Question about shading in a black and white photo. Would you please help me?

SCraig · Feb 13, 2012

Bossy said:
I beleve he's refering to what looks like a shirt/sweater tossed over the guys shoulder. But that seems too crazy to be true.

Well, you know how it is. It's hard to know which white splotch is being referred to in a photograph that poor.

Bossy · Feb 13, 2012

SCraig said:
Bossy said:

I beleve he's refering to what looks like a shirt/sweater tossed over the guys shoulder. But that seems too crazy to be true.

Click to expand...

Well, you know how it is. It's hard to know which white splotch is being referred to in a photograph that poor.

You mean you cant tell? You can practically see the pixels

SCraig · Feb 13, 2012

Bossy said:
You mean you cant tell? You can practically see the pixels

Yeah! Both of them!

Firsk · Feb 13, 2012

Sorry for the delay. The white splotch I am talking about looks like a little splash or splatter of milk. That's the best way I can describe it. If you go to this link, you'll be able to see it better. If you scroll down a little ways, you'll see a composite, and the splotch is circled in red.

JFK Special: Oswald was in the Doorway, after all! | Veterans Today

SCraig · Feb 14, 2012

That's the one I was looking at. I still think it's a man with his hands in front of his face.

Firsk · Feb 14, 2012

I think it's a deliberate alteration in which a man's face was obliterated.

Bossy · Feb 14, 2012

^ Of course you do.

SCraig · Feb 14, 2012

Firsk said:
I think it's a deliberate alteration in which a man's face was obliterated.

I think it's just high-contrast white in which most of the detail has been lost. Nothing much different between that detail in that news photo and thousands of others during that era.

Firsk · Feb 14, 2012

Well, if that isn't an alteration, then there is no such thing as photographic alterations because that white splotch is about as glaring as you can get. It's definitely not a guy's hands. I've seen guys' hands. If you say it's that, you're trying real hard not to go where you need to go.

SCraig · Feb 14, 2012

As you wish. I suggest you believe what you will and I'll just take myself somewhere else for a while.

o hey tyler · Feb 14, 2012

Firsk said:
Well, if that isn't an alteration, then there is no such thing as photographic alterations because that white splotch is about as glaring as you can get. It's definitely not a guy's hands. I've seen guys' hands. If you say it's that, you're trying real hard not to go where you need to go.

Look dude. Take your ancient conspiracy theories and go elsewhere. You came here to enlist the opinions of photographers because they know more about photography and photographic printing than you do. Now you're just trying to start a stupid debate about something irrelevant. JFK is dead, it doesn't matter where Oswald was in whatever photo. You're not going to change history. Your first post linked to a forum all about the conspiracy theory, seems like a good place for you to go and debate with people that actually care.

It's a shadow underneath his face in the photo you linked, and the persons face is covered in shadow that is holding their hands above their head. The fact that they're holding their hands above their head MEANS that it was harsh mid-day day light. The shadow intensity is the same, and the light clearly wasn't diffused by it being overcast. It was printed on newsprint through a litho press which has what's called "DOT GAIN" (research it) therefore the shadows of mid-day sunlight are much more pronounced because of the effect.

Firsk · Feb 14, 2012

OK, well thanks for your help. What you said about the lithographic film and paper increasing the contrast was very helpful. But, in closing, I will point out that this was a Presidential motorcade and the whole idea was to see, so why a guy would be standing there with his hands covering up his face is quite unfathomable.

Bossy · Feb 14, 2012

Firsk said:
OK, well thanks for your help. What you said about the lithographic film and paper increasing the contrast was very helpful. But, in closing, I will point out that this was a Presidential motorcade and the whole idea was to see, so why a guy would be standing there with his hands covering up his face is quite unfathomable.

...He's not covering his face. Have you ever been outside? I think its time to step out of your mothers basement and see what happens on a sunny day.

o hey tyler · Feb 14, 2012

Firsk said:
OK, well thanks for your help. What you said about the lithographic film and paper increasing the contrast was very helpful. But, in closing, I will point out that this was a Presidential motorcade and the whole idea was to see, so why a guy would be standing there with his hands covering up his face is quite unfathomable.

He isn't holding his hands in front of his face. He's shielding his eyes from the SUN which is creating all of the SHADOWS you are seeing during the MID-DAY sunlight. Did you read my post? "The fact that they're holding their hands above their head MEANS that it was harsh mid-day day light."