Identifying a 'chopped' image

[donpablo]

Hi guys and gals this is my first post here so if I'm in the wrong section please let me know.

So I guess my question is for those of you who are experienced with re-touching or image editing, so here goes

I have some images and im trying to tell if they have been edited in as far as being able to know with some degee of certainty if in fact the image has been altered.

I guess Im asking for some tips/hints on what to look for and if there is any tell tale signs of editing that would indicate that yes the image has been altered, now I know that there is no way to restore the images to thier originl content but if I could tell if the images have been edited that would be good enough in this case..

so yea thanks in advance for any help you guys can offer !

don

[mozartdminor]

I know a few things you could look for, but I'm nowhere near an expert, so there may be more. I threw together some obvious examples, spotting them in your images could be quite a bit more difficult.

Difference in resolution (my poorly made example)

notice the leaf in the bottom right isn't quite as blurry as the rest, it's subtle, but you can tell that it isn't quite right.

difference in shadows (another poorly made example)

notice the lighting on the men's backs, obviously impossible in real life.

disparate elements (not mine)

more of a 'duh' one here, or possibly just common sense.

sharp edges
no example here, but you can tell in the above picture that on the guy's right ear (our left), it's tip is pointed pretty sharply. That is most likely caused by a bad cut job when the maker shopped the pics together.

a really good photo shopper won't have these problems though, resolution is variable and lighting can be changed. Spotting a fake really comes down to how good of a job the shopper did in the first place, and how well you know what PS can do. Sorry.

[donpablo]

Thanks , thats some good info

and the more I look into it the more I realise exactly what you just said it comes down to how well you know the program , and how good the orig chop was ...

pls feel free to post any more tips tho!

[mozartdminor]

The lighting and skin tone seem off in the second (third?) picture. In the first one, I see what you're talking about, and it does look odd, but there is a chance that that is natural still.