What’s That? (59)

52 responses to “What’s That? (59)”

1. 

   tobloyd

   Jan 14, 2006 at 5:58 am

   I disagree with this being called a shadow on his arm. There is a border of stark contrast (black shirt/white wood)

   I can’t explain the scientific details but the image sensor is an interconnected grid. It registers the sudden value change and effects the adjacent sensor points.

   Interestingly, It is very hard to deal with stark contrast even with analog media.

   You will notice similar effects even with your eyes. If you stare at a white sheet of paper with thick black gridlines, the intersections of the black lines will seem grey.

   Also, Apollo-hoax idiots use a similar artifact in lunar images as *proof* of the hoax. There was a plate with quadrant lines set into the cameras behind the aperture blades (you see little "+" marks on the photos) and some exposure and focal-length settings caused them to mysteriously *partially vanish* and show the details behind the lines (and the logic goes "It must be a fake image, otherwise how could we see the rock when the quadrant lines are in front of it")

   I don’t have the scientific expertise to string these examples together and give you the technical terms for the ways in which optics has a hard time dealing with high contrast but I am quite sure it has nothing to do with reflection or shadows cast, and doubtful that it has much to do with camera software (though improved — smart — software might be able to help nullify the effect)

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2. 

   tobloyd

   Jan 14, 2006 at 1:47 pm

   I disown my previous theory.

   It seems clear (no pun intended) on second glance — that the shutter remained open AFTER the flash fired. You can see the shadow on his sleeve and the blur beneath the arm, together form the arm’s path of motion through the air in the milliseconds after the flash and before the shutter closed. This distance, about 2 inches, corresponds precisely with the amount of lattice showing through the sleeve (I measured it in Photoshop by cutting out the arm, pasting it onto another layer, dropping the opacity, and nudging in the direction of motion).

   The added skylight was blocked by the lattice but managed to brighten the color of his shirt everywhere else. Had the shutter closed while the flash was still emitting light, the entire sleeve would be the color of the dark lines and the corner by his hand.

   I was wrong.

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