In case you’ve been like me and pretty much unplugged over the weekend, Reuters has been caught publishing photographs that have been tampered with.
The scariest part is that this particular photo was simply a shitty Photoshop job. As a wedding photographer, I use Photoshop to open people's eyes, take off that last minute zit, and even move people closer to each other. When I am done, there isn't the slightest hint that anything ever changed.
For example, a friend of my wife's recently asked me to remove a camera bag from an otherwise nice photo. It was easy because it was on grass, and grass has a nice, randomness to it that makes it simple to clone. However, because I see these things, I ensured that I mixed up the cloning with some transformations, blurring, and whatnot so that even a trained eye wouldn't be able to see what had changed.
So, while this one is rather easy to spot, how many times have we been fooled into thinking something was bloodier than it really was? Or more flooded? Or colder?
The irony of technology is that its ability to assist mankind is matched in its ability to destroy us. Biotech gives us bioterror. Enhanced computers and network give us the ability to spread the truth almost as fast as lies.
And better imaging software gives me a great set of tits…