Scientific American: Digital Forensics, Doctored Photos, and Paula Abdul

No, they’re not testing these folks to see if they’re replicants, but rather, using digital forensics to see when photographs have been doctored. Check out the full article; there are five ways to spot a fake, apparently. Four of them have nothing to do with Paula Abdul.

There’s another feature on the site about photo tampering throughout history, with some fun examples. (I know nothing says “good morning” like Goebbels. You can count on me.)

Circa 1860:
This nearly iconic portrait of U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln is a composite of Lincoln’s head and the body
of Southern politician, John Calhoun. Putting the date of this photo
into context, note that the first permanent photographic image was
created in 1826 and the Eastman Dry Plate and Film Company (later to
become Eastman Kodak) was created in 1884.

Circa 1865:
In this photo by famed photographer
Mathew Brady, General William Tecumseh Sherman is seen posing with his
generals. General Francis P. Blair [far right] was added to the original photograph.

1937:
In this doctored Nazi photograph, Adolf Hitler had Joseph Goebbels [second from right] removed from the original photograph. It remains unclear why Goebbels had fallen out of favor with Hitler.

1942:
In order to create a more heroic portrait of
himself, Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini had the horse handler
removed from the original photograph.

1968:
When in the summer of 1968 communist leader Fidel Castro [right] approved of the Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia, Cuban writer and political activist Carlos Franqui [middle] cut off relations with the regime and went into exile in Italy. His image was subsequently removed from photographs.

September 1971:
The chancellor of West Germany, Willy Brandt [far left], meets with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev [far right],
first secretary of the Communist Party. The two smoke and drink, and it
is reported that the atmosphere is cordial–and also that they are
drunk. German media publishes a photograph that shows the champagne
bottles on the table. The Soviet press, however, removed the bottles
from the original photograph.

*For some lighter fare, check out these snowflakes

Thanks, Jim.