What is going on in this photo?

[Radical Edward]

Is it some kind of old-timey camera trick? A double exposure? A Halloween prank? Was it photoshopped just to keep me from going to sleep tonight? I mean, fucking jeepers creepers, man.

[Dragonlady]

Damn it Ed, how am I gonna sleep?
That is weird looking.

:watch:

[Radical Edward]

I swear I am not trolling people. I really, truly want to know how it was done.

[SmartAleq]

Eek, that is rather freaky, ain't it?

[Chacoguy]

I'm not going to bother with a point-by-point, but it's an obvious manipulation. The short story is the 'Hanging Corpse' is in the foreground. The photo is taken with a flash. In a flash shot there is no way for the foreground to be darker than the background. You can check this with an ordinary light bulb. Put something dark near the light and something light-colored on the far wall. See the difference?

ETA If that thing shows up on film, it will cast a shadow. No shadow= Not there.

[Dragonlady]

Thank you. :o

[Radical Edward]

Okay, but, well... it does kind of have a shadow. Look at the arms.

I'm not saying you're wrong, and I don't believe for a second that it's a ghost photo or anything. (Why would a ghost be upside down anyway?) I'm just curious how they got it put together like that, without photoshop. Presuming, of course, that it was made before Photoshop, which I guess it might not have been. Thanks for the info, I will sleep much better tonight.

[3acres]

I think most of the stuff people do in image manipulation software like Photoshop originated from darkroom techniques. I only did it as a hobby and only processed B&W film, but I've known a few professional photographers and they could do the same kind of stuff with color (I think it was just a lot harder and a lot more expensive).

But anyway, when you're making the print you can do all kinds of stuff with the enlarger. Dodging and burning, masking, overlays, multiple exposures, focus adjustments, and so on. And of course, you can combine techniques in a single shot if you want. In the end, an enlarger is just shooting light through negatives at light-sensitive paper. If you mess with the light before it hits the paper, you change the image that results.

[Euryphaessa]

Oh sweet Jesus, that scared the crap out of me.

[Radical Edward]

Hahaha! I first ran across it on Photobomb and I was all, "Why is this a photobom....OMYGAWDWTF!"

[Euryphaessa]

I just thought it was this big amorphous shape at first, then Chacoguy said "hanging corpse" so I looked again and it all of a sudden came to me that it's someone hanging upside down and I 'bout peed myself. I know it's not real, but still.

[Random Precision]

Looks like a simple double exposure to me. If you look closely, you can't find anywhere that the hanging man is behind anything else in the picture. And the shadow effect appears to be a double image where the subject was in motion witha slow shutter speed.

There was image manipulation long before there was Photoshop.

[Tug]

::now fighting sleep to avoid nightmares::

[Dragonlady]

Originally Posted by Euryphaessa

I just thought it was this big amorphous shape at first, then Chacoguy said "hanging corpse" so I looked again and it all of a sudden came to me that it's someone hanging upside down and I 'bout peed myself. I know it's not real, but still.

I thought it was just me. :o

[sturmhauke]

I fight nightmares to avoid sleep - an activity otherwise known as playing video games.

[Zeener Diode]

When I saw that I first thought: photo manipulation. It just didn't seem natural. Not that the appearance of a man hanging upside down beside a smiling family should be considered "natural", but in this case the manipulation is apparent.

Looking at this reminds me of those "haunted house" gifs I saw a lot of back in the 90s: you think you're looking at a static image of a dark room when suddenly a ghoulish image pops into the scene. It was good for a few jolts until you replayed it a dozen times.

[bufftabby]

Originally Posted by Zeener Diode

Looking at this reminds me of those "haunted house" gifs I saw a lot of back in the 90s: you think you're looking at a static image of a dark room when suddenly a ghoulish image pops into the scene. It was good for a few jolts until you replayed it a dozen times.

That reminds me of this. Go ahead, try it out.

[Mustard Stain]

Originally Posted by bufftabby

That reminds me of this. Go ahead, try it out.

That was freaky.

Does the site take control of your scrolling or something? Or was I somehow making the "animation" work myself at my usual scrolling rate?

[BJMoose]

Consider the source. If Photobomb is the sort of place where people post any sort of crap, it probably is fakery of recent vintage.

The basic photo probably dates from the Forties, maybe early Fifties (which isn't old-timey in my book!). From the shadows cast by the "corpse" it was lit from above and camera left. The people were strongly lit from head on (had to be to counteract the light coming through the window. Objects on the table show no shadow which is consistant with front lighting.

I vote composite, probably of rather recent vintage.

[bufftabby]

Originally Posted by Mustard Stain

That was freaky.

I think you make the animation work with your regular scrolling rate. I had to stop a couple of times and decide if I wanted to keep going.

It freaked me out good and proper.

[Mustard Stain]

Originally Posted by bufftabby

It freaked me out good and proper.

Me too! That's a great little trick. I wish there was an English version, although the story is pretty clear with pictures.

[Uthrecht]

Just find a friendly Korean girl with no eyes in her sockets. I'm sure she'll explain it to you.

[Harry]

Don't know why the picture in the OP would freak anybody out. I had a shirt just like the one the kid next to the upside guy is wearing. It wasn't that bad. My haircut was about the same as his, too. That'd make the picture in the early to mid 50's.

[Pirate]

Originally Posted by Mustard Stain

Me too! That's a great little trick. I wish there was an English version, although the story is pretty clear with pictures.

Here ya go.

[Dragonlady]

Originally Posted by Harry

Don't know why the picture in the OP would freak anybody out. I had a shirt just like the one the kid next to the upside guy is wearing. It wasn't that bad. My haircut was about the same as his, too. That'd make the picture in the early to mid 50's.

The thought of you wearing that SHIRT is freaky!

[Guinastasia]

Originally Posted by bufftabby

That reminds me of this. Go ahead, try it out.

Jesus Christ!

[sturmhauke]

Holy fuck man. I first clicked that link on my Android phone, but it didn't do the scrolling trick or sound effects and I was like "Whatever, you people are freaking out over nothing." Then I looked at it on my computer and I about shit my pants.

[TatSavitr]

Originally Posted by bufftabby

That reminds me of this. Go ahead, try it out.

Don't do that again! Damn near had a heart attack

[KidVermicious]

Originally Posted by bufftabby

That reminds me of this. Go ahead, try it out.

That's a cool effect for a webcomic. It made me jump, and I don't normally do that.

[Khampelf]

Originally Posted by TatSavitr

Don't do that again! Damn near had a heart attack

C'mon, Tat. Those 'jump out and boo' GIFs were the topic of discussion when Buff said "Go ahead, try it out.".

That said, I was expecting something of the sort and it made me jump.

[Zeener Diode]

Originally Posted by sturmhauke

Holy fuck man. I first clicked that link on my Android phone, but it didn't do the scrolling trick or sound effects and I was like "Whatever, you people are freaking out over nothing." Then I looked at it on my computer and I about shit my pants.

I waited for the page to load, and all I saw was kanjii(?) and no visuals. I waited longer, expecting something to appear, but nothing. It wasn't until I read how some of you scrolled down the page that I saw it.

Yeah, that was freaky.

[TatSavitr]

Originally Posted by Khampelf

C'mon, Tat. Those 'jump out and boo' GIFs were the topic of discussion when Buff said "Go ahead, try it out.".

That said, I was expecting something of the sort and it made me jump.

I know - and I know those GIFs too. For some reason it just caught me totally off guard.

Especially the second time around

It's a cheap trick, and I totally fell for it

[Khampelf]

I think I had seen that one before, also.

And yep, made me jump the second time around, too.

[Wolf Larsen]

I guess I've just shot too many pics with flashbulbs, but it was obvious the guy wasn't there when the flash bulb went off. The guy is underexposed in his negative, so probably double exposed on the enlarger and they over exposed the second image to make it too dark. Double exposing negatives of different densities is hard.

[stormie]

Say what? I don't understand but I hope you mean 'someone just made that up to scare you' because it did!