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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsAwright, you know how this kind of silly thing intrigues me.
I scored a fresh batch of old family photos from my sister's collection for Christmas. I've already started scanning, and I came across two shots that fascinate me. These appear to be '20s-'30s vintage.
The thing that I noticed is not the people in the shots, but the shadows. See how in both shots there's a full body shadow to the left side. It's apparently a woman off to the side of the camera- if it were the photographer, he would be behind the camera and his shadow would be close to the center of the shot. These are not.
The thing that REALLY catches my attention is the shadow itself- notice that everyone casts a shadow that has sharp, well defined edges, and the shadows are almost black. The questionable shadows, however, have fuzzy edges and are somewhat lighter and more transparent than the others.
I know it must be simply a function of how far back the woman is, but I was hoping someone would have a more precise explanation (other than "ghost pics" . Unless they ARE ghost pics...
Is there a photographer in the house?
evlbstrd
(11,205 posts)The person casting the shadow was free to move. And did.
cyberswede
(26,117 posts)I can think of a couple possibilities.
In the top photo, I think the shadow is the photographer, holding a box camera, and the shadow is cast farther to the left in the frame because the sun in behind her & to the right.
In the second photo, it's possible that there is more than one photographer: the person who took the photo we're looking at, and another person, standing to "our" photographer's left, who is also taking a photo. Note that the subjects are looking in various directions - as if some are looking at one photographer, and some at another (I see this all the time when a bunch of us parents take group team photos of our kids after a sports tournament - each kid is looking at their own patent, so the kids are looking in different directions).
As for the shadows, the photographers' shadows are cast from a point farther away from the surface, so they appear lighter and fuzzier (try it yourself next time you're in the sun...the closer you get to the surface where the shadow falls, the denser it gets).
orleans
(33,987 posts)i don't understand what the shadow is being cast on in the second photo--it looks as if the house ends after the boy's elbow--what is the thing in the background with the two rectangle lines and three black boxes on top?
Prisoner_Number_Six
(15,676 posts)The post, plus a shadow on the wall creates the illusion of a corner, but the wall continues. The door has a thick, dark frame, and the door itself looks like it's an outer screen door plus the solid paneled door behind it. I can see it clearly because when I scan a photo I scan it as a very high resolution .tif file and only reduce the size so I can create a small .jpg file for posting. When I zoom in using the .tif scan it's apparent.
Skittles
(152,964 posts)it is fascinating
Prisoner_Number_Six
(15,676 posts)The box Brownie era.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)Notice how the women are looking down beyond the shadow.