If you follow me over on Twitter, you may recall this photo of twin boys being posted earlier this year.
It was sent to me with a rather strange backstory that needed further investigation.
Following some digging, the lady (named J as she wishes to remain anonymous) and I have decided to keep an open mind on the matter! Have a read and see what you think.
J contacted me and sent me this photo. It was taken roughly five to seven years ago at Fonthill Lake in South Wiltshire. It’s a lovely spot and she had headed there one summer day with her kids for a walk and picnic.
She took a photo of the kids using her phone. At the time, she didn’t notice anything strange. It was a nice photo. The day ended and they headed home.
Fast forward approximately a year and J is looking through her photos. It is then she spots the second little boy! Now, look carefully and you will see the boy on the left is missing the bottom half of his right arm and his thighs and legs.
‘It’s just a technical glitch!’ You may think. But there’s a back story that may make you question that assumption.
Twin Boys Back Story
J became pregnant with her second child. Early on in the pregnancy, she suffered from some bleeding but carried the baby full term. J had a lovely healthy little boy. What she didn’t realise at the time was that she was probably carrying twins. She only discovered this when a doctor suggested this was perhaps the reason for the bleeding.
J said she had always felt something was missing in her family. Almost like another child should have been included in her happy home. She mentioned, over the years, she has sensed another child around her.
Being pragmatic, you may forgive J for her ‘feelings’ and put it down to the miscarriage of her baby.
Back to the photo
Now, you know the back story, have another look at the photo. Whilst the little boy is the same, he is not a complete carbon copy of the real-life boy. He is slightly smaller, almost like he is in perspective or he was a smaller kid. Are these two twin boys?
No other part of the photo is blurred or disturbed, including the vegetation around the ‘real’ boy or the ‘twin’.
A Technical Explanation for the twin boys?
I asked J to leave the photo with me to see if I could find out what was going on. First of all, I asked my brother. He’s a graphic designer and is pretty awesome with Photoshop. He blew it up and had a good look. Like me, he thought there could be a technical explanation, but questioned why the twin appeared smaller and why was that the only part of the photo that was duplicated.
We put the image out on Twitter to see if anyone out there could figure it out. No response!
I then went to Mike at Wadedigital. He’s very knowledgeable about all things technical and sent me back this explanation:
“This will be caused by whoever took the photo using ‘panoramic mode’ or a similar feature (likely by accident).
There are versions of panoramic mode that track people/movement in objects. It’s likely the boy moved to the right, and as the camera moved to the right, he also moved and therefore, he’s in the picture twice.
You can end up with duplications/elongations and shortened objects.”
This was handy information but, for me, it still didn’t answer a couple of important points.
Mike also sent these photos to illustrate his point but as you can see, these dogs are all moving!
J’s response
I spoke to J about what I had found out. She replied:
“I really appreciate you asking. It’s great to get a technical insight. However, as you say, my little boy wasn’t moving – they were sitting still having a little picnic. He definitely didn’t sit in one place and then another. Another weird thing about it is that it didn’t appear on the day I took it; it was a year or so later when I looked back.
I think I’ll keep an open mind on it! I’m sure there’s more to it…”
The size difference of the two boys is also not explained by the apparent glitch. Technology moves fast and only the new ones had a panoramic camera feature in 2015.
I’m with J on this one. The jury is out….
What do you think?
I’m really interested in finding out if anyone else out there has thoughts on this photo?
Please let me know or comment in the comments box below this blog if you can shed any light on this photo, technical or otherwise.
Enquiring minds are waiting for your response!
