http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/07/12/are-you-ever-fooled-by-relief-inversion/?src=earthmatters-rss Earth is an amazing planet, and the one that matters most to us. Let’s have a conversation about it. Wed, 01 May 2013 01:19:52 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/07/12/are-you-ever-fooled-by-relief-inversion/#comment-11417 Clarence Tennis Mon, 17 Dec 2012 14:54:44 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=185#comment-11417 I don’t know why, but I have the hardest time seeing proper relief when the image is illuminated from “above.” The images with “southern” light are easier for me to see proper relief. It’s so common for me to see relief inversion I’ve just accepted it and remember the what is up is down.

]]> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/07/12/are-you-ever-fooled-by-relief-inversion/#comment-11416 Jonathan Hughes Sun, 16 Dec 2012 18:13:31 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=185#comment-11416 As a child I remember looking at Apollo 8 mission pictures of the moon and suffering from precisely this effect given the sharp shadows cast by the sun in an environment with no atmosphere.

]]> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/07/12/are-you-ever-fooled-by-relief-inversion/#comment-10668 Joe Lockett Wed, 18 Jan 2012 14:43:37 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=185#comment-10668 It’s funny to see comments like this. I used to think I was the only one who occassionaly saw craters as “bumps.” I have found that this phenomenon is particularly evident in grayscale or B&W photos.

]]> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/07/12/are-you-ever-fooled-by-relief-inversion/#comment-3268 Kurt Wx Thu, 14 Jul 2011 21:28:41 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=185#comment-3268 I agree with David Boyle’s comment about extraterrestrial landscapes. Although the Algerian false-color image struck me as being inverted, it’s obvious that the ancient arroyos are not ridges. Images of Mars, however, are vexing because it is not always immediately clear where the illumination is from. The high resolution Mars images would be well served if the direction of sunlight were explicitly noted.

]]> http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/2011/07/12/are-you-ever-fooled-by-relief-inversion/#comment-3240 David Boyle Wed, 13 Jul 2011 13:39:43 +0000 http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/blogs/earthmatters/?p=185#comment-3240 None of the photos submitted caused me any problems at intrepreting “up.” What do, and to a maddening degree, are planetary photos of craters. In many, many instances, I am unable to trick my head into seeing that the bottom of the crater is down, and not up. Rotating an image can sometimes help, and you can sometimes catch the point where your brain ‘flips’ up and down. Any others, the sun angle is such that no level of photo manipulation lets you see the scene properly. I’m hoping this is strictly a 2-D phenomenon, and that pilots, here or there, never have such problems…

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