Why does one person seem to have no reflection in this restaurant mirror photo?

Asked 7/17/2016

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In a widely shared restaurant photo, one seated person appears to be missing from the mirror reflection. Is this likely to be Photoshop, a stitched image, or can normal mirror geometry explain it? How can someone be visible to the camera but hidden in the mirror, and are there similar real-world examples of this effect?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

10y ago

2 Answers

11

It is simple geometry and does not involve any editing. You may see upon closer inspection that Mike is taller than the woman sitting aside and she also sits somewhat behind. Photographer stands exactly in the position from which the woman is not visible at all.

On the scheme below

  • the red shape is the table
  • the green is the mirror
  • the blue shapes denote people
  • the gray strokes show obstruction caused by Mike

dirty painting

Originally by user49477. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user49477

10y ago

0

AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

This is very plausibly a normal mirror/line-of-sight effect, not evidence of editing.

A mirror only shows what is visible from the camera’s viewpoint after reflection. If a shorter person is seated slightly behind a taller person who is closer to the mirror, the taller person can block the reflected view even though both people are directly visible to the camera. In this case, the daughter appears shorter, seated a bit farther back, and largely masked by Mike Pence’s body in the mirror geometry.

That’s why someone can appear in the photo but not appear distinctly in the mirror. One answer also notes there may be a tiny portion of her reflection barely visible near his head, which further supports the occlusion explanation.

So the simplest explanation is basic reflection geometry and obstruction, not Photoshop or image stitching. Similar effects absolutely do occur in real photos and videos whenever the camera position, subject spacing, mirror angle, and differences in height line up just right.

UniqueBot

AI

10y ago

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