Real or Fake? Expert opinion required.

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Wannabe Baiter Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 80

Folks,

before I fly to Senegal, arriving at 04:20 on a Sunday morning (or so he thinks) I need your opinion: is this the real photo of my lad, or is it a fake? Confused

He tried to send me a photo of a box "gold" he is "selling", with my name on it, which was obviously a fake. Evil or Very Mad

How about this one? Is it him?

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:46 pm

Well, the sign definitely looks fake.

The whole thing looks photo-shopped to me (and a very poor job at it).

But that' just my opinion.

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 10:47 pm

I'm saying fake. Look at tthe shadow of the top edge of the paper. It is too straight and appears to be graphically enhanced. When the paper leaves the area of his body it should drop off entirely, not continue to cast shadow in line on a background that is at a distance.

Posted: Mon Aug 30, 2010 11:13 pm

Yeah--and you can see where he tried to touch up things around his head and his right side (right side looking at him).

And the sign is definitely fake

EDIT: And his hands don't even look real. Look at 'em. The right one looks way wrong...

Trophy Videos · Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 2:19 am

140% Fake. Slap him! Evil or Very Mad

Tell him your friend the graphic artist says it's fake, too. OoopS! Did you break the "secrecy rule?" Tell him to get serious. Smile

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 8:01 am

I'm not so sure - the sign is hand-written (not a font, too variable, look at the A's for instance), and by the time you hand-write a sign and photograph it and photoshop it on a crappy cafe computer using MSPaint, you may as well take the photo.

If a lad photochopped that, he'd be working as a design guru in ladland, too seamless.

Can anyone check the EXIF data to make sure?

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 8:19 am

I'm with manbiteslion. Lads are lazy. If they think such a request is reasonable, why go to the trouble of faking the photo?
It may not be a photo of your lad though.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:00 am

Is this the original image, or have you converted it in anything to be the right size? I don't see any EXIF in the image.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:03 am

Yeah, I wasnt getting any EXIF data either - I thought my program had gone wonky.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 2:43 pm

When I first saw it I thought real, I work for a web design agency so pretty familiar with photoshop. It's possible that it's been sharpened/compressed for web, but I think the body holding sign, and sign is real.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 2:48 pm

kensaitichi wrote:

How about this one? Is it him?

fake. Fake. FAKE.

you can see the grey artifact pixels at the top of the sign. they extend to the (as we see it) right PAST his arm. no CCD would ever catch a picture with pixel smear that bad.

cheers

grimbleton

EDITED: above the "G" in the word WAITING

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:05 pm

I cant see where you mean Confused

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 3:57 pm

evil_sheep wrote:

I cant see where you mean Confused

the black/grey line that follows the left side of the sign and continues up over the top and beyond the edge of his left arm.

(if i wasn't sneaking time here rather than doing what i SHOULD be doing, i'd edit the image with a circle around the bits to which i am referring.)

cheers

grimbleton

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:03 pm

grimbleton wrote:

the black/grey line that follows the left side of the sign and continues up over the top and beyond the edge of his left arm.

Isn't the technical term for that grey line, a 'shadow'? Front flash-lit, I don't see it looking like a bad chop, just a bad photo.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:24 pm

To me it looks legit.. that just looks like a charcoal or some type of pen that wrote on that.. theat looks real.

If it is a photoshop - quite good for lad work and a lot of time was put into it if anything - so either way you wasted the lads time!

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:25 pm

manbiteslion wrote:

Isn't the technical term for that grey line, a 'shadow'? Front flash-lit, I don't see it looking like a bad chop, just a bad photo.

i've never known a shadow to manifest itself in clear air. (the air in LA? you can CHEW that stuff. but a shadow in clear air? not gonna happen.)

what we got here is a failure to communicate...

(i always loved that line) i guess i'm having a hard time putting into words what i'm perceiving with my mind('s eye). of course, the imprecision of language is what allows poets to earn a living. Very Happy

i guess the primary question was answered. my OPINION is that it is a fake. Wink

cheers

grimbleton

EDITED: the quote went all 6th-dimensional on me.

Posted: Tue Aug 31, 2010 4:52 pm

grimbleton wrote:

i've never known a shadow to manifest itself in clear air. (the air in LA? you can CHEW that stuff. but a shadow in clear air? not gonna happen.)

what we got here is a failure to communicate...

I'm really curious now, any chance you can point it out with arrows? I'm obviously misunderstanding!

What I see is a slight shadow cast on the lad, then on the curtain he's really right in front of, flashgun off to the right of the shot at a similar height to the lens, which is why it casts short of the end of the sign, but casts a shadow on the curtain to the left and top of the lad. But hey, who cares? Smile

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 80

manbiteslion wrote:

Is this the original image, or have you converted it in anything to be the right size? I don't see any EXIF in the image.

Original image, as attached to lad's email, uploaded to photobucket, no changes.

Master Baiter Joined: 03 Aug 2010 Posts: 207 Location: UK

manbiteslion wrote:

grimbleton wrote:

i've never known a shadow to manifest itself in clear air. (the air in LA? you can CHEW that stuff. but a shadow in clear air? not gonna happen.)

what we got here is a failure to communicate...

I'm really curious now, any chance you can point it out with arrows? I'm obviously misunderstanding!

What I see is a slight shadow cast on the lad, then on the curtain he's really right in front of, flashgun off to the right of the shot at a similar height to the lens, which is why it casts short of the end of the sign, but casts a shadow on the curtain to the left and top of the lad. But hey, who cares? Smile

I think you're both looking at the same thing.

I think its the shadow. It looks like the shadow is floating in mid air, or should drop off behind the guy, but if it was shot with a flash from directly in front, the shadow would project onto the wall behind it like that. It looks real enough to me.

To the OP, could you post the obviously fake picture of the gold? If that one is easy to spot, then it would be good to check it against this pic too...

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:13 am

I do not believe it is fake.

In all the years I have seen pics, Ive never come across a lad that could photoshop (if it was photoshopped) this well.

Wannabe Baiter Joined: 06 Feb 2005 Posts: 80

Quote:

To the OP, could you post the obviously fake picture of the gold? If that one is easy to spot, then it would be good to check it against this pic too...

The gold may be real (really?) but the photo is an obvious fake, just a generic internet image with my name & date type in.

I'm "flying" to Senegal, arriving Sunday 04:20. But maybe they'll "stop me in customs", because I'm "carrying $170,000", send me back to Marocco, maybe the lad will travel to meet me in Marocco. Hehehe. Evil or Very Mad

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 4:36 pm

kensaitichi wrote:

Folks,

before I fly to Senegal, arriving at 04:20 on a Sunday morning (or so he thinks) I need your opinion: is this the real photo of my lad, or is it a fake? Confused

He tried to send me a photo of a box "gold" he is "selling", with my name on it, which was obviously a fake. Evil or Very Mad

How about this one? Is it him?

I am a photographer,
Look at the left side of his head and you can see a shadow which is usually caused by the flash. Now look down the left of his body ! NO SHADOW !
This has been doctored.
The piece of paper looks very suspicious. Ask for another one, but painted on his chest etc.

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:09 pm

ok... i did a quick and dirty chop and scratch on the pic.

the arrow points to the weird-looking artifact/shadow/whatever that extends past his left arm.

also, the red "L"-on-its-side looking bit is the black line that just doesn't look right.

i guess under particular circumstances, the shadow could "extend" like that. but i'm havin' a hard time seeing it do something goofy like that.

cheers

grimbleton

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:25 pm

What about them using a crappy camera (low mega pixel) maybe even film, and then a low-res scanner? I am sure defects and artifacts could appear this way.

But I agree *IF* this is faked.. then this is some damn good photoshopping that would have taken a lad a little while to get take care of or cost something to the lad.

I am having slightly second thoughs on the paper.. does look like something has been done to it.. but not quite sure..

Posted: Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:30 pm

Lester wrote:

What about ... I am sure defects and artifacts could appear this way.

good points there as well.

cheers

grimbleton

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