Today on Monday Mysteries I just offer a mysterious tree illusion.

Here’s the photo version of the photo. Take a quick glance and then keep reading:

Mysterious Tree – Photo #1

The tree in the middle looks plausible, right? But is that a tree behind the rocks on the left?

Or did you guess that’s a bit of a trick question? I will admit there is a bit of a trick in that photo.

Now, that photo is not turned upside  (as you may think I always do), but it’s not in the orientation in which I  took it, either.  Here’s the photo turned back the right way:

Mysterious Tree – Photo #2

I did the vertical orientation (photo #1, above), though,  to show that there’s actually quite an illusion going on in the water. Not only is the whole tree’s trunk reflected in the water, but also the dipping branches  that seem to be curved are a combination of the real branch and the reflection.  It’s harder to see where the real small tree branches end and their curved reflections begin in photo #2, but if you look again at photo #1, it becomes a bit clear (I think) to draw a link down the photo and see the division “line”.

Well, at least I think it is. In person it was actually quite hard to realize at first that the small branches weren’t really curved.

FWIW, here’s the original photo without cropping, but I don’t think it helps sort anything out:

Mysterious Tree – original photo

Anyway, I like the way the reflection meets the branches, giving a fun little photo  for a Monday Mystery post — although I guess it’s really not much of mystery that I like water reflection photos.