Peculiar photos

[mooseontheloose]

I just finished binge-reading the Ransom Rigg's trilogy that begins with Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children. I found it really interesting in that all three books are full of real vintage photographs that help shape and propel the story forward, which is something I have never come across before. The author even talks about darkroom manipulations in the books as his main protagonist considers how each of the photographs must be fakes. In any event, I have a few questions about the photos.

For those who haven't read the books, the main baddies are creatures called wights, former peculiars who look human but have white eyes.
Example 1: Creepy Santa
Example 2: Skull man

In the second example it looks like his eyes are closed, but in the first they do look open. Assuming no digital manipulation has been done, what is causing the white eyes? Is it always eyes being closed, or people blinking too much during a long exposure? People with particularly light-coloured irises combined with the type of photosensitive emulsions being used to take the photos? Degradation of the image over time? Has anyone here come across similar types of photos in their own collections/searches, or is this just something I can attribute to more modern manipulations to work in the books?

Not white eyes, but here are a few other images that appear in the books, for those interested (#2 and #3 appear as real characters in the story):
1. Floating Baby
2. Emu-raffe
3. Hollow Girl
4. Graveyard Reflection

 

[darkroommike]

Print manipulation was done for at least 100 years before Photoshop, etc. were created. I've read the first two books and love the old images.

 

[mooseontheloose]

Yes, of course I know that. What I'm asking though is if white eyes did sometimes show up in old photos, and what was the cause of it. I seriously doubt the photos were being manipulated back then for the white eyes.

 

[GregW]

It was a problem with the Orthochromatic emulsion's sensitivity in regard to blue eyes. The Silent film (and beyond) Cinematographer James Wong Howe hung large screens of black velvet to avoid this problem and make eyes appear more natural. He discovered this problem as a young man who did portrait stills for actors. Mary Minter appreciated his skill and demanded he be first cameraman on her next film. The rest is history.

 

[Poisson Du Jour]

Is it possible that the eyes of the subjects were not absolutely still for the duration of the exposure, which could be say 30 seconds, often more? Old portraits frequently viewed in bric-a-brac markets and more commonly in antiquarian art dealers, frequently show indistinct to white-ish/blurred eyes, or entire figures blurred through motion over a long exposure. Others still show perfectly clear and distinct eyes. The photos you have referenced may be creepy, but I do suspect the reason for the ghostly appearance of the eyes is rather more benign than one's imagination would suggest.

 

[mooseontheloose]

It was a problem with the Orthochromatic emulsion's sensitivity in regard to blue eyes. The Silent film (and beyond) Cinematographer James Wong Howe hung large screens of black velvet to avoid this problem and make eyes appear more natural. He discovered this problem as a young man who did portrait stills for actors. Mary Minter appreciated his skill and demanded he be first cameraman on her next film. The rest is history.

Thanks Greg - I had a feeling it had something to do with the early emulsions of old. (That, and blinking or other eye movement.) I just read up on James Wong Howe, it's interesting what he did to overcome the problem of these light eyes.

 

[John51]

Is there any way to create this effect with modern film?

My son has blue eyes, as do his two kids but their mother has brown eyes. I'm wanting a 'Village of the Damned' type of pic where he and the kids have white eyes and are giving her the evils.

http://horrorfreaknews.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/5475199813_114f842f0d_o.jpg