My comments about the scourge wounds appearing as "dark" on the image refers to the shroud itself, not the "positive" that appears in the photographic negative. Let's look at the supine image in the photographic negative:
Notice all the LIGHT toned scourge marks... this is because they ARE oozing blood from the broken skin. The really BRIGHT WHITE (except for the charred areas from the 1532 fire) tones are fresher blood. If you were to compare the tone of the overall image on the dorsal image (this one) with the ventral image (the one of the front) you would notice that the back is actually denser overall than the front. This is exactly because it is laying on the shroud on a stone surface.
Note the areas of lower density on the dorsal image... they correspond to areas where the body has natural curvatures toward the ventral, or where rigor mortis has raised the part abnormally such as the lower portion of the calf of the right leg. The densest area is the shoulders. All of this is somewhat harder to see because of the wounds.
The sholders in particular carry a larger load of bloody ooze than other parts, perhaps from scrapes earned by carrying the rough hewn patibulum of the Cross.
Incidentally, there IS no image underneath any blood stains... indicating the blood came first, image later.
Why are the right hand fingers so long?
This has been debated for over a century. Again, let's look at the picture:
Dr. August Accetta, a medical doctor and experienced radiologist, has proposed a very interesting theory... as well as noting some other pecuiarities of the image on the Shroud. As I pointed out in an earlier post, the shroud is not only a quasi-photograph, it is also an X-Ray! Quoting a peer reviewed article by Dr. Accetta, et al,
"The Shroud image suggests quite strongly the presence of many skeletal details e.g. carpal and metacarpal bones, some 22 teeth, eye sockets, left femur, left and possibly right thumbs flexed under the palms of the hands, as well as soft tissue and soft tissue injuries; all presumably originating from some form of radiation emitted from the body enshrouded."
The carpal bones are those that make up the base of the palm and the wrist. The metacarpals are the first bones of the fingers and are located in the palm, from the wrist to the first knuckles (in fact when you make a fist, the knuckles are the ends of the metacarpals). Dr. Accetta is saying that we are NOT seeing extra long fingers, we are seeing the fingers AND the metacarpals under the skin, giving the illusion of extra length!
Look at the other hand... the one on top. The fingertips are bent downward, wrapped around the other arm's wrist, and are out of the field of view on the image... what we are seeing on that hand that appear to be fingers are the metacarpals and immediately to their rear, between the metacarpas and the large blood stain, the carpal bones of the wrist!
Essentially, Gray, we are looking THROUGH the skin of the hand to the bones inside! P.S. Barrie Schwortz told me that under greater computer enhancement of this area it is obvious that the man on the Shroud was a male... there is the faint image of the end of his penis.