Mr. Shaneyfelt. I think the reason that the stock was retouched straight in the photograph on Life magazine, and my interpretation would be that the individual retouching it does not have a familiarity with rifles and did not realize there was curvature there, and in doing it just made a straight-line highlight without even considering whether that curved or not. There was curvature in that area which is not readily apparent—it is quite indistinct—and I think it was just made without realizing that there was curvature there.
Mr. Eisenberg. That is, the individual might have thought he was actually enhancing detail rather than putting in detail which was not present in the original?
Mr. Shaneyfelt. Yes.
Mr. Eisenberg. Is there anything else you would like to point out in this photograph, Exhibit 754?
Mr. Shaneyfelt. There is other retouching at the shoulder, to the left of the photograph as we view it; that area has had some retouching of the highlights. Along the barrel of the gun, or the stock of the gun above the hand, there is retouching, a little highlight enhancement there. These are all generally consistent with the type of retouching that we have previously discussed and I have previously pointed out.
Representative Ford. I am not clear why they would retouch, from a photographic point of view.
Mr. Shaneyfelt. They retouch because in the halftone process there is a loss of detail, and had they not retouched this photograph, had they not put the highlight along the rifle stock, then you would only have seen a black area. They were afraid you would only see a black area and you wouldn't get the definition here of the rifle. You lose the detail, and you would lose the view of the rifle. You wouldn't see the rifle there because this line would be lost. The same way along here. This one very definitely, had they not retouched it, it would have blended in and been a continuous tone of dark gray all across there.
Representative Ford. That is—up here—that is, above the hand on the stock?
Mr. Shaneyfelt. Yes.
Mr. Eisenberg. When you said a highlight "along the rifle stock," you actually meant on top, above the rifle stock?