Was the Fidel Photo Photoshopped?
By thomherfs Comments (11) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
With the four photos of Fidel Castro, supposedly taken yesterday and showing him recuperating, I found this article that raises three interesting questions about those pictures.
It also points out what might be a photoshop manipulation of the one picture that shows Castro holding up yesterday's newspaper.
This could be very, very interesting.
Details after the jump.
"And so, the first question of the day is whether the photos truly show Fidel Castro recuperating from his illness, or whether they were photoshopped or are deceptive in some other way.
"The second question is why AP is so hesitant in identifying them definitely as authentic post-surgery Fidel Castro photos (fall-out from the photo scandals hitting them, Reuters, and other media? Or something more specific that gives them pause?)
"The third question is exactly how serious the situation is in Cuba behind the shield of military mobilization and total news blackout of the past few days if it is necessary to publish a picture of Fidel Castro holding up a newspaper in a hostage-like attempt to show that he was alive as of yesterday."
The article, in Cigar Envy, goes on to make this very interesting claim about the photo showing Castro holding up a Cuban newspaper with yesterday's headline on it.
"Also, a close examination at 1000% magnification of Fidel’s right hand in the first photo, where he is holding the newspaper at the bottom, shows a perfectly straight line of vertical pixels where his thumb and fingers meet the newspaper. This type of artifact is usually a sign of photo manipulation, although that is not definite.
One possibility is that the front page of Granma, shown in the photo and displaying yesterday’s headline, was photoshopped in over a blank page of newsprint originally held up by Fidel as preparation for a staged photo. Further examination of the photo should yield more specific information."
After reading that, I saved the photo from the story, fired up Photoshop, and took a look at it under magnification.
Darned if there isn't a straight line along the front of Fidel's right hand where his fingers are holding the paper, and along the top of his hand where it is over the paper. The pixels are just cut off, and don't blend the way they do away from the newspaper. It looks completely different than the part of his hand that isn't over the paper.
I think the writer at Cigar Envy is right. It looks like they might have pasted the front page on the newspaper and messed up Fidel's hand just a little. That would mean that they staged the photo before yesterday---probably before his surgery two weeks ago, possibly with a blank front page so that whatever was needed could be pasted on later.
That would mean that they figured Fidel might not be in condition to hold up a paper when they needed him to do so. And, of course, it would mean that they were right, and he's not in paper-holding condition at the moment.
I notice that the statement supposedly made by Fidel that was also published he promised to "fight for his health," but said "To affirm that the recovery period will take a short time and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect."
I wonder if he's going to take a sudden turn for the worse?
Anybody who knows more about photoshop techniques who can look at that photo and give an informed opinion?
This could be the picture of the day after all.
show that AP has at least a couple of copies of PhotoShop lying around.
If not, they could probably borrow one from Reuters. :)
Same conclusion here. The photo looks fake. The newspaper looks too bright a white, and the whole front page looks like it was deliberately made as simple as possible so that there wouldn't be a problem pasting it onto the blank in the photo.
Now why make a fake "Castro-holding-up-a-newspaper-to-show-the-date" photo unless you figure that he isn't going to be around to hold up a newspaper? And why would you need him to hold up a newspaper unless things are going to h-e-double-hockey-sticks in a handbasket real fast in Cuba.
I notice that the article mentioned that there were some problems in the military, and that more information would follow later today. I hadn't heard anything about that before. Wishful thinking? Or real? What do you think?
Why is there so much blank space down there? Do they do that every day, or for today's special hostage photo issue?
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"In this day and age, you're not going to get a fair shake in the media" -- Lance Armstrong
...you don't even need Photoshop. The headline "Absolved by History" is hardly time-sensitive. They could have shot this picture six months ago. Now if the headline had recorded a volcano eruption, that would be different.
Ol' Fidel is looking mighty hale 'n' hearty, considering he just underwent abdominal surgery. No IV scars, etc. Nice tan, but a little too much Grecian Formula on the eyebrows & beard.
We've seen that Adidas jacket before. This was in May, 2002:
Drink Good Coffee. You can sleep when you're dead.
This reminds me of a story told by a friend of mine. One of his professors at the University of Georgia was a former CIA operative and he went as part of a diplomatic delegation to an OAS meeting. Castro appeared in his fatigues and in response, one of the South American Presidents remarked that perhaps they should pass around the hat so that Comrade Fidel could buy himself a suit.
"At times one remains faithful to a cause only because its opponents do not cease to be insipid." --Friedrich Nietzsche
are made by Armani and cost more than most suits :-)
John
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Why would God invent a thing like whiskey? To keep the Irish from ruling the world of course.
Good eye.
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"In this day and age, you're not going to get a fair shake in the media" -- Lance Armstrong
How much is the ransom?
Envisioning when all that is Left is the Right.
The real Granma newspaper yesterday had the logo and headline printed in bright red.
Bright red.
The newspaper Fidel is holding has them printed in black.
Oops.
Read about it here:
Article showing Castro photos were faked at Cigar Envy
Plus, there is a photo overlay showing the real Granma on top of the one Castro is holding. The size of the logo matches, the size of the picture of Fidel matches, the height of the text colummns matches.
The headline, however, extends way off the page. It was reduced in size to fit on the newspaper in Fidel's hands. The Granman newspaper is smaller, and when it was enlarged it just didn't fit. That's also why there is so much white space at the bottom. The story explains it.
Fidel has to be dead. There's no other reason for faking photos of him this way.
...was this statement released along with the photo.
Newspaper Releases New Birthday Photos of Fidel Castro
The Communist Youth newspaper on Sunday ran a statement in which Castro said his health had improved, but that he still faces risks.
"To affirm that the recovery period will take a short time and that there is no risk would be absolutely incorrect," the statement said. "I ask you all to be optimistic, and at the same time to be ready to face any adverse news."
Emphasis mine
Ready to face any adverse news – you bet - like, dear leader is dead but until we can figure out what the hell here going to do here’s a nice ”Weekend at Bernie's” moment for ya!
"The Road To Freedom Is Seldom Traveled By The Multitude"
It looks like it has been doctored to me, I looked at it with Photoshop, Micrographix and Macromedia, same conclusion...not real.
The story I saw, and AP story, said the could not authenticate the photo...don't they own a copy of Photoshop?
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - "We did not have a revolution in order to have democracy."
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