From the perspective of a faraway observer watching an object fall into a black hole, they will see the object approach the black hole's horizon at a slower and slower rate until eventually "flattening out" against the event horizon. This would resemble a 2d circle, where an object falls in, say, from the right side and flattens into the circumference, creating a sort of "shell".
But what about an object that falls into a black hole from directly in front of an observer? Not from the side, striking the circumference of a 2d circle, to use the same representation, but directly ahead, landing within the area of the circle where a black hole is, conventionally, totally dark.
Why is it that the object falling into the black hole from the side from the perspective of someone faraway flattens into a sort of shell, illuminating the circumference of the black hole, while an object falling directly into the black hole (while I understand similarly fades via red-shift and likewise would "flatten out") does not leave a similar "shell" observable to the outside observer? I would think that whatever glow/shell an object joining the event horizon would contribute, thus giving a sort of halo effect to the black hole, would be uniform throughout the black hole.
Why, then, is the black hole dark everywhere but the circumference when the entire surface of the black hole is undergoing the same accumulation of radiating "shells". Should not the whole black hole similarly radiate some uniform glow?