Suspect Zero

Photo rule No 4. Flat surfaces are always evenly lit by the Sun.

Dark Moon, p. 35

If you stand on the moon with your back to the sun (as Al Shepard did when he took the above picture), the ground above your shadow will appear flat and featureless and lit up. This is because the shadows in front of you are in "zero phase": they are still there, but from your point of view they are behind the rocks and craters so you see only sunlit ground. Although this effect is common on the moon with its flattish terrain and high-contrast light, you can also observe it on earth if the sun is bright and the ground is right. Deserts and beaches are probably the best places to see it.

This beach was pockmarked with footprints, yet they are invisible above the photographer's head. Their shadows are are hidden in the "craters," in zero phase from a point above the camera. What's more, the rock's shadow cannot be seen for the simple reason that the rock is in the way.

For this picture the photographer took a few steps to the left to make the footprints beyond the rock pop into view. The rock's shadow is also out of zero phase, and notice how it appears to be oriented 90° from the direction of the sun (at least if you measure it creatively enough). Just one more effect of perspective that the Apollo deniers would rather you didn't know about.

The shadows are all parallel, but the effect of perspective convergence makes them point toward the camera and grow longer with distance. The illusion is rather like a giant spotlight shining directly above the photographer's head.

The zero phase illusion also works with mirrors. If the mirror has its back to the sun, then the flat and featureless-appearing ground above the mirror's shadow will be duly reflected.

Zero phase effect reflected in a convex mirror (taken by some guy named 'Author')

During the long days on the moon, the blazing sun is constant and unblocked. The surface is littered with little craters and rubble, making for lots of sharp shadows, lots of opportunities to have some impressive zero phase effects shine forth from the astronauts' gold-plated visors.

Notice how the reflections are always brightest right above the mirror-image shadow of the moonwalkers' heads, because that is where the ground shadows are most hidden. What appears to be extra light is actually the absence of darkness.

Believe it or not, some people have mistaken this simple and obvious physical phenomenon for sinister and unspecified tampering. For example, in We Never Went to the Moon (2002) Bill Kaysing writes:

Light is ostensibly from the sun behind Aldrin, and yet his face plate is illuminated. If so, where is the source of illumination? (p. 23) (Kaysing's text accompanies AS16-114-18423).
What is the source of light on the faceplate [in AS16-114-18423]? This should be in deep shadow, as sun is behind the figure. (p. 25)

Well, maybe Bill Kaysing might think that a gold-plated mirror cannot possibly reflect sunlit ground, but surely this simple fact of optics would not fool a world-renowned photographic genius like David Percy, would it?

I'm afraid it would. On page 22 of Dark Moon he writes,

[AS12-46-6806] not only exhibits diverging shadows, but contains more surprises: the shadow side of the astronaut... is not black, and the shaded side of his gold visor actually reflects a bright source of light!

In a tour de force of sorts, David Percy manages with one sentence to proclaim his ignorance on three levels. He shows he knows nothing about how perspective convergence affects shadows (already discussed on this page); he shows he hasn't a clue about light reflection (described on the previous page); and he tells the world that he can be fooled by hidden shadows.

The funny thing is, I believe that of all the Apollo deniers I know about, David Percy is the smartest and most honourable. Which is not the compliment it sounds like.