye pictures. Also hate 3D movies. Is that related?

    posted by Megan on 1-19-2012 at 12:31 am

  25. I have never, ever been able to see one. I am a little bitter about it. I do have a slight astigmatism (I don’t wear corrective lens for it) and experience night blindness which my doctor says is related.

    posted by Lynnie on 1-19-2012 at 12:48 am

  26. Case

    I experience the same thing… We seem to be an even more of a minority than therewith just astigmatism

    posted by kev on 1-19-2012 at 4:08 am

  27. @ Jake…thanks for making me giggle

    posted by megaroo on 1-19-2012 at 8:23 am

  28. I have never been able to see them. When in the military I was tested and had 20/20 vision in one eye and 20/30 in the other and never could pass a depth perception test .

    posted by NoDepth on 1-19-2012 at 8:30 am

  29. whats the image? i have astigmatism in one of my eyes so cant see the image.

    posted by barry on 1-19-2012 at 8:41 am

  30. I have bad astigmatism, in both eyes, but I’ve always been able to see these images perfectly, and almost instantly. I can’t even really describe how I see them. Just a quick sort of half crossing of my eyes and boom. So probably the quality of your vision isn’t a factor.

    posted by vanesa on 1-19-2012 at 9:14 am

  31. Only those people unfit for their positions, just hopelessly stupid, or incompetent cannot see them. Of course, I have no problem seeing them at all.

    posted by The Emporer's New Magic Eye on 1-19-2012 at 10:08 am

  32. I’ve never been able to see these things. I wasted a lot of time in classrooms staring at them, trying to see whatever was hidden in there. I never thought I had a problem with my vision, though — I don’t have glasses and while I have trouble reading things that are far away, I don’t have any other complaints.

    I shall never see the hidden 3D images! oh woe is me.

    posted by Karen on 1-19-2012 at 10:13 am

  33. I used to have a problem seeing the magic pixs then I got over it sometimes being blinded in one eye is a good thing…..

    posted by beezer on 1-19-2012 at 11:06 am

  34. I have had a lazy eye since I was a little girl, so I’ve never been able to see magic eye pictures. I can see 3D effects through 3D glasses, but it is always a bit of a strain, especially because it means I have to take my own glasses off. Stereograms are hard for me to see as well.

    posted by Sambee on 1-19-2012 at 11:47 am

  35. I have perfect vision and have never been able to see them. I feel like they guy in Mallrats.

    posted by ahi on 1-19-2012 at 12:49 pm

  36. I’m a southpaw with minor astigmatism in each eye. I have always been able to see them. I also usually get them faster than other people – which I attribute to my handedness… When I first started seeing them I would manually cross my eyes (Like Case and Kev). But when I realized I was seeing everything inverted I tried other methods (specifically looking through the picture) and am now able to see both poping in and out of the page. I actually perfer [into the page] because it requires more thought to decipher what you are looking at.

    posted by Justin on 1-19-2012 at 12:55 pm

  37. I’m right handed, with an astigmatism, near sighted and can see them. It takes a while. It helps that my computer screen has a reflection, so I concentrate on that, cross my eyes a bit, refocus, try to see through the glass or concentrate on the reflection. I don’t know. It just works for me.

    posted by Susannnadanna on 1-19-2012 at 12:59 pm

  38. Oh & @ barry: the image is a top-down view of raised lines. If you were looking at it front ways (don’t know my terms here), it’d be like mountains:

    /\/\/\

    But from the top down, you’re seeing the peaks & valleys.

    Hope that made sense! :)

    posted by Susannnadanna on 1-19-2012 at 1:01 pm

  39. My husband can see them in print but not on screens, it’s kind of odd…

    posted by Sarah S. on 1-19-2012 at 1:13 pm

  40. Lefties CAN see magic eyes.

    I know. I am a lefty.

    posted by Lola on 1-19-2012 at 1:50 pm

  41. I love magic eyes! I can even see the double-layered ones! You can’t find those very often, but my brother has a Looney Tunes Magic Eye book, and 1 of the magic eyes has 2 different pictures, depending on how you look at it. I’ve never had any problems with my eyes, but my husband can’t see Magic Eyes and he wears contacts (I’ve always wondered if he’s just not looking at the Magic Eyes correctly or if he’s physically not able to see them).

    posted by Bethany on 1-19-2012 at 2:15 pm

  42. I am a leftie, with astigmatism….and I have never had a problem seeing these images. I remember in England in 84 they were selling huge posters with these images on them…my favorite was a complete underwater scene with Dolphins and fish, and plant life etc. Still love them to this day but find ones, like the above, very simple! I too tend to focus on a point beyond the picture and it comes into focus very quickly for me.

    posted by Sandie on 1-19-2012 at 2:17 pm

  43. @SusannaDanna- I saw the image you described, raised vertical lines with valleys in between (looking from above), but thought that I was missing the image that should have been there. I thought it would have been something cooler.

    posted by OMG on 1-19-2012 at 4:16 pm

  44. I was always told that my eyes moved too fast to do optical illusions, or something. Can’t do any Magic Eye things, never have been able to.

    posted by Madeleine on 1-19-2012 at 5:46 pm

  45. Me too, Case! I’ce never heard of anyone else doing it that way!

    posted by Susan on 1-19-2012 at 11:49 pm

  46. i have astigmatism in my left eye (not “severe”, but what i would call “pretty decent”;), and i can see Magic Eye pictures. my method was always to pick a spot and then stare at it (but don’t try to focus on it.) just let your eyes get lazy, like when you zone out or daydream. thinking too hard, or trying to focus on one spot, is the worst thing you can do. just zone out, but don’t let your eyes wander.

    as for 3-D movies…yeah, i hate them. they’re gimmicky at best, but they seem to detract from the movie itself (at least in my mind.) they also give me a massive headache, which is a common complaint whether someone has vision problems or not. they’re forcing your eyes to do something they’re not really supposed to do, and i don’t think the effect is worth the price of admission or the headaches that a lot of people get from wearing those stupid glasses. even with the new 3-D TV’s that don’t require glasses, the viewer still has to sit pretty much directly in front of the TV, otherwise the image looks like crap.

    no matter what the tech industry would like people to believe, 3-D movies really haven’t evolved much since the ’50′s, and right now i think they’re just as much of a marketing gimmick as they were back then.

    posted by Cat MacKinnon on 1-20-2012 at 6:09 am

  47. I’m one of the ones who can’t see these. I still never have. I go to my eye dr. once a year for check ups, and I don’t have any issue.
    I have tried all the tips and tricks people have, nothing happens!

    posted by Jes on 1-21-2012 at 12:14 pm

  48. @Jes: it really is hard to put into words how to “tell” someone to see these. people have tried for 20+ years to “explain” how to see Magic Eye pictures, but nobody can really put it into words properly, apparently!

    the only other advice i could give would be, “it’s like that thing where your eyes feel like they’re going cross-eyed, except they’re not”. or try looking at one when you’re REALLY tired and your eyes are drowsy (that’s how i learned to be able to see them!)

    i wonder if Magic Eye posters were slightly transparent and someone put a dot on the wall behind one to look at (and thus “look through” the poster), if that might make it easier to see them.

    but for those that can’t see them: you’re not really missing all that much. the images aren’t particularly detailed (it’s not like you can see a fully detailed Mona Lisa or anything.) it really was kind of a 90′s fad (like Saved By The Bell), but definitely more of a novelty than fine art. also, i’ve found that Magic Eye pictures don’t always work when you look at them on your computer. they have to be reproduced pretty much perfectly, and if it’s just a scanned image (which could have wrinkles.)

    posted by Cat MacKinnon on 1-25-2012 at 5:43 am

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