When the Associated Press thinks that a photo may have been manipulated, they sometimes call Hany Farid, a Dartmouth College computer scientist. As previously reported on BB, Farid has spent several years developing a suite of software that helps automate the detection of manipulation in digital photos. For example, it looks for pixel repetitions, analyzes shadows, and examines the pupils of people in photos to determine if they were composited into the image. From Science News:
"The eyes are a partial mirror into the world in which you're photographed," Farid says. If there are two white dots in each eye, there had to have been two separate light sources. So, if a photo shows two dots in one person's eyes and only one dot in another person's eyes, it must have been spliced together from two different originals.Also, the color of the light determines the dots' precise shade of white. A composite image from different photographs may have shades that vary from person to person…
"This is an arms race," Farid says. "I can already tell you how it's going to end: We're going to lose…"
Previously on BB:
• F is for Photoshopped Link
• Time makes Reagan cry with Photoshop Link
