[Polarik]

It looks like the bumps in the seal are getting light at a different angle which makes them look brighter.

I've tried to replicate it all sorts of ways using a 2008 COLB, and it cannot be done without either editing the image, or flattening down the inside of the Seal (not likely).

Here is their Seal image with only the outer ring illuminated:

Here is my best attempt to recreate that effect:

As you can see above, all of the embossed area on the Seal above the fold is illuminated.

HOWEVER

Go back and look at the background above the fold and compare it to the background below the fold. The bottom half of the COLB in this photo looks as if the fold through the middle caused at least a 20 degree angle between the area above and below the fold.

Look at the same photo under edge detection:

See the angle?

Photo #6 is a continuation of Photo #5, and should have been illuminated in the same way as Photo #5, but it's not.

Here's Photo #5 taken before it:

Now, how is it that just that outer rim of the Seal above the fold is lit in Photo #6 when it was taken simply by moving the camera further down???

[Trallfaz]

polarik wrote:

“Here is their Seal image with only the outer ring illuminated:

Here is my best attempt to recreate that effect:

As you can see above, all of the embossed area on the Seal above the fold is illuminated.”

I’m confused. You originally asked “how it is that the top of this seal is reflecting light when no other part of the paper around it is lit?” I answered and said that it was lit but that the bumps in the seal are getting light at a different angle which makes them look brighter. And now you post a picture that answers your own question.

” Photo #6 is a continuation of Photo #5, and should have been illuminated in the same way as Photo #5, but it’s not.

Here’s Photo #5 taken before it:

Now, how is it that just that outer rim of the Seal above the fold is lit in Photo #6 when it was taken simply by moving the camera further down???”

I don’t think it was just the camera moving further down. I still don’t know how to post pictures here but here’s the URL for photo 5.

http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/birth_certificate_5.jpg

And here’s the URL for photo 6.

http://www.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/birth_certificate_5.jpg

In photo 6 someone has their thumb pressing down on the corner of the birth certificate. I don’t think they had their thumb on it when photo 5 was taken. The middle and bottom parts of the birth certificate are darker in photo 6 than in photo 5 and the borders in photo 6 look straighter at the fold than in photo 5. It definitely looks like the angles of the middle and bottom parts of the birth certificate had changed between photo 5 and photo 6. The middle part of photo 6 looks like it was angled more away from the light so that only the bumps of the outer edge of the seal caught the light.

I really don’t know what you’re trying to say here. It all looks to me like someone just took some photos of the birth certificate.