# I thought I was at theonion.com **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 2, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217 "2003-01-02T16:15:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/1 "2003-01-02T16:15:30Z")
[CNN.com](http://CNN.com) has an article about Bill Frist assisting at an road accident scene. The photo of three state troopers standing in front of a wrecked vehicle looks, well fake. There are no shadows from the men standing on the light colored roadway makling it look like a badly done paste up in Photoshop. I actually did a double take and thought I clicked on [theonion.com](http://theonion.com) [http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/02/frist.aid/index.html](http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/01/02/frist.aid/index.html) [http://www.cnn.com/](http://www.cnn.com/) has a larger version of the photo but it will likely change soon. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/2 "2003-01-02T16:24:37Z")
That does look kinda odd. It looks like the left-most bottom tire on the ground is casting a shadow to the left, so why wouldn’t the officers? Maybe thats not a shadow from the tire, and the real shadows are being cast away from the camera. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/3 "2003-01-02T16:27:38Z")
It looks sort of weird, but it might have been an overcast day. I don’t think the dark spot next to the tire is necessarily a shadow. ---
**Author:** ![XJETGIRLX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9fc29f/32.png) [@XJETGIRLX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XJETGIRLX)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/4 "2003-01-02T16:28:37Z")
I don’t think that’s a shadow from the tire – looks more like a skidmark. The photo does look a little hinky though. The weather down here has been quite yukky lately, and the few times I’ve driven that strip of road it’s always been foggy. Could be that the fog has dispersed the light, thus no shadows. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/5 "2003-01-02T16:30:24Z")
Looks like its a grey overcast day, so not much for shadow generating. Notice the headlights on in the background. As far as the front wheel, thats not a shadow, its probably a skid mark, or a dark spot on the road. Its a bit strange looking, but I doubt it’s fake. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/6 "2003-01-02T16:33:13Z")
Even without considering the shadows, it looks like a poorly executed superimposition. The perspective’s off–based on where their feet are, it looks like the officers are standing partially inside the truck. Stuff like that’s not unheard of in news photos, though. I have a picture of my grandfather shaking the hand of the mayor of Lancaster, OH, in the lobby of the bank that he was president of. If you look closely at the background, you can see my grandfather at one of the distant teller windows. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/7 "2003-01-02T17:35:37Z")
Perspective looks correct to me. From the convergence of the lines on the road looks like a modest telephoto which adds to the flatness of the scene which may add to the “artificial look” but I see no fault there. ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/8 "2003-01-02T17:45:39Z")
If you look at the right bottom tire, you can see the shadow underneath it. you can also see the shadow underneath the cops, most visable under the middle one. The ‘shadow’ on the left is a skidmark similar to the marking to the right of the officers. Yes, it is overcast, look at the cars - they all have their lights on. While photo manipulation is not unheard of, usually its reserved for other types of stories. Why would they use a manipulated shot for this? What would be the point, when the same image (sans police) would suffice? I just seriously doubt that (whom-ever) put in the man power to edit this photo. ---
**Author:** ![Kwyjibo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/59ef9b/32.png) [@Kwyjibo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kwyjibo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/9 "2003-01-02T17:56:16Z")
“Arn’t you a little short for a State Trooper?” ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/10 "2003-01-02T18:51:57Z")
Yeah, this looks totally legit to me. And, as **Bad News Baboon** pointed out, there’s not much need to doctor it. If they were going to do that, they’d have inserted Bill Frist himself, shirt removed to expose his rippling abdominal muscles and the big red _S_ on his chest. ---
**Author:** ![Padeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@Padeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Padeye)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2003, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-thought-i-was-at-theonion-com/146217/11 "2003-01-02T19:11:15Z")
If I didn’t make it clear I don’t believe the photo is doctored. I think it’s just a combination of odd light conditions and the telephoto perspective. I just found it interesting because if someone was trying to make a photo look like something from Theonion they couldn’t have done a better job.