Teen snaps eerie ghost.

[Spock Jenkins]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1216051.ece

What could the picture be? At first I was thinking glare from the window above the landing, but that hand looks like an x-ray almost. Any photographic experts with ideas? Exposure rate? Moving target against a still background? Just plain fake?

[Starthinker]

Long exposure. Person walking down the stairs with his hand on the rail, probably did what I do, pause the hand, go down two or three steps, continue sliding hand, the camera snapped part of that pause.

ETA: I clicked the link for a related story -- boy in front of a gate. It's Anakin Skywalker!!!

[wahrheit]

Tabloid crap. There's a gazillion pictures like this around the world. This photograph is so boring, it's not even worth firing up Photoshop.

If you get the chance, ask someone who works at a big photo lab. They will remember thousands of pictures like that.


ETA: I clicked the link for a related story -- boy in front of a gate. It's Anakin Skywalker!!!

They still have this Skywalker [ruleX] online? Unbelievable.

Spock Jenkins, don't even bother to think about a picture online at thesun.co.uk, it's not worth it. They would post anything to get some traffic to their site.

[Spock Jenkins]

Spock Jenkins, don't even bother to think about a picture online at thesun.co.uk, it's not worth it. They would post anything to get some traffic to their site.

The story was relayed at fox news website as well. I just figured somebody here would take a glance at it and know exactly what went wrong (or right if staged) with the photo to make it look like that. Not interested enough to spend time on real research for a blurry image, so I won't be talking to any photo labs.

[Fnord]

What could the picture be?


A long-term, wide-aperture, low-light exposure of a staircase from above, wherein someone walked down the stairs and paused only briefly with his/her hand on the railing before continuing on out of the frame.

Any photographic experts with ideas?


I am an electronics engineer who once took a two-year course in video production and special effects. My idea is described above.

Exposure rate? Moving target against a still background? Just plain fake?


Yes, yes, and yes.

[wahrheit]

The story was relayed at fox news website as well. I just figured somebody here would take a glance at it and know exactly what went wrong (or right if staged) with the photo to make it look like that. Not interested enough to spend time on real research for a blurry image, so I won't be talking to any photo labs.

Fox News isn't a news outlet either, just like The Sun. So, again, don't waste time watching it or reading it.

What was said before regarding that picture was probably spot on – it very much looks like a long exposure under a (for photography) low light situation. And I bet the photographer knows perfectly well what it is we see blurry in this picture, since the human eye requires much less light to tell what's there and what isn't.

Bear in mind that an editor working for tabloids like The Sun does not really care about the truth or facts. They need to fill the paper with "stories", so that the ads have something to accompany them.

The picture doesn't even look staged to me. Mishaps like this happen a bazillion times per day. Normally, people just delete them.

[Spock Jenkins]

A long-term, wide-aperture, low-light exposure of a staircase from above, wherein someone walked down the stairs and paused only briefly with his/her hand on the railing before continuing on out of the frame.

I am an electronics engineer who once took a two-year course in video production and special effects. My idea is described above.

Seems reasonable to me. Drives me nuts that the reporters on these stories just go with the ghost angle. Why not include the view of a photographic expert in the article to explain what was done? I know it sells papers, but that mission is accomplished with the headline and the picture.

Of course the reporter does take the time to research the castle and find more bunk ghost stories to fluff the article. The family says:

Despite describing themselves as ‘sceptics’, Connor and dad Mike are now convinced the ghost they snapped is real and are hoping experts will examine it and prove them correct.

Of course they'll be consulting "ghost" experts and not photography experts, like any real sceptic would.

[Denver]

If you look down at the bottom of the stairs, you see there is a light down there, shining on the floor with interesting patterns. If you also look at the upper left of the picture, you see the railing, and a bright lighting shining from that direction onto it. Good chance that light hit the lens.

[aggle-rithm]

The only thing I know for sure is that it's not a ghost.

[fuelair]

Teen snaps eerie ghost
with towel. Ghost doesn't notice,
keeps gliding.

[tiger]

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1216051.ece

What could the picture be? At first I was thinking glare from the window above the landing, but that hand looks like an x-ray almost. Any photographic experts with ideas? Exposure rate? Moving target against a still background? Just plain fake?


Well my money on the sun shining through a window and casting the shadow on the staricase.

[cj419666]

post

[tkingdoll]

Lol, there's a great summary of the whole thing in the comments below.

Some chav-looking guy has written

"Yeh cause people always take pictures of stairs"

[Miss Whiplash]

Ditto what everyone said. It has a color cast. That means a long exposure under tungsten lighting.

[I Ratant]

How can anything "ethereal" walk -up- anything solid?

[Olowkow]

If I were a ghost, I wouldn't waste time on the stairs. :D

[Frankenstyle]

How can anything "ethereal" walk -up- anything solid?

Spirit gravity?

[mayday]

It's not what they think it is.

[arthwollipot]

I think we've already established that.

[Ron_Tomkins]

How is that a ghost?

And how is that eerie at all? (Unless of course, the woo is strong with whoever sees it)

[Loss Leader]

The father and son described themselves as skeptics. Yeesh.

[Ixion]

Teen snaps eerie ghost
with towel. Ghost doesn't notice,
keeps gliding.

And I thought you were going for a Haiku for my thread! :Dhttp://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=110057

Alas, you are 2 syllables short. :boggled:

[TjW]

And I thought you were going for a Haiku for my thread! :Dhttp://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=110057

Alas, you are 2 syllables short. :boggled:

Here, I'll fix it:

Teen snaps eerie ghost
with towel. Ghost doesn't notice,
keeps gliding onward.

[Franziska]

Hey, it's the Sun! They get a lot wrong.