Unfortunate fake water reflection in newspaper photo

201205041712
Someone in the art department at the Pittsburgh Tribune is either dense or clever. (Via Photoshop Disasters)

Mark Frauenfelder is the founder of Boing Boing and the editor-in-chief of MAKE and Cool Tools. Twitter: @frauenfelder. Come and hear Mark speak at the ALA conference in Chicago on July 1.

More at Boing Boing

The technology that links taxonomy and Star Trek

Hackers prepare for first "national holiday" in their honor

http://www.xeni.net/ Xeni Jardin

i LOL’d.
- Robert
  
  Well, when I saw it, I damn near… well, you know.
  - Andrew Singleton
    
    It involved Bricks didn’t it?
Charles C

Ah, advertising. How I miss it.
jimh

Pack the Immodium, folks!
I’m not going with clever on this one, check out how freakishly long her right forearm is compared to her left one.
- Colin Curry
  
  AAHHHHHHH!!!!
- http://www.facebook.com/ianwnickerson Ian Nickerson
  
  i think her arm appears to be longer because of the way the newspaper is bending creating an illusion
  - bloopeeriod
    
    Wrong. Measure it.
- http://www.facebook.com/Ayre.of.Pittsburgh Liz Godfrey
  
  Did not notice until you mentioned it… Thanks!
Boomer

They caught this after part of the press run. http://jimromenesko.com/2012/05/04/two-suit-yourself-layouts/
- Colin Curry
  
  Looks like they also fixed the alien arm in that photo.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    She’s still 11 feet tall.
http://twitter.com/greatcaffeine Brandon Shea

What the hell happened to her arm?
Antinous / Moderator

“He stiffened for a moment but then she felt his muscles loosen as he shitted on the ground.”
- nosehat
  
  I haven’t read that novel, but I can already tell you that I prefer the typo version.
- Paul Renault
  
  If she could feel those muscles loosen, just where were her fingers? Hand?
- Robert
  
  Can there possibly be a better typo in existence?
Colin Curry

Somehow the headline of the adjacent advice column is appropriate.
regeya

Speaking as a former paginator/comp person, it might not even be anyone at the Trib. If they’re like a lot of newspapers around the country, the person responsible for the art might be in India, and they probably won’t pony up for someone with good English skills.

Or someone was just stupid about it.
- http://www.jimdraws.com Thorzdad
  
  This sounds entirely probable. And, it was probably done on a “we need it 15 minutes ago” basis at some graphics sweatshop. The telltale is that they didn’t even have time to add transparency to the reflection. That might have helped.
  
  A lot of these kinds of “features” are actually syndicated filler, and not produced by the particular newspaper.
- Guest
  
  you do know that English is an official, widely spoken, language in India, right?
  - Michael J. “Orange Mike” Lowre
    
    But a person with better English skills can often get a better job than this.
    - Guest
      
      That’s not even true anywhere
Finnagain

Aaaaand, welcome to PhotoShoop Disasters!
Preston Sturges

That rag is owned by notorious wingnut loony Richard Mellon Scaife, who brings dishonor to both the Mellons and Scaifes.
http://www.lightning-rose.com/ LightningRose

That’s an amazing optical illusion.

If you stare at the photo for several minutes you’ll suddenly notice large pink lettering off to the right side!
http://artdonovan.typepad.com Art

I laughed so hard at this I almost suited myself!
voiceinthedistance

The fact that the Photoshop Disasters website is still up and running after being sold by the original owner to someone with no sense of humor (who is also semi-illiterate), is a testimony to how many really bad comp jobs there are out there, and how funny some are without the original witty content that made the site such a treat. It’s now something akin to PSD porn: just look at the pictures, but don’t expect any added content. Some things are so bad, they can’t be ruined.
- Antinous / Moderator
  
  I used to check it out regularly. And then it just stopped being funny one day. And then I saw the announcement that it had been sold. How do you sell something like that? It’s like Kathy Griffin selling her name to Joe the Plumber and now he comes onstage in a red wig and tells jokes about ‘his gays’.
  - voiceinthedistance
    
    See: Gallagher Too . . .
    
    http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/38105
  - Jer_00
    
    It’s like Kathy Griffin selling her name to Joe the Plumber and now he comes onstage in a red wig and tells jokes about ‘his gays’.
    
    It’s like that, only far less hilarious.
- http://www.psdisasters.com Vernon
  
  Thanks for the feedback!
Boomer

The rule of thumb I lived and cringed by when I was in newspapers was the bigger the type, the less likely you were to spot the error. That’s how I once put an earthquake in the wrong state: 48-point type, couldn’t see the problem. Besides, Oregon fit better than California.
ErnestPayne

Would anyone other than the erudite spot the problems? Not in america.
Jake0748

Please rephrase the question. I don’t get it.
twianto

Only a potential problem if it’s reeeeeally small, not an obvious problem in its intended print format, which is probably why they didn’t notice it.
Hopeful_Greis

Very old joke:
“Why do they have those ruts on the sides of the roads in (insert geographic object of derision here) ? – So their knuckles don’t drag on the ground.”
My guess about ErnestPayne’s comment is that the vast majority of media consumers (I would say almost anywhere, not just America) are so saturated with imagery that something like this is rarely noticed. This does not imply a general culture of inattention, just sensory overload.
keplers

that font is awful.
http://twitter.com/contradictioned Manuel Hoffmann

nope
blagos

I laughed so hard I think I soilded my armor.