Here's one more to try out:
Ok, so why are we seeing a color version of a black and white picture? It's pretty cool and you'll notice that it changes back to black and white as soon as you move your eyes from one spot. The trick is pretty interesting. Have you ever looked up at the sun for a little while and when you look away and blink you see what is called an afterimage? Of course. Well, unlike the sun (or the camera flash or the lightbulb... whichever) the 'afterimage' is black or essentially the opposite of the color you were staring at. The same premise is at work here. Colors have the same reaction, though we aren't as aware of it normally as we are here in these illusions.
The initial state of each of the above illusions is in fact a negative image (that is color-reversed) of the full color picture. After that image is metaphorically burned into our minds, the picture switches to the black and white version of the same picture, sans color. At the same time, our brains are still displaying the 'after image' of the original negative image. Now, like the sun or the flash bulb, our minds display the reverse of what it saw; the reverse or correct colors. So now when we are seeing a full color picture, we are actually seeing a combination of two different images. The effect wears off as soon as we move our eyes and unalign the two images.
Our eyes are more sensitive to detail in black and white images. We are much more likely to pick up these details thanks to the stark contrast between white and black. With colors, specifically the after image of the negative image, the detail is not as precise. Therefore, the detail from the black and white image is overlayed with the color information from the afterimage and our brains think they are seeing a color image!
These illusions were apparently first discovered and compiled by one John Sadowski, so credit here is being given where it is due.
Here's a much more interesting one that includes more colors than just sand and sky: Click!
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