Close, But No Banana
A Changed Man
One of a proofreader’s tests for checking leading consistency in text heavy copy is turning it upside down and looking for uneven spacing or single characters that shouldn’t be there.This works because it removes distractions. Right side up, one might be tempted to get involved with reading copy or enjoying the accompanying illustration. Call me crazy, but when I saw these two video captures next to each other, it sure looked like different people. If you ignore the window dressing and just concentrate on the frame, are they the same? I was wondering what some real experts in Photoshop thought. Post your comments and convince me it’s the same guy.
Turning these pictures upside down helps—as does using the measuring tool in Photoshop. I don’t know about you, but I question whether dying somebody’s hair automatically changes their nose; or for that matter, their hairline. Hairlines are supposed to be just like fingerprints. They are distinctive and if you focus on his facial hair, there’s a hairline there, too, which varies considerably below the chin and around the cheeks (more notable because trimming one’s beard is a big no-no in that culture). I suppose it could be male pattern chin balding. Maybe he just held his head over the cosmetologists dye pan too long and it broadened the flat plane of his forehead. The browline sits differently from face to face, too, so I suspect though it is a good likeness, matching bone structure might be too difficult.
Then there’s that gangster lip that hangs slightly lower on the right (our left) side of his mouth. No, don’t tell me; he chews tobacco or favors tucking a pinch of snuff just under his gum line on that side. Maybe those are spitoons and not latrines at the Hard Rock Cavé he’s been staying at in Pakistan’s tribal region. That’s got to be a hard life; so I wonder how it is he has the very same backdrop and outfit perfectly preserved over a period of rough living for three years; when I get done with a photoshoot, the backdrop is fingerprinted, ripping in at the edges and covered with footprints; ready to be pitched.
What do YOU think?
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Susan you are too funny. I think it might be him but younger photo? but, when you look at the noses they are different. And the eyebrows too! soo.. could be a bad retouch.ha..
Actually this is a very tough nut to crack. It would really take an original, or at least better copy of the two videos in question to really run an analysis.
When I was called upon back in '04 to debunk the "Bush" papers, we were only one generation from the original documents, so we could clearly demonstrate how the Democratic party people forged and modified official documents to discredit George Bush.
Video however is much more difficult because so much of it is interpretive and heavily affected by the hardware. For instance, a slightly different lens, and distance from that lens could account for the nose differences.
The single area which is cause for a closer look is the line of the brow. Always look for features which are formed by underlying bone.
I guess if he was lip-syncing over an earlier video someone would have said so in the news? Maybe? But the main-stream media says the video has been checked by experts and it is authentic. Of course who can believe them -- they were the ones who said the "Bush Papers" were authentic.
Without both original videos, it's a mystery.
But keep in mind -- over there, those people are so heavily inbred, it's not unusual to find whole villages originating from one man and his harem. It is possible that this is a younger cousin, nephew, or even an offspring. And besides, we already know that not only does he maintain a whole staple of wives, but also a brigade of "look alikes" for security purpose as did Saddam Hussein.
It would truly be interesting and fun to analyze the original tapes.
Analysis is tricky and photo-analysis is trickier still - this comes from historical study, not from expertise in photoshopping or even casting for film. Even after 40-plus years, we can't be certain there wasn't a second sniper - on the grassy knoll.
More important, it doesn't matter if "Osama Twin Laden" is the actual terrorist. Perception is reality. True believers KNOW that this is the man himself.
Did a man named Shakespeare really write all those great plays?
Does the US still keep the Roswell aliens in a freezer at Area 51?
Does Bigfoot still roam the Northwest?
Is Che Guevara still alive and living a miserable existence in Bolivia? Or was that Adolf Hitler in Argentina?
Although I hope that the putz is dead of liver failure (or whatever), millions of committed Islamists will take this latest pronunciamento as gospel. A sudden return to youth can be accepted by the faithful, absent a decaying corpse.
Of course, I wondered (like I assume most viewers did) if it was the same man when I saw the video. It wasn't just my surprise at the dyed beard (geez, even Bin Laden wants to look younger?), but he looked like a different person. When the experts said the video was authentic I put those questions in the back of my mind (again, like most viewers, I assume). I did wonder if "we" were being led to believe he is still alive for two reasons: He is a rallying symbol for the "war against terrorism", and it is in our government's interest to keep the public on edge about this as much as possible, and secondly, it is pretty anti-climatic if he just died of disease or old age, and not from the billions of dollars we have spent and thousands of lives that have been ended in our pursuit of him.
On the other hand, wouldn't the NY Times or some other organization have looked deeply into this? Gotta put my trust somewhere : )
SDK responds: I'd sooner trust the trained eye of a professional designer than a government "expert" who sees what he was trained to see. Trust your gut in everything.
Amazing! I've definitely done my share of "PhotoShopping," and this doesn't even come close. You clever and observant lady, these are clearly two different people. Not just nose and eyebrows, but eyes and lips as well, as you've pointed out. The image wasn't changed, but the two men are definitely different.
Thanks for pointing this out!
And as for some organization like the Times pointing it out, they are doing their job, which is to scare the bejeezus out of us by staunchly standing by the theory that he still lives to plot again. Just think. If we were told this man is gone -- if the WORLD was told that he was gone -- why then the political shift could be enormous. It might be newsworthy for a day or a week, but think of the business that the Times would lose if we didn't have this man to fear any longer.
Peggy