December 15, 2007...2:44 pm
Spot the Difference!

Look at the photo on the left.
It’s billed as Worcestershire’s Tory MPs gathered together at their annual conference, and it appears on the site of Tory PPC Harriet Baldwin (2nd from left). You can see it here.
See the strangely spaced bodies. The odd angles, the strange, blank, blue background with no shadows. The odd disconnect between sizes of bodies.
Got to be photoshopped, right?
That’s what I thought.Then I saw the photo underneath it on Tory candidate Mark Garnier’s website (he’s on the far, far left).
You can see this photo here.
There’s a subtle difference between the two that hints that all is not right with the integrity of the image.
Can you see what it is yet?
That’s right, there’s an extra oddly placed head in the photo.
Now this one look certain to have been photo shopped. It looks like Tory MPs have been faking their campaign photos. and after all that outrage, too.
Let’s quote Tory Culture Spokesman Jeremy Hunt’s Conference speech:
“We don’t want any fakery at our conference do we?” No we don’t, Jeremy.
So, to expose that kind of fakery, let’s take a closer look at what we shall charitably call “Version 2.” .
The new woman appears to have a strong light source coming from her right, which neither Garnier nor Kirkbride are enjoying, and, unless she’s about six foot tall, the perspective between her and Peter Luff is very, very odd.
This is pretty clearly a photoshop job.
But wait, there’s more!
Tory PPC Robin Walker has a facebook page, with the same photo.
Well, I say the same photo, because, well, it’s not quite the same photo.
Strangely distorted Tory MPs? Check.
Mysterious new woman inserted? Check.
but this time, there’s a different shot inserted into the photo. See for yourself.
See? That’s definitely different to “version 2″.
Let’s go in close for a comparison.(I know, seeing Luff and Kirkbride so often is freaking me out too, but sacrifices must be made).
It looks to me like a different hairstyle, different jumper, and very different light.
So who is the mystery woman who got all of Worcestershire’s Tory MPs and candidates to fake a photo with her, not once, but twice? Inquiring minds need to know….
Answers in the comment box please.
and remember kids, Tories don’t want any photoshop fakery at their conference. … Unless it’s them what’s doing it.
(Edited because I got Garnier and Peter Luff confused when I first write this… all the Tories clearly disoriented me!)
18 Comments
December 15, 2007 at 3:16 pm
[...] chickens came home to roost. Hopi Sen has ensured that we didn’t have to wait long. The most inept use of photoshop of the year award goes to the five, sorry six Conservative parliamentary candidates for [...]
December 15, 2007 at 4:34 pm
Actually Mark Garnier’s on the far, far left.
December 15, 2007 at 4:38 pm
[...] Thanks to Hopi Sen, we can see that the Tories are faking photos. I looked at the first example in the Gimp and it isn’t even a very good fake - not only is the light all wrong, but the mystery woman is clearly stading against something purple that the Tories haven’t bothered to fully edit out. [...]
December 15, 2007 at 4:43 pm
[...] Hopi has the details. Tagged with: photoshop done badly, Tories [...]
December 15, 2007 at 5:45 pm
Who says you couldn’t make it up.
Thanks Hopi.
December 15, 2007 at 7:07 pm
[...] Labour activist Hopi Sen has the story on A blog from the back room. [...]
December 15, 2007 at 8:33 pm
I don’t know who the mystery woman is, but I suspect there may be a clue in the caption on Harriett Baldwin’s website (to the photo without the extra face): “Karen Lumley PC for Redditch was not available for the photo.”
Here she is.
December 15, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Well spotted, but I don’t see a big poll bounce for GB on the back of it. Still, every little helps.
December 15, 2007 at 10:21 pm
http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=people.person.page&personID=127605
That’s her for sure
December 15, 2007 at 10:27 pm
And here’s the original: http://tellkaren.com/portal/images/stories/daveandkaz.jpg
Direct link to Dave too
Oh dear
December 15, 2007 at 10:30 pm
[...] evidence to suggest that she personally was aware of the photoshopping that put her in the picture (as identified by Hopi) - but this one is clearly where she’s been photoshopped [...]
December 16, 2007 at 11:13 am
Brilliant!
December 16, 2007 at 12:48 pm
[...] — activewiththeactivists @ 12:47 pm Great example here of some fake Tory photos. Particularly the fact that more than one hand has faked the same scene with different results. Hardly the much vaunted Tory authenticity is [...]
December 17, 2007 at 5:41 am
[...] oodles else to smile about at the moment, Hopi Sen has garnered much kudos from comrade bloggers (including me) for discovering some very shoddy [...]
December 17, 2007 at 10:22 am
But where’s James Purnell?
December 17, 2007 at 7:14 pm
[...] Here’s “Kaz” again - in another familiar pose [...]
December 18, 2007 at 12:02 pm
http://www.facebook.com/friends.php?id=596665740&lp=1&li=52&p=1&hash=d6f46c0a4697513e52938ea28125031c
stroll down to karen lumley… see how similar the pic is…
December 29, 2007 at 2:56 am
Hmm. Looking at the original photo, I’m not sure that it is photoshopped. Sure, its an odd configuration for them to be in, but this kind of staggered positioning is popular with corporate photographs. If the lady at the front was standing well forward of the others, that would account for the difference in lighting on her head, and the size differences. If they were standing in front of a well lit blue screen, then it wouldn’t cast shadows. Those that are there are close to the heads of the two gents on the extreme left and right, which suggests that they’ve been lit from more than one angle. This is the first thing that a professional photographer with any pretensions to ‘dynamism’ would do.
Sure, the fifth face is obviously photoshopped. But so what? They are hardly using the technology to give a false impression, unlike that candidate a couple of years back who changed the slogan on a banner he was holding. What was his name?
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