The Past, Framed by the Present

[Derrel]

What about the shadows on his pant leg? Are there any clues as to a sun position in the original shot? It's a very small photo, but it seems like the right hand side in the photo is lighter, indicating the sun is back and high-up and just ever-so-slightly behind him. I agree...it looks like a hazy day, overcast, whatever, but then again, I cannot literally "see" much in the old photo at the resolution it's shown at. Is it possible this was made during a lunch hour? I don;t know anything about the man...maybe he worked near there? Maybe a frame made right before or right after that one on that roll holds some kind of a clue?

 

[480sparky]

Here's the full-rez scan.

As for adjacent images, that's impossible when scanning prints. No negatives are available.

If there's any shadows that can indicate the time of day, it would be from him on the ground. Shadows in clothing aren't long enough to be accurate, and shadows from trees won't help because there weren't any trees back then.

 

[Derrel]

Here's the full-rez scan.

As for adjacent images, that's impossible when scanning prints. No negatives are available.

If there's any shadows that can indicate the time of day, it would be from him on the ground. Shadows in clothing aren't long enough to be accurate, and shadows from trees won't help because there weren't any trees back then.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I pulled the large scan into Lightroom and adjusted the exposure and the curves. It's VERY obvious where the sun is in the photo. The shadows are blatantly obvious. Look at the shadows on the folds of his shirt. Look at the shadows under his arm and lower lip. Look at the raccoon eyes. Look at the shadows on his pants. Adjust the image to emphasize where the light was coming from, and the position of the actual "sun" reveals itself very clearly. It's clear that the lighting is "soft", due to the sun being obscured by clouds, but there are plenty of directional clues (shadows) that still exist.

http://lowel.com/edu/foundations_softlight.html

 

[480sparky]

Here's the full-rez scan.

As for adjacent images, that's impossible when scanning prints. No negatives are available.

If there's any shadows that can indicate the time of day, it would be from him on the ground. Shadows in clothing aren't long enough to be accurate, and shadows from trees won't help because there weren't any trees back then.

I have no idea what you're talking about. I pulled the large scan into Lightroom and adjusted the exposure and the curves. It's VERY obvious where the sun is in the photo. The shadows are blatantly obvious. Look at the shadows on the folds of his shirt. Look at the shadows under his arm and lower lip. Look at the raccoon eyes. Look at the shadows on his pants. Adjust the image to emphasize where the light was coming from, and the position of the actual "sun" reveals itself very clearly. It's clear that the lighting is "soft", due to the sun being obscured by clouds, but there are plenty of directional clues (shadows) that still exist.

Foundations - Understanding Soft Light

I give up.

All this talk about what is possible. Yet no answer.

 

[Braineack]

you're too caught up in my use of the word: time. I'll make it simple for you: Maybe you should re-shoot it to match the lighting of the original?

All I was suggesting is that maybe it was look better without the courthouse in shadow and the tree's shadow cutting across the image. But we can keep talking about time if you really want to. My guess is 2-3pm on an overcast day; not 10:30am when you shot.

 

[MartinCrabtree]

Season would make a difference as well.

Anyway cool image.

 

[480sparky]

I sent a copy of this to the CIA for analysis. They determined the photograph was taken October 19th, 1918 at 2:36:17.56 PM. The temperature was 52.8°F with a 5.17MPH northwest wind at the time. He had eaten a ham & cheese sandwich (on wheat) for lunch and bacon & eggs for breakfast (with orange juice). The photo was taken by Raymond Whitcomb. The pH of the soil at the time was 6.7. His right shoelace broke 3 days after the photo was taken. The birds in the tree in the background are common house sparrows, and the cashier in the restaurant in the background ended up 27¢ short at the end of her shift. It had also been 48 days since any of the windows had been washed. The concrete sidewalk was installed by Gorman Construction. He had purchased his bowtie at Fergusons' Fine Clothing, 9th & Main. His haircut (from Bloom's Barbershop) is 9 days old. He has a small cavity on his lateral incisor, and there's a screw working loose on the left side of his glasses.

 

[Braineack]

but there are things casting shadows and distracting from the picture that has none in it...

you are assuming that the trees are actually present when the old photo was taken...

no, I'm not. Tree be damned; the courthouse in the original photo is not in full shadow. The tree's shadow cuts through the original photo and it degrades the overall effect. I think this would look more pleasant overall if the photo was retaken at a different time of day since the original would NOT have had this shadow IF the tree WERE there.

do you know that there WAS anything to cast a shadow in the old picture?

We don't. But there's a freaking human being standing in the middle of a lawn NOT casting a long shadow across the entire scene towards the lower left foreground.

I sent a copy of this to the CIA for analysis. They determined the photograph was taken October 19th, 1918 at 2:36:17.56 PM. The temperature was 52.8°F with a 5.17MPH northwest wind at the time. He had eaten a ham & cheese sandwich (on wheat) for lunch and bacon & eggs for breakfast (with orange juice). The photo was taken by Raymond Whitcomb. The pH of the soil at the time was 6.7. His right shoelace broke 3 days after the photo was taken. The birds in the tree in the background are common house sparrows, and the cashier in the restaurant in the background ended up 27¢ short at the end of her shift. It had also been 48 days since any of the windows had been washed. The concrete sidewalk was installed by Gorman Construction. He had purchased his bowtie at Fergusons' Fine Clothing, 9th & Main. His haircut (from Bloom's Barbershop) is 9 days old. He has a small cavity on his lateral incisor, and there's a screw working loose on the left side of his glasses.

Instead of getting so caught up in one simple critique that you obviously couldn't handle, why don't you take the information you learned from the CIA and go back out and take the same picture but with the sun in a position that doesn't put the face of the courthouse in shadow and the tree's shadow cutting across the lawn to better match the original photo once superimposed on top of it?

Like holy crap dude...If you put half as much effort as you did into improving your picture than trying to be clever online you might have something really cool to show for it.


Btw, your horizons don't match up. Maybe you can reach out to some geologists to figure out that one? :roll:

 

[pixmedic]

I think sparky has gleaned about as much useful information as he wants/needs on the "time of day" aspect of this photo.
if there is nothing else to comment on besides that, its time to move along to something else.