Ghost picture (may be disturbing)

[curiosityandthecat]

Now, I used to live in a haunted house, but I've never seen anything. Just heard things. Terrible, disturbing, frightening things. And I've seen the aftermath of things. But I've never seen any ghosts in the "flesh", if you will.

So, if anybody's up for a little debunking, here's a picture of my good friend's son, Jacob. Apparently, a couple weeks ago, he was playing around with a Kodak digital camera, and this was one of the pictures.

I'm fairly adept with photography and photo editing (Photoshopping) but I figured a few of us HAF'ers might want a crack at it, too!

Here it is.



(Link to the full-size image.)

Exif data:[spoiler:2xc7d8rd]Eastman Kodak Company
Model:
    Kodak CX7430 Zoom Digital Camera
Width:
    2304 pixels
Height:
    1536 pixels
Focal Length:
    5.6 mm
F-Number:
    F/2.76
Exposure Time:
    0.0156 sec. 1/64
Exposure Program:
    Auto bracket
ISO Speed:
    141
Flash Mode:
    Auto, Fired
Date:
    2004-01-14 11:49:25
(The date is wrong. It was actually taken mid-October of 2008. They just didn't set the date and time.)[/spoiler:2xc7d8rd]

What I've discerned or have been told so far:

• The light from the flash on Jacob's face is not the same light that's reflecting on the other face. It has a different temperature.
• The window and lamp in the background are actually flipped. In the house, the lamp is actually to the left of the window.
• It seems like the proportions on the face are off a bit. Between ear, pupil, nose, pupil and ear is a 5 unit measure, each section being one unit. When I measured, it didn't seem to equal out. I could be wrong about that one, though.
• Judging by the compression (and I'm just eyeballing it here) of the faces, they almost seem to have been taken at different focal lengths. Though, again, that's a guess and I could be wrong.
• There is no one in the house that looks like the face in the background. It's believed it's a woman, judging by the shape of the eyebrow. I'm not sure I'm convinced about that one, though.
• Jacob has an imaginary friend, a 9-year-old boy, that he talks to. This started right around the same time his grandfather died, so it could be a manifestation of that, though I'm not sure Jacob is old enough to have formed that close of a relationship with his grandfather (again, pure conjecture on my part).

Okay, so what do we think?

[McQ]

I think he's in front of a large screen TV monitor. You can see the pixels on the screen and you can see a window reflected in the screen too. The squared off area in the lower left is strange looking. Can't figure out what that is.

As far as the rest of the story goes about haunted houses and all, well....Happy Halloween.  

[curiosityandthecat]

I think he's in front of a large screen TV monitor. You can see the pixels on the screen and you can see a window reflected in the screen too. The squared off area in the lower left is strange looking. Can't figure out what that is.

As far as the rest of the story goes about haunted houses and all, well....Happy Halloween.  

[Asmodean]

My first impression was that the kid was in front of the window, in which the second guy reflected. But a TV screen works just as well.

[Steve Reason]

This thread is a joke, right? Please tell me this thread is a joke.

[LARA]

That's very cool.  I was trying to puzzle this one out and I thought of some sort of double exposure problem with the film right before I read McQ's post.  That's right quick thinking, McQ   .  The link to the main image didn't work for me by the by so the pixelation of the face on the screen behind Jacob is hard to see on my monitor.  Strange though how the photo still gives you those creepy feelings even when you know how it happened.

[Titan]

There appears to be odd contrasts right at that point. I'm not even a beginner with photoshop but it looks like it has odd angles in the background...possibly strange reflections...I don't know. I guess it isn't a manipulated photograph but those pieces make it look like it wasn't a simple straightforward picture.

[curiosityandthecat]

This thread is a joke, right? Please tell me this thread is a joke.

Just needed a fool-proof debunk for my friends who are rather easily overcome by their imaginations and the power of suggestion.  

[McQ]

There appears to be odd contrasts right at that point. I'm not even a beginner with photoshop but it looks like it has odd angles in the background...possibly strange reflections...I don't know. I guess it isn't a manipulated photograph but those pieces make it look like it wasn't a simple straightforward picture.

According to the EXIF data, there was no post-processing done on the photo (so, no PhotoShop involved). And to me, it just looked like a TV screen. Couple that with the shutter speed and the flash, and you get a photo where those horizontal bands on the TV don't show up (they're usually very prominent in photos). The mini blinds and the window were also a clue that the image behind the boy was a reflective surface.

But it was cool looking!

Somewhere I'll dig out my ghost photo and post it here for fun.

 

[McQ]

Ah...here's mine.

There is no photo manipulation or weird trickery to this one. It is a simple photo of a family room. No double exposure and nothing but a single shutter click. I did absolutely no post-processing in PhotoShop or any other kind of trickery type software. This photo is straight out of the camera. Can you explain it?

 

[Titan]

After zooming in on the picture I'm having trouble believing you   ...those are clearly pant legs with no shoes on, you can see vague hands outside of a sweater or windbreaker with the person facing away from the camera....clearly you have a bloodthirsty and relatively hip demon in your house.

[MariaEvri]

Ah...here's mine.

There is no photo manipulation or weird trickery to this one. It is a simple photo of a family room. No double exposure and nothing but a single shutter click. I did absolutely no post-processing in PhotoShop or any other kind of trickery type software. This photo is straight out of the camera. Can you explain it?

 

long exposure image with the person standing there and then leaving?

[McQ]

Ah...here's mine.

There is no photo manipulation or weird trickery to this one. It is a simple photo of a family room. No double exposure and nothing but a single shutter click. I did absolutely no post-processing in PhotoShop or any other kind of trickery type software. This photo is straight out of the camera. Can you explain it?

 

long exposure image with the person standing there and then leaving?

Bingo!!! Maria is right on the money. One of the oldest methods of getting a ghostly phantom into a photo. Use a long shutter speed of a room, have a live subject either already standing in it or walk into frame, stand still a few seconds, and walk out of frame. One shutter click, no manipulation, and voila!

Of course, the "ghost" in this case is one of my sons with a blanket over him. You can easily see the jeans (as was pointed out). But you know what? This photo fooled a whole bunch of otherwise smart people locally who tried to pin other paranormal things on it. And I purposely made it easy to figure out. I could have easily made it more difficult, but wanted to show just how easy it is to believe what you want to rather than what is real. You guys didn't take the bait as my friends did last year when I first showed them.

Thanks for playing along with me on this!

[Asmodean]

That's a nice place you've got there BTW.

 

[curiosityandthecat]

Ah...here's mine.

There is no photo manipulation or weird trickery to this one. It is a simple photo of a family room. No double exposure and nothing but a single shutter click. I did absolutely no post-processing in PhotoShop or any other kind of trickery type software. This photo is straight out of the camera. Can you explain it?

 

long exposure image with the person standing there and then leaving?

Bingo!!! Maria is right on the money. One of the oldest methods of getting a ghostly phantom into a photo. Use a long shutter speed of a room, have a live subject either already standing in it or walk into frame, stand still a few seconds, and walk out of frame. One shutter click, no manipulation, and voila!

Of course, the "ghost" in this case is one of my sons with a blanket over him. You can easily see the jeans (as was pointed out). But you know what? This photo fooled a whole bunch of otherwise smart people locally who tried to pin other paranormal things on it. And I purposely made it easy to figure out. I could have easily made it more difficult, but wanted to show just how easy it is to believe what you want to rather than what is real. You guys didn't take the bait as my friends did last year when I first showed them.

Thanks for playing along with me on this!

Speaking as someone who has years of Photoshop and newspaper editing under his belt, this is all rather pedestrian.