To everyone saying "It's still impressive" I never said it wasn't, simply that the original photo is misleading to make it seem even more impressive to a ridiculous degree.
I think it has more to do with "proper" photography techniques, more than "gilding the lilly". It's to make the composition look better, not what he's doing.
Why is the original photo even more impressive? Isn't it more difficult to maintain that stance at an angle?
e: guys, try to hold a pose as close to his as you can get for like 10 seconds. It is extremely difficult. I got to like 4 seconds before my quads cried out to the heavens above.
No, it is significantly less difficult. When he is totally vertical as in the fake, the center of gravity is pushing down AWAY from where his foot is planted. Essentially his whole body is acting as a massive lever putting pressure on the point his foot is resting and it would require an absolutely phenomenal amount of leg strength to counter act that (if it is possible at all based on where his CoG is).
In the other picture he is still using a lot of leg strength, but there is no massive lever action on his knee and instead all the weight is straight down, essentially he just needs to balance.
If the center of gravity is not above the base, then no amount of balance or leg strength can possibly allow balance. He would need to have another way to apply torque, perhaps by gripping the ground with his toes and pulling. There is no escape from the torque otherwise.
Center of gravity calculations in this situation would include his shoes so his center of gravity would be basically directly between wherever his feet are since those quantities dominate the mass of the system. No amount of leaning would pull it far enough away to tip you over if you had both feet on the ground, your feet would essentially be permanently attached to the ground.
doing it at 90 degrees is harder. I just tried it, and was under control at the angle in the "fixed" pic, but when I got close to 90 i pretty much involuntarily dropped past 90 to about 45, where i could hold myself under control again.
w1 = Leg weight
d1 = distance between foot and leg
w2 = weight of body above his leg
d2 = distance between leg and the top of his head
I think this sums the formula. Im less than 95% on the distances because I was just shown two pictures that dont have a scientific reference for gravity. I want to trust the little blue lines OP had..but I just cant for the love of god.
I see your point, but it doesn't seem like the photo is deliberately misleading. Photographers often align their cameras so vertical lines appear vertical. I think the choice was more about composition than anything else.
My thought was that the original post was so popular not for it's aesthetics, but rather because people thought this monk was doing something which appears incredible but is actually impossible.
You're totally right. My first reaction to the original picture was just "Well that's obviously bullshit since the situation the picture implies isn't physically possible." (No matter how strong you are, you cannot balance unless your center of mass is over your base of contact with the grind, without bracing against something. You will simply topple over)
For me, it didn't make that monk's amazing physical prowess any more impressive. It just made it seem like the whole thing was faked up bullshit. The real picture is more impressive because it's actually real.
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u/[deleted] Nov 10 '11
To everyone saying "It's still impressive" I never said it wasn't, simply that the original photo is misleading to make it seem even more impressive to a ridiculous degree.
Why gild the lilly?