what do you make of this strange photo ?

[romeolovedjulliet]

took me 20 mins to work it out

Its a fold in the clothes. Its much more interesting as history to be honest. Some seem to be sisters and they arnt wearing shoes.

Its quite unusual to see people smiling in photos from that date as well.

@user1471565182

Its a fold in the clothes. Its much more interesting as history to be honest. Some seem to be sisters and they arnt wearing shoes.

Definitely not a fold in the clothes...Look at it on a large screen, clearly a hand, the phalanges and thumbnail visible.. Could be photoshopped, but that is definitely a human hand.

What makes me feel odd is the girl in the check dress looks so very familiar!

Could be photoshopped,

The picture predates Photoshop by about 90-100 years. The picture has been retouched by hand (badly)

www.mentalfloss.com/article/83262/how-photo-retouching-worked-photoshop

Bwlch , do you think it's the disembodied hand on the shoulder that did the "touch[ing] up (badly)"? I think it should be considered, if others think it's feasible that the hand could be a ruffle on a dress. And nothing could be creepier than a bodiless hand literally, what, creepingabout, altering old photographs.
In my opinion, anyway.

I saw the hand, but the thing that freaked me out is that the girl with her hand on her hip is the absolute image of one of my DD's old school friends. If I had been shown the picture of just that girl I would have completely believed it was DD's friend in fancy dress. Its weird when you see pictures that look so much like someone else, but I guess if you consider the whole population of the world over history, chances are we all have lookalikes somewhere.
I'm sure the hand is just an optical illusion though. Probably someone moved during the photo being taken, which with the basic cameras of the time probably caused it. Didn't pictures need a really long exposure in those days?

[quote Bwlch]Could be photoshopped,

The picture predates Photoshop by about 90-100 years. The picture has been retouched by hand (badly)

www.mentalfloss.com/article/83262/how-photo-retouching-worked-photoshop[/quote]
Fascinating!
Never realised how this could be done, as like you, I have only seen very obvious;y retouched images..I bought one of a Victorian Nursery {lots of children's toys, with flare from the large {Georgian} window that had been touched in.

I removed it..and it looks much better.

It’s not strange.

The photo isn’t clear enough to show what the item is firstly, it’s not guaranteed to be a human hand. It could be fabric etc.

If you’re suggesting it is a human hand, the most simple explanation is that there is someone in the background - the crop of the image means that this possibility cannot be ruled out, you can’t see the full scene. There’s also no guarantee that this image has not been edited, which is the most likely explanation.

@category12

This photo's been online for ages, don't know why you're pretending it's to do with your family tree .

There will be quite a few people it is related to, I doubt these ladies didn't have any families!!

Eek! See it now! Weeeeiiirrrddd😱

This photo has been on quora many times.

Creepy but love these kinds of pictures

So what are the things hanging off their waists?
Are they on a skipping team?
Or is it maybe a bit of equipment related to their work?

I think it's a hand btw and the person that was next to her has been taken out of the photo. Maybe she had two fingers on her other hand giving the mill owners a visual opinion on working conditions.

@romeolovedjuliet Have you see 'Wisconsin Death Trip' ?

If you like old photos this is an amazing - if rather dark - book.

So what are the things hanging off their waists?

It's their equipment for their job, they're workers from a linen mill.

If it's meant to be Ireland, I'm sure factory girls in those days would often have come from big families with lots of children and would often be working with their sisters, cousins etc who could all be a similar age and look quite similar. As for the hand, it doesn't look like ruched fabric to me but is it possible the girl behind had a disability that caused her hand to be deformed into that angle?

It’s a slow news day - this is in the daily mail

www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-8814203/Black-white-snap-Victorian-workers-leaves-Mumsnet-users-spooked.html

I think this is the first example of photoshop, the girl was sitting on the left , now you can see that the girl on the left will hug someone. The photographer just moved the girl to the right and the hands "cut" then did not know how.