The Loch Ness 'Flipper' photo: exposed?

While I was fossicking about in the loft yesterday, I came across an ancient copy of 'Nature' magazine that I'd been given at the public announcement of the Robert Rines Boston Academy of Applied Science Nessie photos. At the time these photos were taken I was at the loch researching my own book 'Loch Ness Enigma' (sadly long out of print!) and well remember meeting Rines, Klein and LNM legend Tim Dinsdale

Rines and his team had suspended a camera rig and strobe lights under a boat in Urquhart Bay and, on the night of the 7th August, 1972, a number of images were obtained. These were eventually revealed at a press call at the NHM in South Kensington, the 'stars' being two shots apparently showing a large reptilian flipper, a third that was claimed to be the head, long neck and part of the body of a large creature and a final gargoyle-like picture of the animal's head.

All of these had been 'computer enhanced': many people commented on the wonders of modern technology, but, of course, few individuals - or academic bodies - had the hard or software to repeat this process. Now things are different! I've had a go at enhancing the Rines photos using Paintshop Pro and Irfanview and frankly find the results less than impressive. I wonder how many other historical images would suffer similarly if subjected to modern IT processes?