So the LDS Church opened its time capsule, which is reported to have a photograph of Joseph Smith Jr. in it. Once opened, they realized that it was some cabinet cards but that the images are likely ones they have seen before. I am baffled as to why the church says they have no known image of him, yet they never fully investigated the image we brought before them. We spoke multiple times about why this image could not be a copy of a painting as it has photographic properties that artists do not duplicate when painting. In 2009, Bill Slaughter said he would give me a written opinion about the photo, which he did not. I believe he didn't because he could not argue the facts.
Evidence that my photo is a photo of a live person, not a painting.
Fact 1- The photo shows "Depth of Field". Paintings, when photographed, are either all in focus or not because they are a flat image. It was not the style of artists at that time to make some features blurry and other features not. Joseph's eyes are in focus. Photographers knew they couldn't get everything in focus because of the limitations of the new lenses. They always tried to at least get the eyes in focus.
Evidence that my photo is a photo of a live person, not a painting.
Fact 1- The photo shows "Depth of Field". Paintings, when photographed, are either all in focus or not because they are a flat image. It was not the style of artists at that time to make some features blurry and other features not. Joseph's eyes are in focus. Photographers knew they couldn't get everything in focus because of the limitations of the new lenses. They always tried to at least get the eyes in focus.
Fact 2- The "Key Lights" in Joseph's eyes are small and high set. There is also a strong shadow under his nose and chin. This indicates that the photo was taken outside, under the sun. Skilled artists of the time did not do portraits outside, as the sun is always moving and changing the face.
Fact 3 - The "whites are blown". This is a photographic term in which too much light comes through the lens and the whites in the photo lose definition. This also indicates the photo was taken outside. When artists paint white in a painting, they use a variety of pastel colors to create the appearance of white, only saving white for the highlights. I challenge anyone to show me an old photograph of a painting where the whites are blown.
Fact 4- The photo shows physical scars and a broken nose. Both are consistent with the history of Joseph Smith Jr. He also has esotropia (inverted eye) in the eye with the scar in the eyebrow. Artists of the time painted their clients in the most flattering light. There is NO artwork of Joseph showing any of this.
Fact 5- Joseph Smith Jr. III said that he had a photo and a portrait of his father. He submitted it to the Library of Congress after it had been touched up. Read my blog to learn more about the copyright and how it shows that it was not a work of art.
I ran the photograph through a photo refiner that cleaned up the photo. This is possibly the clearest image of Joseph Smith Jr. ever.
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