Can you spot the tiny error in the image below?

The picture that accompanies this blog post was made on Keynote, by me, as a background for one of my future animated videos. I thought it was pretty good, considering the tools that Keynote offers.  

After it was done, I proudly shared a screenshot of it with a Facebook group of animated video makers. Much to my surprise, one of them pointed out that there’s a tiny white square, smack in the middle of the image, on the horizon. Oops!  It’s a little handle, indicating that the green block of grass was “active” when I took my screenshot.

This is the kind of error that crops up occasionally after you’ve spent a long time looking at something. I’ve often noticed it in documents that I have composed myself, or documents I’ve proofread for other people. Your brain considers that part of the work completed, so it sees what it expects to see, rather than what is really there.

This is the kind of error that other people can spot, but you’ll probably never notice yourself, until you look at it years later with “stranger’s eyes.”

It underlines the need to have your important documents proofread by an attentive editor.