negativity

• It is important to realize that the image we are accustomed to seeing is a negative of the image on the cloth (the lower image here). That is, lighter and darker visually-blended colors are reversed. For instance the tip of the nose contains many color bearing bits of coating close together. This produces, as our eyes see it, a dark area. (Incidentally, cameras, depending on the size and granular characteristics of the film also blends the pixels). But when reversed, the tip of the nose appears white. This phenomenon was not discovered until 1898 when an amateur photographer, Secondo Pia, first photographed the Shroud and saw the positive image in his glass-plate negatives.

  It is this visual characteristic of the Shroud's image that has led some to believe that the image is a form of medieval proto-photograph. Chemically, it is not so. The carbohydrate layer is not photosensitive and this is where the image resides.  

  Previous     Next

  

other questions

• The Shroud of Caiaphas  An amazing forensic science mystery.

  Second Face Image  What does an announcement by the Institute of Physics in London mean? 

    Mozarabic Rite What does a 6th century rite from the Visigothic Kingdom of Spain have to do with the Shroud of Turin?

    Overview Website Home Page

what's the scoop on

• The Sudarium of Oviedo
• The Hungarian Pray Manuscript
• Pictures of Jesus and the Shroud
• Pixels, Negativity and 3D
• Coins Over the Eyes
• John A. T. Robinson & the Shroud
• Lignin & Vanillin
• Travertine Aragonite on the Shroud
• Pollen and Floral Images
•  

•