[marauder37]

My son just received pictures where I know for a fact that his long cornrow braids have been photo shopped...but I need to prove it. Is there a way to do this?

[Dave]

If it's been done correctly, then I would say no. Best you can do is to get the largest size image you can of the shot & then zoom in to 100% & scan the shot for tell Tale editing. Eg. If parts are cloned, can you see where they do blend in correctly, .....is the shade / colour slightly different to the rest of the shot etc.

What do you think has been changed on the shot ?

[marauder37]

He has extremely long cornrow braids that hang down AT ALL TIMES when viewing him from all angles including head-on. In this photo his braids are totally absent except for one small part that it looks like somebody "forgot" to remove. I can give you the site to view the picture if you want to look at it and see if you can tell. I know for positive it has been done because I see my son everyday-- however to prove it I would need a bit of help. He is biracial and I believe this was an act of racism especially when I confronted the photographer about it and he made a derogatory comment about cornrows...

[marauder37]

TSS Photography
Go to the above site and then click on "View Your Photos", then click on the 2nd Lincoln Jr High basketball link, then click on 8th grade boys...My son is #3. If you zoom the photo of him and also the team photo you will see no braids whatsoever. That is absolutely IMPOSSIBLE---they are ALWAYS hanging down. Also if you look above his Right shoulder you will see a small dark piece of hair that somebody forgot to remove. Everybody that knows my son and has seen these pictures knows that his image was destroyed because he does not ever look like this (his hair anyway!!)

[jaimej]

This is awful. Good luck in doing whatever you can to sort ou the idiot who is resposible.

[Steve]

Looking at the shots it seems the guy has used the same background for all the images. If you look at the crowd behind all the boys every person is in exactly the same position which would be impossible if they were the real background to the shots.

This raises a question..where were the boys photographed...at the game with the crowd present or somewhere else and then the crowd added to make the shots more pleasing? If the photographer did the latter with your knowledge then it may be sloppy work that he has removed and altered your sons braids/appearance but it probably wasn't done to deceive. If the former (IE you were not told/aware of the shooting situation) and expected unedited results then I believe you would have cause for complaint to the photographer and the people who commissioned him.

Without knowing the full situation its a little to hasty for me to jump on the 'that's awful and shouldn't be allowed' bandwagon.

[fionaB]

i agree with what Steve says about the backgrounds, it certainly looks as if they have been added.. however im not sure i would be going down the line that it was racial.........and im not for one minute saying that he should have done it BUT it may have been done thru some misguided aesthetic appeal.. ie. the photographer may have thought it would "neaten" the image. or that he would look better without them?... has any of the other kids been retouched in anyway?.... i am not sure what the difference is between removing braids and removing say freckles? which of course does not make it right, but i dont think it makes it a big deal either.
Im also not sure what you could do about it anyway apart from not buy the picture?

Fi

[Charlotte]

Well I think the only proof you need is the fact that everyone who knows your son knows full well that he is never without his cornrows, rather than looking for technical proof in the photo itself.

Having said that, I'm afraid I just don't see the big hoo hah, I mean I always wear my earrings but I wouldn't be upset about a photo being taken without them or them being edited out if the photographer felt they were distracting

OK you may feel it doesn't show your son as he normally looks, but hairstyles are cosmetic, + photographers routinely make cosmetic changes to photo's. It's a sports photo, let your son enjoy his fame, with or without his cornrows, without turning the photo thing into a drama, is what I say

Best recourse, if you feel so strongly about it, is to request the photographer to put them back

If he/she refuses, you could always revoke your parental permission for it to be displayed on the internet + simply ask that the picture be removed from the website.

[jaimej]

Is your son equally upset about the image? Have you contacted the photographer and asked him/her about the photo?

[Soupdragon]

It does not appear to be an act of malice.
I am guessing the editor just had trouble accurately cloning complex forms onto the back drop.
As I don't know your son and just looking at the picture, I would not have thought anything other than "That's a good picture".
You obviously have reason to think otherwise.

[JMitchell]

If it is true that he has used a fixed background for all the images, then it is likely he cloned your son on there, and 'selecting' something as minute and complex as cornrows would be near impossible, and I think it is likely if you ask him full on why they're not there he will probably say that.
I wouldn't go as far as to immediately say it is racist...and anyway to me it looks like a nice picture of your son...

[marauder37]

Well, the problem is that the photography claims that my son's braids were not removed...the importance of the braids is this...my son is well-known for this hairstyle as it is part of his culture and yeah, hairstyle doesn't make the person, yada, yada...but the photographer also claims that my son's hair looked like that when he got his pictures taken, i.e. no cornrows showing... which is an outright LIE! Also the photographer made a negative comment about "cornrows or whatever YOU call them!" Once you've heard enough racist comments from people it doesn't take long to figure out who is who in this world.

[marauder37]

Oh, also the comment about the earrings being missing is really not a good comparison. Picture this instead...you have really long hair (as my son does) and you go and have your pictures taken and you now mistakenly look as if you have a crew cut (as it looks like my son does in this picture). These pictures are supposed to be of my son as he appears now, at this time of his life so that he can show his kids and grandkids. But when people see the picture the first thing they asked is "what happened to all of your hair?!"

[Steve]

Ask to see the original picture?

Did you know about the photographer changing the backgrounds on all the shots, where was your son when the photograph was taken, have you asked him?

[marauder37]

My son says the background was one of those "pull down" kind like you have for school portraits only this background looked like a crowd of people at a sporting event. And yes he is upset about not looking like himself...his exact words were, "I don't like it because I don't look like my normal self."