Simply Dumb

I can understand when newspapers and magazine photoshop pictures of celebrities to make them look less ugly, but this is just stupid!  Reuters is supposed to be a news source we can trust. 

I think Reuters should hire me because I can photoshop better than they can!  Check out the before and after pictures of smoke billowing out from buildings in Lebanon.  I personally think the before shot is more effective because the fake is SO obvious!  They must have first darkened the smoke, then used the clone tool to paste the same puff of smoke over and over again.  Smoke just doesn’t look that "perfect".

Undoctored picture

Photoshopped version

If you go here you can see a message about Reuters "killing" the original photo. 

I’m really disturbed by this doctoring.  What can we believe these days?

The Jerusalem Post had this to say:

Reuters news agency admitted on Sunday that it had digitally altered a photograph of an Israeli attack on Lebanon on Saturday, showing more smoke than was actually present.

The photograph, as initially published, showed an aerial view of Beirut after an IAF attack, with two large pillars of smoke rising over the city. The caption read: Smoke billows from burning buildings destroyed during an overnight Israeli air raid on Beirut’s suburbs.

The agency has since withdrawn the photograph, issued an apology and released the unaltered picture. Its public relations department said the photographer had been suspended until the investigation was completed.

Reuters was notified of the alteration by American bloggers who noticed repeating patterns within the smoke plumes, indicating that part of the image was duplicated several times.

The scene was photographed by Adnan Hajj, who had also photographed the aftermath of the Israeli attack on Kana last week, in which the Lebanese initially claimed 58 fatalities, but could later only confirm 28.

Check out Michelle Malkin and Little Green Footballs for more information.

Tags: doctored photo, lebanon, beirut, killing, smoke, billowing smoke, fake, reuters

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