Further Analysis of the Last Photo

kimHager wrote:Yes newintown i totally understand how it does that, but some things as how Gerry should clean his clothing and such might be saw as  a bit too much on that ....I know some of it is relevant but as others have said it can appear as some people are using it to disrupt or go off topic on the thread and appear as a troll. Im not in any way saying people do it intentionally as i dont know, however when used as you say to show where they were or use it in conjuction with PDL weather reports and such it DOES give everyone an idea of what was really going on.

I didn't understand that remark either and had forgotten about it until you've just mentioned it.  It may have been an "in joke" with some of the members on this forum; I can't see the point of that remark myself but there may be a point to it that neither you or I have picked up on unless it's spelt out to us "innocent" beings.   

If the Donegal photos have been manipulated then it would implicate Uncle John's involvement as the two other children are his.  The wider McCann family are playing a vital part in preventing justice for MBM and I hope they will be punished eventually for their criminal behaviour.  All my opinion.

I personally find it very hard to believe that John McCann - and most, if not all of the immediate family - are not up to their scrawny necks in all this.

Newintown wrote:

kimHager wrote:Yes newintown i totally understand how it does that, but some things as how Gerry should clean his clothing and such might be saw as  a bit too much on that ....I know some of it is relevant but as others have said it can appear as some people are using it to disrupt or go off topic on the thread and appear as a troll. Im not in any way saying people do it intentionally as i dont know, however when used as you say to show where they were or use it in conjuction with PDL weather reports and such it DOES give everyone an idea of what was really going on.

I didn't understand that remark either and had forgotten about it until you've just mentioned it.  It may have been an "in joke" with some of the members on this forum; I can't see the point of that remark myself but there may be a point to it that neither you or I have picked up on unless it's spelt out to us "innocent" beings.   

perhaps as in borrowed soiled clothing - to confuse dna/snifferdogs?

Confusion is good

All in my own opinion

Yes, No Fate, I agree.  What a dysfunctional, disgusting family.  Unfortunately, they all have children who inevitably have to grow up and become adults themselves.  I feel sorry for them.

Ahh yes BCB..good ole confusion i think that might have been the most honest wierd thing he has said to the public..however good for the fund and not madeleine.

Yes newintown i still say take it to the cleaners they can sort his wash...but come to think of it they only used the MW facility's washer and dryer ONE time,how on earth did that go no wonder they have dirty nappies piling up,they are not very hygenic lot are they. I DONT believe kate hand washed clothes so...i think they put maddys clothes on Amelie..and Amelies clothing on maddy or even seans shirt had cadaverine scent that didnt wash out...it would be one way to throw off the dogs

No Fate Worse Than De'Ath wrote:I personally find it very hard to believe that John McCann - and most, if not all of the immediate family - are not up to their scrawny necks in all this.

Too true, seeing as the "Fund" was to help the wider family, they're not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

I have today spent every moment that I could spare reading every single word in this thread that's been posted from Day 1 and making rough notes.  Ignoring all the comments about the tennis Photo, and other photos, and by lumping similar comments together I am left with a list of 64 anomalies. My intention was to consider, and give a view on each point, but it's going to take me far longer than I expected. In addition almost every point has been discussed already and some posters have already effectively addressed some anomalies very well.

If I remove from my list the more far-fetched ones, (such as there being three separate human ghosts, and also two ghost dogs in the background (!), Amelie having no nostrils, etc.), and also ones that are subjective and/or impossible to assess, (e.g. Gerry looks grumpy, kids should be looking at the camera, etc.), I think the list will only have a dozen or so key 'issues', (e.g. reflection in the shades, GM 'floating, the weather, apparent 'photoshopping', etc.).  

I've got to catch up now on some (much overdue) work... but here's a quick summary (n.b. I've honestly tried has hard as possible not to be biased in any way and to look at each point posted by fellow members as objectively as possible):

(i) Has it been photoshopped in any way - Not as far as I can see, (part of my income is earned by manipulating photos so I'm reasonably familiar with the things to look for). Sorry, but all the bulges, shadows, transparent bits, odd lines, etc. are seen in most of the photos I work with every day and are commonplace if people are trying to pick holes in any given photo
(ii) Is the photo fake - Yes, it seems very, very, unlikely to have been taken on the 3rd and thus TM claiming it to be taken on that date is a falsehood. Furthermore if the timestamp has also been altered than that's forgery. Peter Mac has already provided ample comment on this and provided evidence re: the weather.
(iii) The two image anomalies that did make me stop and think were the shadowing beneath GM's legs and the reflection in his shades. After giving them much thought, trying very to see evidence of manipulation, I can't see anything wrong and they do seem to be AOK. I intend to do some diagrams to explain my rational so as my thinking can of course be challenged. The basics are: Any shadow under GM's right thigh, as can be seen under Amelie's thigh, would be small and is hidden by his hand...and the reflection in the shades shows the right hand edge of the relatively small circular pool, (thus effectively a 'vertical curve). The concave lens, as almost all lenses are, would serve to somewhat 'straighten' the pool's edge in its reflection back to the photographer, resulting in the straightish vertical edge that is seen in the reflection, (the pink thing may be MBM's discarded shoe?).  I've even considered whether the pool's surface, reflected in the lens has been 'smoothed' for some reason, (since there are splashes seen in the air in front of MBM & A I wondered if we'd have seen a ripple or two... but without a practical experiment I can't say.  However, all other 'anomalies' with the photo I am confident I can explain, (at least to my own satisfaction... if no one else  ).

 p.s. Canada12... Thank you again for all those pool pics. I'll knock up a few images to show how I think it's safe to say the reflection in GM's shades is the right hand edge of the round pool so as anyone interested can check my rough angles, etc.  I couldn't have done that bit without you so speedily passing those pics on to me 

P.P.S> ... Just remembered... I didn't do anything about working out who had what clothes on. It's not an area of any expertise and it seems lots of comments have been made about buying muilti-packs...or not.. of kid's clothes, etc.

Thanks Sonmi-451. There are some small anomalies in The Last Photo which I'd like you to take a close look at, using the high-res photo on page 1 of this thread.

The anomalies are:

1. Madeleine's little braid, on the left side of her head as she faces us. There is a definite line running across her hair below the elastic band. It's a different colour from the rest of her hair. In addition, above the elastic band, it's supposed to be a braid, but it disappears into nothing, and loses all definition.

2. Madeleine's left arm, on our right as she faces us. If you increase the size of the photo about 3x, and look at the outside of her arm, you'll see a brown line which runs along the edge of her arm, down past her wrist. If you were looking at a normal photo of an arm, you'd expect the line of her arm to indent at her wrist. We can see the contour of her skin indenting at her wrist, but the outside brown line, which is about 2 pixels wide, continues straight, without indenting at her wrist. If I were a photoshopper, I would say that this is a remnant of cropping and pasting, and the two pixel line wasn't cleaned up.

3. Behind Amelie is a black and white object on the pool deck. We could argue that this is the depth indicator, which you can see in the photo I posted above somewhere, of the pool without people. However the pool depth indicator is white, and has a black edge on it on the bottom. The object behind Amelie is black at the top, and it has a white edge on the bottom. I can't see any way to confidently explain this. Perhaps you could give it a try.

4. You can clearly see the edge of the pool behind Madeleine, curving behind her back. Yet if you look at the edge of the pool where Amelie is sitting, which is the next time we see it, it doesn't seem to link up in a properly curving perspective, if we assume that the black and white thing behind her is the depth indicator.

Thanks.. I haven't been able to explain any of these anomalies to my satisfaction - maybe you could have a very close look at them and tell me what you think. :-)

canada12 wrote:Thanks Sonmi-451. There are some small anomalies in The Last Photo which I'd like you to take a close look at, using the high-res photo on page 1 of this thread.

The anomalies are:

1. Madeleine's little braid, on the left side of her head as she faces us. There is a definite line running across her hair below the elastic band. It's a different colour from the rest of her hair. In addition, above the elastic band, it's supposed to be a braid, but it disappears into nothing, and loses all definition.

2. Madeleine's left arm, on our right as she faces us. If you increase the size of the photo about 3x, and look at the outside of her arm, you'll see a brown line which runs along the edge of her arm, down past her wrist. If you were looking at a normal photo of an arm, you'd expect the line of her arm to indent at her wrist. We can see the contour of her skin indenting at her wrist, but the outside brown line, which is about 2 pixels wide, continues straight, without indenting at her wrist. If I were a photoshopper, I would say that this is a remnant of cropping and pasting, and the two pixel line wasn't cleaned up.

3. Behind Amelie is a black and white object on the pool deck. We could argue that this is the depth indicator, which you can see in the photo I posted above somewhere, of the pool without people. However the pool depth indicator is white, and has a black edge on it on the bottom. The object behind Amelie is black at the top, and it has a white edge on the bottom. I can't see any way to confidently explain this. Perhaps you could give it a try.

4. You can clearly see the edge of the pool behind Madeleine, curving behind her back. Yet if you look at the edge of the pool where Amelie is sitting, which is the next time we see it, it doesn't seem to link up in a properly curving perspective, if we assume that the black and white thing behind her is the depth indicator.

Thanks.. I haven't been able to explain any of these anomalies to my satisfaction - maybe you could have a very close look at them and tell me what you think. :-)

Will do... I'll go into more detail when I'm not covered in varnish after catching up engraving some wedding photos...  

(1) The splodgy bit below the braid I've looked at and is indeed the only 'possible' photoshopping bit I might yet be able to be convinced by, (I'm aware of the concerns about the 'bead' that may/may not have been found after the 4th and KM writing about removing something from MBM's hair so it is odd... the Mystery Writer in me imagined finding a statement by a cleaner saying they found such a bead on, say, the 2nd... which would have helped show this photo preceded that date... but that's just my active my wishful thinking and over-active imagination!!!)... (2) I think the contrast band on the wrist is a symptom of how digital cameras process images. I'll do the technical bit that might explain it when I have time..that might also explain (3) the high contrast of the pool edge behind Amelie and a raised tile, (that's my first thoughts...and liable to change!)... and as for '4' I don't think I can explain that one.. is it an optical illusion or evidence of manipulation?   I fear that the only way to check that one out might be to take a 3 and 4 yr old and an adult and sit them in the exact same place. I will try and draw some vector lines over the curve though to at least fairly share the results...

I must dash now... Sorry for my haste... I gotta finish tons of stuff for posting tomorow :D G'night !

Sonmi-451 wrote:

canada12 wrote:Thanks Sonmi-451. There are some small anomalies in The Last Photo which I'd like you to take a close look at, using the high-res photo on page 1 of this thread.

The anomalies are:

1. Madeleine's little braid, on the left side of her head as she faces us. There is a definite line running across her hair below the elastic band. It's a different colour from the rest of her hair. In addition, above the elastic band, it's supposed to be a braid, but it disappears into nothing, and loses all definition.

2. Madeleine's left arm, on our right as she faces us. If you increase the size of the photo about 3x, and look at the outside of her arm, you'll see a brown line which runs along the edge of her arm, down past her wrist. If you were looking at a normal photo of an arm, you'd expect the line of her arm to indent at her wrist. We can see the contour of her skin indenting at her wrist, but the outside brown line, which is about 2 pixels wide, continues straight, without indenting at her wrist. If I were a photoshopper, I would say that this is a remnant of cropping and pasting, and the two pixel line wasn't cleaned up.

3. Behind Amelie is a black and white object on the pool deck. We could argue that this is the depth indicator, which you can see in the photo I posted above somewhere, of the pool without people. However the pool depth indicator is white, and has a black edge on it on the bottom. The object behind Amelie is black at the top, and it has a white edge on the bottom. I can't see any way to confidently explain this. Perhaps you could give it a try.

4. You can clearly see the edge of the pool behind Madeleine, curving behind her back. Yet if you look at the edge of the pool where Amelie is sitting, which is the next time we see it, it doesn't seem to link up in a properly curving perspective, if we assume that the black and white thing behind her is the depth indicator.

Thanks.. I haven't been able to explain any of these anomalies to my satisfaction - maybe you could have a very close look at them and tell me what you think. :-)

Will do... I'll go into more detail when I'm not covered in varnish after catching up engraving some wedding photos...  

(1) The splodgy bit below the braid I've looked at and is indeed the only 'possible' photoshopping bit I might yet be able to be convinced by, (I'm aware of the concerns about the 'bead' that may/may not have been found after the 4th and KM writing about removing something from MBM's hair so it is odd... the Mystery Writer in me imagined finding a statement by a cleaner saying they found such a bead on, say, the 2nd... which would have helped show this photo preceded that date... but that's just my active my wishful thinking and over-active imagination!!!)... (2) I think the contrast band on the wrist is a symptom of how digital cameras process images. I'll do the technical bit that might explain it when I have time..that might also explain (3) the high contrast of the pool edge behind Amelie and a raised tile, (that's my first thoughts...and liable to change!)... and as for '4' I don't think I can explain that one.. is it an optical illusion or evidence of manipulation?   I fear that the only way to check that one out might be to take a 3 and 4 yr old and an adult and sit them in the exact same place. I will try and draw some vector lines over the curve though to at least fairly share the results...

I must dash now... Sorry for my haste... I gotta finish tons of stuff for posting tomorow :D G'night !

No problem. Just one more thought.

Regarding Madeleine's wrist - I would be inclined to believe that the vertical brown line running down her arm past her wrist might be how digital cameras process images, however nowhere, and I mean nowhere, else on the three people in this picture does that anomaly appear. If it was something that the camera was doing, I would expect to see it on Amelie or Gerry's arms, and I don't. The line only appears on Madeleine's arm. Surely it should also show up on the others?

Her hair is indeed a mystery.

The black and white thing defies logic and explanation.

Anyway, I thank you for your continuing investigations and look forward to your thoughts. I firmly believe that the devil is in the very small details.

canada12 wrote:

{Snipped}

The black and white thing defies logic and explanation.

Hi Canada12, 

I've grabbed a few minutes before overdue zzzZZZ to look at the white/black thing behind Amelie. It did look odd, however I'm 100% sure it's not a white/black thing. The 'white' is actually the same shading as the pool's top coping, so it must be the pool edge. It's an optical illusion that it appears 'white' owing to the contrast with the surrounding tones, (the effect is really well illustrated in this YouTube clip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Sen1HTu5o  ... If the link doesn't work search YouTube for:  Incredible Shade Illusion
)

Here's a quick few words and an illustration of moving the white bit onto the coping to show it is the same shade...   
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]" />

Forget the "black and white square" thing.

The camera itself makes decisions about colour.. what you see isn't what you get. You need to find out what JPEG compression does.

There's a lot of chaff in this thread isn't there.

The most important thing about the picture is that it seems not to have been taken on 3rd May.

Sonmi-451 wrote:

canada12 wrote:

{Snipped}

The black and white thing defies logic and explanation.

Hi Canada12, 

I've grabbed a few minutes before overdue zzzZZZ to look at the white/black thing behind Amelie. It did look odd, however I'm 100% sure it's not a white/black thing. The 'white' is actually the same shading as the pool's top coping, so it must be the pool edge. It's an optical illusion that it appears 'white' owing to the contrast with the surrounding tones, (the effect is really well illustrated in this YouTube clip... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9Sen1HTu5o  ... If the link doesn't work search YouTube for:  Incredible Shade Illusion
)

Here's a quick few words and an illustration of moving the white bit onto the coping to show it is the same shade...   
[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]" />

Thanks for that. I can see that the white bit is probably the edge of the pool and the brownish bit is Amelie's shadow on the edge of the pool. But I still don't understand the black strip at all. I think this may have to be one of the "unsolved" anomalies of this picture.

Here is a closeup of the arm detail I was asking about.

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Note how the brown line on the outside of Madeleine's arm continues down her wrist, and does not indent where her wrist indents. I've examined the entire photo and cannot see anywhere else where this anomaly exists on anyone. You can see the hairs on Gerry's arm. You can see the definition of Amelie's arm without any outlining. Only on Madeleine's arm do we see this brown line which extends all the way up her arm.

BlueBag wrote:Forget the "black and white square" thing.

The camera itself makes decisions about colour.. what you see isn't what you get. You need to find out what JPEG compression does.

There's a lot of chaff in this thread isn't there.

The most important thing about the picture is that it seems not to have been taken on 3rd May.

I agree that the time date stamp is the most important thing, BlueBag.
But I don't see anything wrong in a close examination of the tiny things which have always niggled me about this photograph. If we were forensic examiners, we'd be looking at every tiny detail, not just the big picture.
And I don't think it's chaff to try and get explanations for things which don't look right.

speaking of childs right hand ,I think she may have been clutching a toy