Smoke And Mirrors And Photoshop

The apparently very, very, very bad photoshopped picture of smoke rising from Beirut is a raging story in the right blogosphere. The left appears to be utterly silent as far as I can tell. Michelle Malkin has some comments by professional photographers about the picture. Taken from a comment thread at SportShooters.com, they are pretty well sickened by this. It is too blatant and obvious to escape the eye of professionals. Or even rank amateurs.

Geoff Miller, Photographer Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 8:53 PM Today ->> Not looking to get political on this one… But, um, does anyone see anything odd about this photo?:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060805/photos_ts/2006_08_05t152933…

Wesley R. Bush, Photographer
Nashville | TN | U.S. | Posted: 9:13 PM Today
->> Cloned smoke?

Jenna Isaacson, Photographer
Columbia | Mo | USA | Posted: 9:15 PM Today
->> That *IS* weird. I wonder if any non-photo people notice it as much as we do.

Bruce Twitchell, Photographer
Coeur d'Alene | ID | USA | Posted: 9:16 PM Today
->> Nah… smoke naturally repeats itself in perfect patterns like that. It always does…..doesn't it?

; )

Alan Rogers, Photographer
Carbondale | IL | USA | Posted: 9:18 PM Today
->> I'll second the cloned smoke…but it looks so obvious that I don't know how the photographer could have gotten away with it. Has anyone seen a high-res version of the photo?

Geoff Miller, Photographer
Portage | MI | USA | Posted: 9:29 PM Today
->> I know that building plans are often reused in other parts of the world, but if you look at the building that's the apparent source of the plume on the left (as well as the next two buildings to its right) it appears that it's been rubber stamped at least two other times up and to the right.

Jenna, Yes, non-photographers have notices it. To make matters worse, Mr. Hajj was one of the photographers that covered the Qana apartment complex bombing where some people (incorrectly, I believe) questioned the truthfullness of the images. This photo is going to _really_ pour gas on the that whole issue.

Matt Mallams, Photographer
Ventura | CA | USA | Posted: 9:31 PM Today
->> This makes me sick to my stomach. This is got to be a joke.

If your going to ruined your career, at least work on the photo a little longer than two minutes.

Jason Fritz, Student/Intern
San Francisco | CA | USA | Posted: 10:14 PM Today
->> The IDF has reduced many parts of Lebanon to smoldering piles or rubble. And then they bomb those piles again. I am having trouble understanding why a photographer would ruin their career over a photo that isn't very good in the first place, especially considering there is no shortage of buildings being consumed by fire and smoke in Lebanon. Can this be a bad video still? Or perhaps a long lens with a doubler attached. This image would certainly catch the attention of any Reuters photo editor, if it were – as many of you are suggesting – a clone stamp fakery, would it not?

I am sure someone can shoot an email to the Reuters Beirut Bureau Photo Editor, to alert them and get an answer, if the building is even still there. It is our job as journalists to bring these things up. Its a sad day if the accusations are indeed true. I've seen some truly moving images from this conflict. Ones that evoke anger and a deep sense of sadness. I can't imagine why, with all the horror, violence and destruction happening in Lebanon, a photojournalist would feel the need to spend the time doctoring a bad photograph when it is very evident that there are truly moving images that convey the absurdity of this war being taken everyday.

Every morning, I pick up a copy of the LA Times, and see the outstanding work of their photographers are doing on both sides of the border. It obvious to me that there are moving pictures to be made there, if photographers would spend less time doctoring bad pictures in photo shop, and more time walking the streets of the cities of Lebanon.

Pretty damning. I can't wait to hear Reuters leap to the defense of their photographer's professionalism like they did when people questioned the pictures from Qana. If you haven't heard, Adnan Hajj, the photographer who appears to do really bad photoshops, also did quite a few pictures at Qana.

Other Links to this Post

1. Flopping Aces — August 6, 2006 @ 10:47 am

2. Webloggin - Blog Archive » Reuters, Photoshop and an Emerging Picture of Bias — August 7, 2006 @ 7:04 am