Anyhow, when I first became enthralled with photography, a mentor who shot industrial machinery and catering equipment showed me how to blow a negative to ungodly proportions, airbrush it, then scale it back for magazine ads. I could never tell they were "touched up", but all the offending reflections were gone. Amazing.

I have removed several things, but the idea of taking away from an image, things that the subject has stolen never crossed my mind.

Most removals in PS these days are of braces/retainers.

Things sure change.

The John Kerry one is the funniest - something about his earnest expression!

As to The Iwo Jima Flag Raising by Joe Rosenthal could someone point me to an authoritative source of information in regards to the facts and circumstances of that famous photograph. What in particular I would like to see are all the frames on the roll of film that the photograph was on. Until I see the film strip with all the frames I would assume that just like the Reichstag Flag the Iwo Jima Flag was staged by the photographer.

Hah!

Reminds me on Dubya's visit to Iraq, serving the troops a plastic turkey:

http://thedailybackground.com/media/images/blog//ZZ25564BF1.jpg

Not photoshoped, but fake nonetheless...

http://www.news.com/2300-1026_3-6033210-1.html

http://www.thememoryhole.org/media/evening-standard-crowd.htm

http://www.newseum.org/berlinwall/commissar_vanishes/reinventing.htm

EuReferendum has a (lengthy!) piece where they dissect the "coverage" of the "Quana incident" during the recent war of Israel and Hizbollah.

Although, lengthy, it's worth the read - if you've believed in the mainstream media's "right wing focus" up to now, this might change your mind. It did for me. The gist of the article is on the second page. Link: http://eureferendum.blogspot.com/2006/08/part-2-set.html

http://callamink.blogspot.com/2007/09/photoshop-diet.html

http://www.google.com/search?as_q=photoshop+kouric&hl=en&num=100&btnG=Google+Search&as_epq=&as_oq=&as_eq=&lr=&cr=&as_ft=i&as_filetype=&as_qdr=all&as_nlo=&as_nhi=&as_occt=any&as_dt=i&as_sitesearch=&as_rights=&safe=images

1. Conservative / progressive axis

2. Socialist / capitalist axis

3. Libertarian / authoritarian axis

It's at least a three dimensional space. Trying to capture it in 1D ('liberal' v. conservative) or maybe a triangle ('liberal', libertarian, conservative) is impossible, I think.

Me? 1: 50% 2: 90% capitalist 3: 50%

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/ryssland/article1324362.ab

Also, patriotism is to me a discusting word. In sweden, politicians get called on everything they do. At least 3 of the ministers have been fired och stepped down since the last election because the media and the people bring their bullshit to light (using tax money for candy or being the minister of culture and not paying for TV like everyone else is required to by law). I don't care if you're democrats or republicans because all those parties really are are election machines spewing out propaganda and both parties are far more right than even the most conservative swedish party. Also your democracy being the first in the world only means it's horribly outdated and obviously doesn't work. But that's just my two cents. Enjoy your liberty and justice for all.

PS. I'm not a swede, just used Sweden as an example.

http://www.tc.umn.edu/~hick0088/classes/csci_2101/false.html

Rumsfeld, served in the military? nope.

Rumsfeld was a naval aviator from 1954-1957, flying a Grumman F9F Panther fighter. He remained in the Naval Reserve until 1975, when he be came Secretary of Defense and transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve, from which he retired a Captain in 1989.

http://whiteafrican.com/wp-content/Shark_Attack_01.jpg

And years ago, there was a fake photo of a giant wave about to swamp a German battleship in the Denmark Strait which was taken as authentic for decades.

Rumsfeld served in the U.S. Navy from 1954 to 1957 as a naval aviator and flight instructor. His initial training was in the North American SNJ Texan basic trainer after which he transitioned to flying the Grumman F9F Panther fighter. In 1957, he transferred to the Naval Reserve and continued his naval service in flying and administrative assignments as a drilling reservist until 1975. He transferred to the Individual Ready Reserve when he became Secretary of Defense in 1975 and retired with the rank of Captain in 1989."[10]

http://www.texasrainmaker.com/2006/08/08/fauxtography/?

It was actually this photo that got Hajj fired, I think, after his improbable explanation for the first one was accepted by AP.

It is the one's you don't know about that should concern you. Ad agencies do it all the time . . . .

I hope you're not talking about the Boston Tea Party. Always thought that was a pretty decent protest. You could even say the "Indians" were probably liberals, since they were protesting government favoritism toward a big business (i.e., tax breaks for the East India Company).

On the other hand, I've always thought a good bit of the agitation back then was essentially conservative since it was against an overbearing central government arbitrarily levying taxes and otherwise intruding on people's lives.

I, however, have no idea what this info is doing in a discussion about fake photographs. Funny how politics poisons everything it touches...

The Soviets were rather prone to 'shopping people out of photos back in the old days when it was much more work. Plenty of Stalin's Disappeared folk were officially removed from history by modifying any photos that had the unlucky within. Some photos lost large groups of people after his Purges.

http://www.snopes.com/photos/politics/kerry.asp

It is a shame some people are so careless of facts in their desire to distort history for some reason unfathomable to me.

http://weblog.theviewfromthecore.com/2005_02/ind_004751.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raising_the_Flag_on_Iwo_Jima