“Or...maybe you're just not the right audience for that image.”

Very true. The viewer’s POV is a huge factor. One person may perceive a Madonna and Child as a beautiful picture while in another, it may evoke deeply emotional spiritual experience. Setting is important as well. The same image may be perceived somewhat differently in a museum than in a church. I’m not sure how/whether those factors play a role in the perception of ‘reality.’

I posted this in the ‘Blown Away’ thread and it may have been posted here even earlier – at any rate, this (at least a few years ago) was considered by some the state of the art in 3D facial realism: Digital Emily 

I hope the original poster got enough material for their psychology paper or alien research project. Always fascinating, these hit and run posts ÷)

"Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance." - H. L. Mencken