A picture of Kim Jong Il standing with a bunch of soldiers appears doctored:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/08/africa_enl_1226068703/html/1.stm
Leaving that dark line out was pretty careless, I must say. How are you going to keep the socialist revolution going with that kind of sloppy workmanship?
When I first saw this, the leg shadows just jumped out at me. (Figuratively.)
This is the first good sized version I’ve seen and holy moly. Terrible 'shop job.
Are the people releasing these pictures deliberately trying to draw attention to it being 'shopped? Is there a real message? “Hey everybody, the Fearless Leader’s dead but we’re not ready to announce it yet.”
Apparently, all these axis of evil fellas use the same crappy photoshopper.
Hah, I love that one. Imagine the call coming down from the Revolutionary Guard brass: “Excellent picture, but we feel that four missiles will more effectively demonstrate our might to the Western imperialists.”
Even I could see it, and I’m not very good with these things.
No. Their primary audience is the people in North Korea, and I’m guessing they aren’t all that familiar with PhotoShop. It looks ridiculous to us, but North Korean citizens are never going to know that.
“I’m so ronery…”
Not saying by any means this is real, and I know there is precedent, but I’ve found that more often than not, when people call something a “bad photoshop” on the internet, it turns out to be real :D.
The missing line behind him doesn’t tell me much because it could be that the concrete block he’s standing in front of doesn’t have that line (if those are blocks and not a contiguous wall - we can’t tell.) I can’t explain the shadow, but I can’t say it’s impossible, either. The curve of the soldiers’ pants are in stark contrast to the straight line of Kim’s.
Edit: Shrug, in fact, the more I look at it, the more the shadows look real. Look at the guy on the far right with the straight pants more like Kim’s. His shadow is comparable. Did they fake his shadow for some reason too?
God knows I’m not defending the guy, but
a) The ‘mismatched pixels’ just look like your regular pixelation at that level of zoom,
b) The line is pretty weird, but it could be a stylistic thing,
c) The shadow behind Kim’s legs doesn’t look that off to me.
Concur - compare the leg shadow with the guy standing at the right of the frame.
Pixellation could just be jpeg artifacts, and the line? - maybe it just doesn’t continue to the centre of the stand.
I’m just sad that some poor schmuck with crappy photoshop skills is probably going to be shot after Kim Jong Il sees the “western imperialist, capitalist dogs” making fun of his picture.
I don’t think Kim will be shooting anyone - I suspect if he’s still alive, it’s only because of medical machines. It’s just a gut feeling, but his extended absence, the report of his son talking to the French surgeon, and these sudden reports of him going to sporting events and stuff. Nah, he’s toast. They’re just trying to figure out the spin before they officially toast him.
When it happens, remember you heard it from me!
If the shadow of Kim’s pants is at odds with those of the soldiers (presumably real), and the black line is missing, why is the black line also missing from one of the soldier’s shadows?
I don’t see the point at all. Everyone knows that KJI has three nipples, and I certainly do NOT see three nipples on the man purported to be him in this photo.
Exactly. And I think the reason his shadow looks smaller/narrower is that he is standing a little further from the wall than the others, i.e. due to his importance he is standing a little in front of the others.
Roddy
If you look at the complete photo, you’ll see that the line is only missing in the Kim Jong section. It’s hard to see on the right end of the stands, but it’s there.
And if you look at the line of the stands, the Kim Jong section is slightly off as well.
I’m going to have to vote that it was shopped.
Wouldn’t his shadow reach farther to his right if he was standing a little in front of the others?
Actually, I think the “complete” photo shown on that page is a completely different picture.
If you look at the group photo you’ll notice that the shadow of his legs has an angle to it… But when you look at the other photo it isn’t there.
Also, from the group photo, if you look at the guy standing on KJI’s right side you’ll see the same shadow angle as well as darkness.
Hmmm… Does anyone have large version of the first photo published?
I just love the fact that a feared and dispised world leader wears approximately the same winter parka as my dad. Who knew Kim Jong Il shopped at K-Mart back in the 80’s?
Yes, the site Projammer linked to definitely has the wrong complete photo. Here is a page with the correct one, unfortunately very small.