...hey, another 5 on relevance at least.

And I knew it was you!

Dan,
It is not only me...it *is* me. This is a photograph taken of me by a friend of mine.

I was reminded of it after I ripped off Blizzard's photo. In this case, the illusion of subject exists only because of the negative space. The negative space creates the subject.

...also, the proportion (width to height) is exactly the same as my extract of Blizzard's photo.

Portrait of you... cool. I imagine that is how you feel after a lengthy discussion or debate! I almost get there myself sometimes!

I look at it a bit differently. I don't think the subject existing is an illusion at all. I see it as actually existing but only coming to being because of the light illuminating the dark. Without dark we don't have anything to light. The light brings a subject into being, especially in this case.

Dan,

Most photographs are virtual images and, in a sense, optical illusions. The brain interprets the pixels (in this case) as representative of familiar objects that exist in the real world.

Try this optical illusion where you see a white shape that truly does not exist:

http://www.kingdouglas.com/WeeklyShot/triangle.htm