Is there a photoshop expert, who can advise me on this?
Posted on | May 1, 2009 | 9 Comments
I got this from a reader JoanSharon. I am not an expert in photoshop. Can someone figure out how did this image look before altering? What exactly was altered?
I was a tad skeptical that the article on DefendUSx was correct in it’s assertions.
But, since I have a copy of the COLB as presented by Obama, and I took it directly off either FactCheck or FighttheSmears, I decided I would do what the individual below did, and open it with a word editor; in this case, I used Microsoft Office 2007.
And low and behold, there it was as shown in the screen shot reproduced directly below. The COLB that I copied from the Pro-Obama website is below the screen shot.
Notice that along with the name “Ducky”, the screen shot says this image was created/altered/changed using Adobe. Adobe puts out several different photoshop programs.
This is no coincidence. What this proves is that the document I have, that came off the pro-Obama website, has been created/altered/changed using a photoshop program!
This is also the document that has been showing up on websites like the L.A. Times, Snopes.com (since removed, I believe), this is the document the joker from CNN, Nick Sanchez, held up for all to view, stating he printed it off the L.A. Times, and this is the document to which many Congress critters (including Ron Paul) are referring when they claim they have seen Obama’s “birth certificate.”
Want to bet that document does not disappear off the pro-Obama websites? I have stated for some time that I found it odd that this document does not show fold lines.
Lynn Stuter
New Discovery: 5 Photoshopped images of Obama done by the same user calling her-himself Ducky – one of these 5 images is the Certificate of Live Birth!
April 29, 2009 01:34
Thanks to Rhonda Parsons who has a BA in graphics and her finding some images across the Internet from Obama’s high school days in Hawaii.
I was looking for evidence of image forgery, and to my surprise saw the name ‘Ducky’ appeared in each image reviewed. I remember seeing ‘Ducky’ on Obama’s Certificate of Live Birth image from his Fight the Smears website way back in August.
This proves that ‘Ducky’ has forged or changed every one of these images, in one form or another, as an effort to present something likely false by using a Professional image editing software (Photoshop) to make changes.
For those you not that computer-savvy, Photoshop is image-editing software (the most popular). You can virtually superimpose one image onto another etc. Photoshop is often used to put heads on other peoples’ bodies (as in the case of some Glam magazines) etc. Even an amateur with this software can make convincing, yet fake photos.
A quick-and-dirty way to find out if an image has been altered in any way, is to open that image in a Hex (or even simple text) editor.
Note:For those of you not so computer-savvy – images when opened in text editors (like Notepad) show the Hexidecimal code for the image. Computers only understand numbers, so it uses Hexidecimal to represent pairs of Binary numbers. Binary numbers are 1’s and 0’s. A pattern of these numbers together, represent the image to the computer, which converts it to what you see. Hexidecimal is a way of shortening up Binary sequences.
When an altered (or newly created) image is saved in Photoshop, it (Photoshop) will record basic details about the image depending on how the image-saving preferences are set. You can record additional text into the image, such as copyright information, or even a comment. And no, Ducky did not save any copyright information for the images.
Below are the images – shown normally and opened in a Hex editor. You will see ‘Ducky’ in each one:
Obama Yearbook Mosaic
Obama Birth Notice
High School Steps
Obama Basketball. Notice Coach’s right hand, the Belt, and the number changed from the other Basketball image. He went from number 23 to 25. Look at the shadow on the coach’s neck and the shadow on Obama’s. They are not going the same direction. Obama’s head is too big as well.
![](https://216.221.102.26/blogger/image.axd?picture=2009%2f4%2f43408266.jpg)
Last but not least, Ducky’s real claim to fame (or lest we say forgery), the Certificate of Live Birth from Obama’s Fight the Smears website.
You can save any one or all of these images to your hard drive. Open each image in a text editor and look near the top, you will see “Ducky” stamped in each one.
“Ducky” ties the images to the same single source.
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Comments
9 Responses to “Is there a photoshop expert, who can advise me on this?”
May 1st, 2009 @ 5:29 pm
The ‘Ducky’ tag may have been adopted by the editor of the Obama photos, due to this tutorial ……..
https://www.planetphotoshop.com/combining-images-using-masks.html
It is possible Obama’s photo-editor was a novice at the time, it could have been Obama himself who did the editing.
May 1st, 2009 @ 8:22 pm
Try a lot of other images around the web.
The “Ducky” tag is placed in the file by Adobe software whenever the “save for the web” image function is used.
May 1st, 2009 @ 9:45 pm
I opened a business card I had created on Photoshop in Notepad. The data along the top lines included a date and time stamp and the program I was using (including version). It did not have my name. I tried another image of mine and one that someone I created and sent me and that identified her program as an apple version, but again no name. I did find our initials because we had each initialed our image when it was complete, but it was at the bottom of the data, separate from the other information. It is possible that the same person scanned those images into a computer and that tied a name on it or maybe they use the ducky signature as their computer id. The images do look like they have been photoshopped, but someone with a better understanding of code should take a look at it.
May 1st, 2009 @ 10:13 pm
Dear Orly,
I use Photoshop frequently and have for years. I can tell you that every image I scan, I edit in photoshop first. So the fact that an image was edited in photoshop is not in itself evidence of forgery. One can do many edits which do not change the authenticity of the image, such as color/contrast, sharpning, cropping.
The kind of evidence that is needed is evidence that the image was altered in the information it presents. That kind of analysis requires an expert in image modification who knows Photoshop. Also, one needs to do independent tests to see just what happens to any control batch when it is scanned and edited then in Photoshop. Perhaps Ducky appears every time, because the programmers for Photoshop use that term as a signature for an edit…who knows? I don’t…
May 1st, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
Hi Orly,
I’m an experienced Graphic Artist with over 10yrs experience. I went out taking photos today and after reading your site I took one of my new “raw – unaltered” photos and opened it in notepad. I could not find the “HEX” code as noted, I did get code, but it appeared differently, perhaps because this photo was never opened in photoshop.
However, this is what you need to know–
ALL PHOTOS BEING USED ON THE WEB AND USED FOR PRINT-
all professionals need to process the images through photoshop for color correction and resolution adjustments. When a photo is getting printed on an ink based printer, the color must be changed to CMYK and most cases the resolution is 300DPI. When posting images for the web, the color should be RGB and the resolution no greater than 72DPI.
Other adjustments may be necessary depending on the quality and condition of original photo, but these adjustments in photoshop will not necessarly mean that it has been physically altered.
Additionally, you would need to see the raw photoshop file (.psd) and not the .jpg to see what the original photo looks like. Some artists leave the original image on one of the (non-visable) layers. The .jpg image has already been flattened and compressed so the original image won’t be available, sorry.
I really wanted to offer more help, not just bad news. I really wish all my information was wrong, but I don’t want to see you in an unfortunate situation. I really admire what you are doing for all of us Americans and I pray for you every day.
Thank you for everything you do,
Cindy
May 2nd, 2009 @ 2:43 am
All you really need to know about the forged COLB is here:
https://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/2136816/posts
May 2nd, 2009 @ 9:32 am
I can confirm that a file which I created from scratch, without any scanning of an original, and which was saved in JPG format for web, by Photoshop contains the Ducky Adobe tags. These seem to be generic tags, not indicative of much other than someone used Photoshop and saved it for the web.
So this story is a false alarm….in its principal claim…
May 2nd, 2009 @ 9:54 am
I just love all sports, so found your blog informative. Your blog has been bookmarked, keep up the good work.
May 2nd, 2009 @ 9:48 pm
Maybe this is to obvious. At the bottom of Obama”s COLB it states “ANY ALTERATIONS INVALIDATE THIS CERTIFICATE”, at the top of the COLB the Certificate No. has been blacked out. That certificate number being blacked out is an Alternation which invalidates that certificate. Therefore it can not be a legal document.