3 Left Hands. Weird.
May 6, 2013 8:03 AM Subscribe
I see three left hands. Why?
There is another (hidden from view) person behind the woman.
posted by Rock Steady at 8:06 AM on May 6, 2013 [4 favorites]
posted by Rock Steady at 8:06 AM on May 6, 2013 [4 favorites]
Another vote for there being a person leaning against the wall just behind the couple. You can see their ligher brown hair just over the top of the head of the guy leaning in for a kiss.
posted by royalsong at 8:08 AM on May 6, 2013
posted by royalsong at 8:08 AM on May 6, 2013
I'm unsure what's weird about this; there's just someone else in the photo.
posted by rtha at 8:11 AM on May 6, 2013 [5 favorites]
posted by rtha at 8:11 AM on May 6, 2013 [5 favorites]
It's weird because it's Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp, and it looks like a private moment so why would there be someone else like RIGHT there. Also it's the left hand so the third person's body must be arching away pretty awkwardly.
OP I see your confusion. My best guess is that it is another person, but in a very awkward pose and kind of mysterious why they'd be there.
posted by sweetkid at 8:13 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
OP I see your confusion. My best guess is that it is another person, but in a very awkward pose and kind of mysterious why they'd be there.
posted by sweetkid at 8:13 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Oh, see, I thought it was someone - friend, entourage member, etc. - known to them who was trying to shield them (and doing a bad job, given that the photo got taken so close anyway).
posted by rtha at 8:17 AM on May 6, 2013
posted by rtha at 8:17 AM on May 6, 2013
Extra hands is a classic sign that photoshop or similar was used to airbrush a person out of a photo (and sometimes recorded history), so hypothetically this could be Depp's leaning hand in two different positions composited from two photos. However, they look like different hands to me, even allowing for the lighting differences, so I agree with the third person hypothesis.
On the outside, it's possible that Thing from the Addams Family is sitting on Ryder's shoulder. Thing was the lesser-known member of the brat pack.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:33 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
On the outside, it's possible that Thing from the Addams Family is sitting on Ryder's shoulder. Thing was the lesser-known member of the brat pack.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:33 AM on May 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: there's just someone else in the photo.
Maybe, but where? It's a left hand, they'd have to be so close to Winona it's weird. If it were a right hand on top it'd be easier to imagine the third person's position. Also, the hands look very similar to me -- the shape of the fingers, the skin coloring. I thought Photoshop but it's a 20 year old image obviously shot on film.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:49 AM on May 6, 2013
Maybe, but where? It's a left hand, they'd have to be so close to Winona it's weird. If it were a right hand on top it'd be easier to imagine the third person's position. Also, the hands look very similar to me -- the shape of the fingers, the skin coloring. I thought Photoshop but it's a 20 year old image obviously shot on film.
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:49 AM on May 6, 2013
Response by poster: You can see their ligher brown hair just over the top of the head of the guy leaning in for a kiss.
I blew it up and it looks like one of the highlights on Depp's hair, not another person's to me, but I might be wrong...
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:52 AM on May 6, 2013
I blew it up and it looks like one of the highlights on Depp's hair, not another person's to me, but I might be wrong...
posted by PenguinBukkake at 8:52 AM on May 6, 2013
It's from ShoWest 1990, and photo retouching existed before Photoshop.
posted by Ideefixe at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2013
posted by Ideefixe at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2013
I tossed it in Photoshop and brought the shadows way up. There's what looks like someone else's shoulder behind Johnny's left shoulder (the one farther from the camera). It's in the right position for that person to stretch out their arm and have their left hand on the wall, but also for their head to be out of the frame. That person would be facing the camera and standing just behind the pair. So I'm voting for rtha's theory of someone trying to shield them from other photographers, and this one sneaked around for a quick shot.
Sorry, can't link to the lightened version from here - maybe someone else can.
posted by echo target at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2013
Sorry, can't link to the lightened version from here - maybe someone else can.
posted by echo target at 8:53 AM on May 6, 2013
Maybe, but where? It's a left hand, they'd have to be so close to Winona it's weird.
Not all all, could be a bodyguard or close friend. Without knowing the exact situation, it's impossible to say whether it would be weird.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:01 AM on May 6, 2013
Not all all, could be a bodyguard or close friend. Without knowing the exact situation, it's impossible to say whether it would be weird.
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 9:01 AM on May 6, 2013
If you look at the lower hand the fingers are bent. This is likely because his arm is trying to resist somebody pushing toward Ryder. That somebody would be the third person, standing right behind his arm.
Also, there will be other photos from that same night, either just earlier or just later, or even from another angle. If you were willing to do a lot of leg work you could dig up a photo showing the third person. Even with a little searching there is another photo of the pair before that tiled wall. Heck, maybe the photographer who took this photo is who the third person is working to shield them from.
posted by Jehan at 9:03 AM on May 6, 2013
Also, there will be other photos from that same night, either just earlier or just later, or even from another angle. If you were willing to do a lot of leg work you could dig up a photo showing the third person. Even with a little searching there is another photo of the pair before that tiled wall. Heck, maybe the photographer who took this photo is who the third person is working to shield them from.
posted by Jehan at 9:03 AM on May 6, 2013
I feel like I have seen tons of drunk pics of people making out right next to (or leaning up against) their friends, usually starring people in the late teens/early 20's. So it doesn't seem weird to me that they would be having a "private" moment while standing right next to someone.
posted by magnetsphere at 9:21 AM on May 6, 2013
posted by magnetsphere at 9:21 AM on May 6, 2013
Come on, don't the thumbs of the two left hands against the wall look identical to you guys?
posted by jamjam at 9:23 AM on May 6, 2013
posted by jamjam at 9:23 AM on May 6, 2013
I mean, yes it is a weird position for someone else to be in, but what are the other options? If it was retouched, it was done by someone with too much skill to miss the glaringly obvious third hand.
posted by Rock Steady at 10:34 AM on May 6, 2013
posted by Rock Steady at 10:34 AM on May 6, 2013
If it was retouched, it was done by someone with too much skill to miss the glaringly obvious third hand.
It's not uncommon for someone to stare at a photo for so long that they miss that extra hand. That's a collection of (some) professional photos, in which you can clearly see an extra hand (or extra fingers).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:49 AM on May 6, 2013
It's not uncommon for someone to stare at a photo for so long that they miss that extra hand. That's a collection of (some) professional photos, in which you can clearly see an extra hand (or extra fingers).
posted by filthy light thief at 10:49 AM on May 6, 2013
filthy light thief: It's not uncommon for someone to stare at a photo for so long that they miss that extra hand.
Similar mistakes happen all the time, and I guess it is theoretically possible in this case but I think the extraness of the extra hand in this photo is orders of magnitude greater than that of any of the extra hands in that gallery.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:19 AM on May 6, 2013
Similar mistakes happen all the time, and I guess it is theoretically possible in this case but I think the extraness of the extra hand in this photo is orders of magnitude greater than that of any of the extra hands in that gallery.
posted by Rock Steady at 11:19 AM on May 6, 2013
You really only have four options : retouching, third person, Johnny Depp has two left hands, lifelike hand sculpture attached to the wall. I vote retouching, but I think either of the first two are possibilities.
posted by donnagirl at 11:49 AM on May 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by donnagirl at 11:49 AM on May 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
The photo in question is #19 in this BuzzFeed photo-listicle; see the next photo down, #20. There's an "extra" left hand on the wall behind Winona's head in that one, too. (It can't be Johnny's left hand because the sleeve color is wrong, the sleeve shape is wrong, and the anatomy is way, way wrong considering the relationship to Johnny's left elbow.)
The shape of the extra left hand in photo #20 is pretty similar to the one in photo #19, which seems consistent with the idea of this being a bodyguard or someone else who routinely works in very close physical proximity to the couple.
posted by Orinda at 7:32 PM on May 6, 2013
The shape of the extra left hand in photo #20 is pretty similar to the one in photo #19, which seems consistent with the idea of this being a bodyguard or someone else who routinely works in very close physical proximity to the couple.
posted by Orinda at 7:32 PM on May 6, 2013
Referring to the BuzzFeed piece again, photos #3 and #13 show a guy in a gray suit and red tie lurking behind the couple, eyeing the paparazzi warily. Both photos give a pretty clear view of his left hand, although it's not obvious to me whether it's a match for the left hands in photos #19 and #20.
A double-breasted gray or gray pinstriped suit appears just at the edge of the frame in photos #12 and #21. In these photos, it's even less clear whether the guy in the suit is a bodyguard or just a bystander, but he is standing very close to the couple.
posted by Orinda at 7:45 PM on May 6, 2013
A double-breasted gray or gray pinstriped suit appears just at the edge of the frame in photos #12 and #21. In these photos, it's even less clear whether the guy in the suit is a bodyguard or just a bystander, but he is standing very close to the couple.
posted by Orinda at 7:45 PM on May 6, 2013
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posted by sparklemotion at 8:05 AM on May 6, 2013 [4 favorites]