Comments on: “New” Kim Jong-Il photo has no shadows

By: Danger

Danger — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 09:45:47 +0000

Lol before I even read the title and saw the pic I thought “wow that looks shopped”.

By: Takarada

Takarada — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:27:36 +0000

It is an obvious photoshop, the people appear to float above the ground as somebody pointed out.

But he doesn’t care if we work it out because it is intended for NK people only.

The guy is pure evil, here’s hoping he snuffs it and the people of NK can be free.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 12:21:32 +0000

this is proof that the North Korean government is made up of extraterrestrial beings that have the ability to hide their shadows and have longer life spans than you earthlings

wakakakakaka

By: MrSatyre

MrSatyre — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 22:34:00 +0000

A remarkably intelligent analysis…right up to the end. “There is nothing unusual about the photograph except for the incessant suspicion cast upon them by the Western idiots.”

May I remind you that the Kim empire has been responsible for genocide of its own people through starvation, torture, kidnapping of Japanese and South Korean nationals, and repeated attempts to build nuclear weapons for purposes of intimidation. They are veteran perpetuators of the Great Lie, used by all dictators around the world who demand worship and submission their subjects . Don’t really see how any of that makes the West idiots for being suspicious of him.

Just sayin’.

By: Cheri

Cheri — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 20:30:22 +0000

It’s definitely photoshopped.

If you enlarge it you can see the color difference between the people standing there and the background.

The people themselves seems to have sharper colors than the background.

And the pixels from the people are also different than the background.

By: Pag

Pag — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 17:44:49 +0000

The leftmost guy casts a shadow on the guy behind him (look just below his face). This shadow obviously comes from using a flash to take the photo of the people. Nobody, however, casts a shadow on the ground. If the flash was strong enough to make the leftmost guy’s face cast a shadow, then it should be strong enough to cast at least a faint shadow on the ground.

By: df

df — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 09:17:02 +0000

Aso’s right foot has a shadow…in case anyone cares.

By: redtoblack

redtoblack — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 07:09:28 +0000

Same. First thing I thought when I saw the photoshop was that it had to have been a shopped picture. I can’t provide proof for it nor can I defend my statement, its just that too me, it doesn’t look like an authenticate photo. The people look like they were cut from a different picture and pasted onto this background.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:35:00 +0000

You are entitled to your opinion. True, there are different compression levels to jpeg; however, the artefacts caused by the compression, as you put it is not consistently around **all** objects in the picture. Only the people…

Try another bubble.

By: Fishpaste

Fishpaste — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 06:11:10 +0000

0/10, try again brave troll.

By: PlayingKarrde

PlayingKarrde — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 05:12:50 +0000

I don’t mean to burst your bubble, but the “aura” around his feet as you put it is JPEG artifacting. This occurs when a solid coloud (in this case a shade of grey) is compressed as a JPEG. The reason there are no artifacts around the other photo you show is because there is lots of variation in the pixels.

I’m sorry but this is FAR from conclusive “proof”.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 04:30:43 +0000

Wow, so funny. Poor North Korean photoshopers.. So behind the times.

By: Fauna

Fauna — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:37:53 +0000

Haha, this reminds me of the Photoshop of Chinese President Hu Jintao in Qingdao. I do not know why the governments think this will trick people. Maybe there are a lot of stupid people in the world.

By: koan

koan — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 02:07:01 +0000

This image is a composition, for sure.

Even in a shaded area there are shadows from secondary reflections etc. You can clearly see some light reflected off the hair of the guy on the left and the faces of the group, that light should be reflected off the environment but is missing.

It’s puzzling that they resorted to editing. Surely they have plenty of stock photos from this time of year, it’s not as if North Korean fashions ever change.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:26:20 +0000

Hey Level3 seems we think alike – I’ve been working on this for the past 45 mins! I’ve only ‘just got back’ to see your comment!

By: SG

SG — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:25:00 +0000

I can’t shake the feeling that it looks like they’re all floating.

My gut feeling is at least part of it is shopped.

By: Bob

Bob — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 01:24:02 +0000

Look at the feet… closely.

Compare it with this photo from a JapanProbe article, which has been undoctored:
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=6913

Both photos are .jpg, both are about 40k.

Zoom in on the feet for both photos:

http://i482.photobucket.com/albums/rr184/bobprobe/kimjongispasted.jpg

Left: Kim picture.
Right: Undoctored reference picture.

Left picture, look at the copy-paste ‘aura’ around Kims feet (This aura extends around every person in this picture).
Right picture, smooth pixcellation around the feet.

Left picture, relatively smooth lines of the flagstones.
Right picture, paving line pixels are blurred.

That’s enough for me! The Kim picture is photoshopped.

By: Level3

Level3 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:47:47 +0000

I just don’t know if when I zoom in on the photo and there are digi-haloes around all the feet, is that phtoshop or just jpg artifacts? Though the sudden ending and possible blurring of a line of shadow in the field in the background that suddenly diappears just a few pixels before the second dude from the left’s elbow is suspicious of a cut-and-paste.

But why bother photoshopping when they have the Kim look-alikes anyway?

Or maybe it’s real, and his stroke paralyzed his left side, thus explaining the leaning to the right and the non-use of the left hand?

The best way to prove photoshopping is to find the original photo that was used for the cut and paste.

By: Tetras

Tetras — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:33:29 +0000

Why would there be a shadow when they’re in the shade…..

By: Level3

Level3 — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 00:27:44 +0000

It’s because the creator of the photo wanted to show off his mad Photoshop skillz yo!

Almost screams out “Look! Look! I spent over 30 minutes making this one!”

By: andrew

andrew — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:30:45 +0000

you do know that the shadow would be in front of aso, and that the image cuts out at his feet, so there’s no way to tell if there is a shadow in front of him?

By: kodabar

kodabar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:28:34 +0000

There is nothing wrong with the photo. Just because you’ve heard of Photoshop, doesn’t mean you know anything about it.

Oh look, Taro Aso has no shadow, he must be a vampire.

http://ishingen.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/aso-bulgarian-sumo-l2305389.jpg

By: Panna

Panna — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:21:19 +0000

Although he has the authority to pick anyone in the country’s nose without question (see above) and is sporting a badass hairstyle from the 6 options NK’s get to choose from “#4 The Il-matic”. His lackies are all wax models and this picture of Kim was from his days as a bingo caller at the local hall.

By: G

Mon, 03 Nov 2008 23:15:31 +0000

There is nothing unusual about the photograph except for the obvious poor Photoshop skills by the Pro-Communist idiots.

By: Jarvik7

Jarvik7 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:57:35 +0000

Does this mean that they are all vampires?

And has anyone else noticed how much Mukai Shutoku is looking like Kim Jong Il lately?

By: Ken Y-N

Ken Y-N — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:39:17 +0000

What I want to know is why Kimmie has his finger up the nose of the guy on the right.

By: SD1

SD1 — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:33:19 +0000

1. They’re standing in the shadow of a building.
2. The sky is a soft-lit day with some cloud cover, making the light even.
3. What soft flash they used it diffused enough and direct enough that there is no shadow going sideways but immediately behind the people.

There is nothing unusual about the photograph except for the incessant suspicion cast upon them by the Western idiots.

By: kodabar

kodabar — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 22:27:47 +0000

And neither do the lamp-posts. I think I hear the sound of straws being clutched at…