A freakish surprise!

[AlbertoDeRoma]

I am sure this has happened to many of you: You take a picture then, after "developing" it, you see something completely unexpected in it.

This is exactly what happened here. I was noodling with my Leica Digilux 2, taking photos of some family members watching the olympics and got the (pretty obvious) surprise shown in the photo below. Can you guess who the ghostly apparition is and how they got in the picture?

Alberto

P.S. Not posted for photographic C&C - I know it's not a good picture - just an interesting one. Absolutely no photoshopping or other processing, just improved the contrast/lighting a bit.

Digilux 2, ISO100, f/2.4, 1/5

 

[AJake]

Did you develop them your self? Like in a dark room? Is it possible you accidentally overlapped film or something? Pretty neat.

 

[SushiWarrior]

Reflection off the TV?

 

[AlbertoDeRoma]

Did you develop them your self? Like in a dark room? Is it possible you accidentally overlapped film or something? Pretty neat.

Good guess, but nope. Nothing that complicated. No darkroom involved in this case (all digital) - sorry I should have not used the term "developed" (even in quotes.) But, when I was developing in an actual darkroom, this also happened to me a couple of times. The entire movie "Blow Up" is also about unexpected things being recorded in photos.

Alberto

 

[hower610]

Reflection off the TV?

I am also going to say TV reflection. Pretty neat though.

 

[pbelarge]

It is all about timing and being in the right place at the right time.

Is that a reflection of the Canadian skater?


It does look like a photoshop piece, but I am assuming this is the real deal?

 

[Derrel]

That's an Olympics on TV reflection,right? It turned out pretty well. The TV image is bright enough that it registered quite well given the low ambient light exposure time you were using indoors.

 

[AlbertoDeRoma]

It is all about timing and being in the right place at the right time.

Is that a reflection of the Canadian skater?


It does look like a photoshop piece, but I am assuming this is the real deal?

Yes, it's a reflection from the TV - of Canadian's Joannie Rochette, winner of the Bronze medal for ice skating. More importantly, she's the athlete's whose mother died 2 days before she performed in the Olympics. It was, arguably, the most discussed and most poignant "human interest" story in these Olympics. The fact that it's her face, accidentally captured during a very moving moment, and that the face was perfectly framed in that small picture frame, is what really surprised me (along with the rest of my family.) A really "lucky" accident - I could not have pulled it off better if I had tried to get the shot.

Aside from the fact that I don't own Photoshop , I would have never thought of making up something like this. I don't think it's a good picture from an artistic point of view, it's just the coincidence that makes it interesting.

Alberto