Army alters Woman General's Photo

[MrScorpio]

Row over altered US Army photo

The Pentagon has become embroiled in a row after the US Army released a photo of a general to the media which was found to have been digitally altered.

Ann Dunwoody was shown in front of the US flag but it later emerged that this background had been added.

The Associated Press (AP) news agency subsequently suspended the use of US Department of Defence photos.

A Department of Defence spokeswoman insisted that the photo had not violated army policy.

Ms Dunwoody, the highest ranking US female military officer, was recently promoted to become a four-star general.

In an original photo of her, she appears to be sitting at a desk with a bookshelf behind her.

The altered photo, distributed by the army and initially sent by AP to its clients around the world, shows Gen Dunwoody against a background of the Stars and Stripes.

When the digital alteration was discovered, AP immediately withdrew the photo and began an investigation.

AP says that adjusting photos and other imagery, even for aesthetic reasons, damages the credibility of the information distributed by the military to news organisations and the public.

"For us, there's a zero-tolerance policy of adding or subtracting actual content from an image," said Santiago Lyon, AP's director of photography.

Mr Lyon said AP was developing procedures to protect against further occurrences and, once those steps were in place, it would consider lifting its ban on the use of US Department of Defence photos. He said AP was also discussing the problem with the military.

Colonel Cathy Abbott, chief of the US Army's media relations division, said the Dunwoody photo did not violate army policy that prohibited the editing of an image to misrepresent the facts or change the circumstances of an event.

She added that she did not know who changed the photo or which office released it.

"We're not misrepresenting her," Col Abbott said. "The image is still clearly Gen Dunwoody."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7738342.stm

Photoshop addiction

[Oregone]

1. Lame, but I do like the altered one better. Bright, shiny, and patriotic like FOX news.

[amdezurik]

10. my guess is, and that is all it is, a guess

is that whoever did the retouching ( fairly standard for portraits) on her face and uniform saw the bookcase in the background would take forever to clean-up so just tossed a standard background in to make his/her life easier

[baldguy]

2. Fewer wrinkles too?

[MrScorpio]

3. It's more Fun With Photoshop

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=105&topic_id=8250426&mesg_id=8250426

[ColbertWatcher]

17. And since this is not an ad, but a news story, it's totally inappropriate and deceitful. n/t

[FtWayneBlue]

6. Yes,

the altered one makes her look younger - and heavier!

[Sarah Ibarruri]

4. Maybe they'll end up enlarging her boobs and giving her a J-lo ass? Sheesh! nt

[Subdivisions]

5. FFS! What's wrong with the real-life version? n/t

[Canuckistanian]

7. Like, the AP photo editor didn't notice? Please.

That pic is SO photoshopped, she looks like a mannequin in front of that flag.

And even the flag doesn't look natural.

[connecticut yankee]

8. They changed a lot more than the background

Her entire complexion has been cleaned up.

[leeroysphitz]

9. I don't get the controversy.

[TheWraith]

14. Well, you have to WANT to be outraged. nt

[ColbertWatcher]

16. The controversy is with the lie that this is an actual photograph.

It's the difference between this:



and this:

[madeline_con]

18. Neither do I.

If I made it big, I'd hope they'd fix the photo if the one they were going to use was that bad!

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. Wow! A before and after, and they didn't have to do anything physically to her!

This is such bullshit. The Pentagon Progandabureau.

[TheWraith]

12. I still think this is a non-issue, really.

Big deal: they used a different background, tweaked the colors to give her more of a brownish glow, and apparently smoothed out a few wrinkles. Somehow, doing this to an existing photo digitally is more dishonest than doing the exact same thing in a regular glamour shot? They could have produced more or less the same photo with an hour's work by a makeup pro and a photographer. Big whoop.

[ColbertWatcher]

19. She's a general.

Which I'm guessing means she's been in the service for a while.

Whatever happened to the photo they took of her when she first started?

Oh, wait, here ya go ...



Now, what's wrong with using that one instead?

[ColbertWatcher]

20. Hold the phone ...

Maybe they wanted one of her in her fatigues?



Why not use that one?

Oh, what about an action shot?



Hey, New York Times, how about one of her saluting?

[TheWraith]

24. Alright, so where does the tin foil hat come in?

What nefarious purpose does the military accomplish by using this photo instead of any of the others?

Except that maybe, in all those other photos, she's clearly wearing the insiginia of a lower officer, not her recent upgrade to four stars.

[ColbertWatcher]

25. Perhaps this particular Pentagon doesn't have any non-injured photographers?

Or perhaps, this particular Pentagon isn't really organized and figured there would be no problem trying to pull off a crappy photoshop job because no one would question them, or think anything is wrong with not being able to get a photograph of a recently-promoted four-star general.

Even if that photograph had her in a uniform of her previous rank.

Or perhaps, this particular Pentagon could only afford to have a photoshopper who only knew how to change backgrounds but not how to CROP a photo.





It was a stupid decision and everyone knows it.

[Hobarticus]

13. Crikey, I can Photoshop better than that...maybe I should enlist eom

[ColbertWatcher]

21. They probably didn't want to use the one of her taken by those Hollywood types ...

[Hobarticus]

22. Oh sweet jaysus....even I'm not that shameless!

:hi:

[ColbertWatcher]

26. And, why not? n/t

[Bluebear]

15. It makes her look like her makeup artist works at a funeral home.

[Kitty Herder]

23. "I'm a general, Jim, not a model!!"