scenes from Petaluma California

A short video tribute to my adopted home of Petaluma California.A short video tribute to my adopted home of Petaluma California. Featuring the music of Oster Welker Jazz Alliance.

jacobG.net video for the Chicago White Sox

idenity set for the ashg

idenity set for the ashg

jacobG.net launches the all new perfectdaymassage.com

Recently I was asked for a few thoughts as to how to update perfectdaymassage.com, a few months later I'm happy to announce their brand new site. 

Syria, and the art of photoshop

Take a look at this article, it calls into question the legitimacy of this photo. I spent a little time examining the photo in question and have a few thoughts:

The eye line is off, the two gentleman don't appear to be looking at each other.






It has crazy, crazy shadows. Points 1 & 2, have lighting that appears to be of different origins, as if they were photographed on two (or more ) different places at different times of day.

Points 3 & 5 are short fuzzy shadows that don't seem to leave the body, while point 4, the table's shadow has a large, deep shadow, highly defined, except for the top left part which is oddly missing.

Point 6, the light source of the reflection is the window, traveling toward the camera. Point four shows the light source coming from the opposite direction. Nearly every point (1 through 6) seems to suggest a different source, type and intensity of light.

The carpet on the bottom middle, lunges left. The edges of most carpets I know tend to be straight, not wobbly. Also President Assad, does not seem to be standing on the carpet, rather floating right on top of it.

My conclusion, this is a minimum of five different photos that have been Photoshopped together. The two men, the carpet and marble sides of the room and the table all appear to have started out as separate photos. I suspect that the windows, and the trees have separate origins as well.




Tips on how to fake a photo:

- Decide where and what your light sources will originate from. This photo is all over the map, it has light coming from all kinds of places from around the room, at different angles and intensities.

- Use a single master shot, the room in this case. Having windows, chairs, trees, carpets that don't match seems an odd choice. I presume that they have an actual large room they could have used.

- Use stand-ins then blend the faces. When a person stands on a rug they place their weight on the rug, cast a shadow and in the process, alter the light of the room. By using models, all these things would be less evident.

- Only fake photos for fun. Photoshop leaves too many clues behind. Only a handful of people have the skill to truly pull something of this magnitude off and getting caught is very, very embarrassing.