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Putin on the Ritz

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Re: Putin on the Ritz

#21
I don't get the connection between Putin wearing the same clothes and the photo manipulation explained at the end.

Looks like he wanted to write about two different things but smashed them into just one without coherence...

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#22

I don't get the connection between Putin wearing the same clothes and the photo manipulation explained at the end. Looks like he wanted to write about two different things but smashed them into just one without coherence...

I think the implication he failed to properly address is that Putin wears the same suit specifically so it's easier to photoshop him in to other pictures. That was my interpretation.

Another interpretation that requires less guesswork on my part is that his interest was piqued by noticing that Putin wears the same suit, and that was what led him to start investigating other pictures of Putin, culminating in his analysis of this doctored photo.

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#23
` PCA measures JPEG artifacts.`

Just for some clarification - how does that work, exactly? If you decompose an image using PCA/SVD and find a cliff in the spectrum, is that a fingerprint of JPEG compression?

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#24
Haha, the modified photo appeared in a satirical post on Index.hu, there's nothing to see here people, move on. :)

http://index.hu/szarvas/2014/02/11/ader_alair/

Here're the other posts from the same series: http://index.hu/szarvas/

All entries are simple montages, they're only funny for people who know Hungarian politics, but for them they're quite obvious.

Edit: the man in the middle of the photo is the Hungarian President of the State, and well, he probably won't kneel when signing an agreement -- even if Putin's there. :)

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#26
post #20
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've reached a point in time when we can start actually faking history. It has always been possible to fake history, inadvertently or intentionally. There was a narrow stretch of time when photography became widespread which made it a bit harder to fake history, but photographs were being faked and staged long before we had computers to do digital editing of them. And before we had photographs, it was possible to…

There is an interesting thoery called Phantom Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_hypothesis related to a preiod in the middle ages that may not have existed. supposedly a king wanted to be on the throne during the millennium so faked a few hundred years of history. If true we would only be in the 17th or 18th century. Which may explain why the world didn't end in 2012, or why there still aren't hover boar…

[deleted]

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#27
The cool digital analysis aside, what if people who do this aren't pulling a Kim Jong Il, but rather are pulling a Steve Jobs?

http://gawker.com/5848754/steve-jobs-on-why-he-wore-turtlene...

No need to feed conspiracy theorists unnecessarily. Always look for the story behind the story too. Now of course, all of that evidence of digital alteration is another thing. And it may very well have been simply a newspaper who wanted some kind of photo, but didn't have the photographer to get a real one (or the opportunity didn't exist). Maybe Putin ordered it. Maybe he didn't. Maybe his people did. Maybe they didn't. Likewise on the Hungary side.

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#28
However, the biggest clue appears when we apply a basic color histogram to the picture

Can anyone explain what this means? It doesn't match my understanding of what a histogram is (i.e., a graph of values vs frequency of occurrence).

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#29

Haha, the modified photo appeared in a satirical post on Index.hu, there's nothing to see here people, move on. :) http://index.hu/szarvas/2014/02/11/ader_alair/ Here're the other posts from the same series: http://index.hu/szarvas/ All entries are simple montages, they're only funny for people who know Hungarian politics, but for them they're quite obvious. Edit: the man in the middle of the photo is the Hungarian P…

Amazing how language barriers can create this kind of confusion.

Re: Putin on the Ritz

#30
post #20
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We've reached a point in time when we can start actually faking history. It has always been possible to fake history, inadvertently or intentionally. There was a narrow stretch of time when photography became widespread which made it a bit harder to fake history, but photographs were being faked and staged long before we had computers to do digital editing of them. And before we had photographs, it was possible to…

There is an interesting thoery called Phantom Time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantom_time_hypothesis related to a preiod in the middle ages that may not have existed. supposedly a king wanted to be on the throne during the millennium so faked a few hundred years of history. If true we would only be in the 17th or 18th century. Which may explain why the world didn't end in 2012, or why there still aren't hover boar…

Your last sentence makes it clear you are joking, but just so no one is confused: Without even reading the Wikipedia article, it's trivial to imagine how that hypothesis could be readily disproven. Recorded astronomical phenomena, correspondence of cross-cultural events—even carbon dating is accurate enough to catch a discrepancy of several centuries like that.
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