Question: perspective effects on the Dog Picture? (warning: graphic image)

[0rganism]

Seems like the central naked prisoner and the cell doors behind him are very small, but the out-of-focus troops on the unfocused foreground seem huge by comparison. Is this a lens effect? Are there more pictures in this series that clarify the perspective?

[MikeG]

1. Maybe Iraqis are really tiny people.

[0rganism]

2. With tiny cell doors?

Something just seems really warped about the image. I'm trying to figure it out. How much distance would you estimate between the soldier on the right (w/dog) and the hunching prisoner?

[MikeG]

3. They were built to hold Iraqis.

Either that or MP's are bred to be mooses.

[Skittles]

4. there is something warped about the image alright

:puke:

[0rganism]

5. aside from the obvious

Let's say someone tells you the picture is a photoshopped fake. How do you explain the perspective?

[thebigidea]

9. Stare at them in mute horror, wondering what the hell their problem is

We're siccing dogs on naked prisoners contorted with terror, and they're worried about perspective?

Time for hypothetical people to get a bit of uh... perspective.

[0rganism]

14. Problem: sheer denial that our soldiers are committing war crimes

Apologetic: the pictures are forgeries.

Explanation: ???

[thebigidea]

15. Explanation? You'll notice even Hannity and Limbaugh aren't saying so.

You'll notice the military is not even raising the possibility that the photos were forgeries...

If there was even the slightest chance, they would be screaming it from the rooftops and all the talking points would be in perfect sync.

They're real.

As far as the perspective goes, to my eyes it looks like a cropped photograph from a higher angle - like from a 2nd floor of cells, a balcony, etc. With a bit of zoom.

[0rganism]

17. Yes, that could explain it.

> As far as the perspective goes, to my eyes it looks like a cropped
> photograph from a higher angle - like from a 2nd floor of cells, a
> balcony, etc. With a bit of zoom

A zoom lens would definitely account for some depth flattening and extra blurring.

[lovedems]

6. I don't see what you are seeing at all.

The cell door seems to be the size of an average door. I do notice a red mark on his left shoulder that looks like he was hurt or burned. I can't really make out what exactly it is, but it looks like something.

[0rganism]

8. I'm seeing what might be a Fisheye effect

There are two soldiers in the foreground, one on the left pointing at the ground and one on the right restraining a dog, who would be much too huge to fit through the cell doors themselves, based on a normal orthogonal perspective. Compared to them, the prisoner in the center of the picture appears to be the size of an eight-year-old child although his body and face indicates an adult. He is the right size for the door.

[Toucano]

7. Is it just diminishing linear perspective?

It does seem like the image has an unusual size ratio.

Could it have been resized or cropped?

[0rganism]

12. Linear resizing, cropping wouldn't account for the perspective distortion

You have to go through some kind of filter to get that effect, like projection onto a curved surface. Or, if a wide-angle lens was used from a surveillance camera, that would have flattened out the depth.

[Twillig]

10. Nobody has asked who this out-of-uniform motherfucker is

on the left.

Unbloused BDU trousers, black coat, Sunglasses? Who is this piece of shit?

He damn sure looks in charge.

[0rganism]

26. You know, that has been bothering me too

It certainly looks like he's telling someone where to go, maybe ordering the prisoner, or maybe telling one of the soldiers to force the prisoner down right there.

Who is he? Will we ever find out?

[ezee]

11. This looks

as though it is the same picture that is in Newsweek and that is in The New Yorker Mag. Hersch is on Tweety and this is the same photo that they showed. Hersch says it authentic and that the prisoner was bitten by the dog and they a photo of the prisoner after he was bitten.

[0rganism]

13. Did he say if it was a still from a mounted surveillance camera?

Sometimes those flatten the perspective, which would account for the size distortion that struck me as odd.

[Piperay]

16. The prisoner already looks like

he has been beaten or bitten, I see skin around his shoulders, knees, elbows looks discolored, red & purple. :-(

[0rganism]

18. Yes, he's already been beaten would be my guess

he definitely shows bruising on several areas of his body.

[Lefty48197]

19. I've heard the puddle of blood is quite apparent in the subsequent photo

of this attack.

[0rganism]

20. I haven't seen the next one

Is there a whole series of these pix, including the dog attack?

[Eureka]

22. Apparently there is, but not released AFAIK

Hersch was talking about it, saying that there is a series of them, and in the next image there is a large wound on the guys leg, and a big pool of blood.

[enough]

23. Read the second Hersh article

at the New Yorker site.

He explains the sequence of photos shot by two cameras over 12 minutes.

As far as I know, this is the only shot made public so far.

[ConsAreLiars]

21. The size relationships are just what you expect from a wide-angle lens

And in small areas wide angle lenses are needed to cover the full scene.

Focus is on the nearest person and objects further away are increasingly blurrier. This is what would be expected with a large lens aperture, which in turn is what you would be using in low light.

In short, the effects you see are just what would be expected for the conditions under which the photo was made.

[0rganism]

27. Gotcha. That's what I was curious about.

It didn't occur to me that low light would be addressed with a longer exposure rather than using a flash, good catch.

[moderate_hero]

24. I just noticed something...

not that I'm a meatgazer or anything, but notice his pecker is tucked in? Something does not seem right. Why would a photo of this be taken and released? There seems to be more to this scandal than meets the eye.

[0rganism]

25. Allegedly, the soldiers got the dogs to bite genitalia

This guy looks like he's protecting his head and his genitals as best he can under the circumstances.

[moderate_hero]

28. So...

he took the time to tuck it in? I realize he's scared (you'd be seeing lumps of brown in that picture were it me), that's why I find it hard to believe he took the time to tuck it in and then put his hands above his head. Strange.

[Skittles]

30. yes, there is more to this scandal

the bad news is, it will make us even sicker.

[John_H]

29. Asked my amateur (but very experienced) photographer and photoshopper wife

She said this looks exactly like the photo a wide angle lense would take, and that the effects of too slow a shutter speed would make uniformly and convincingly pasting elements into the pic nearly impossible.