Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/08/30
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]In a message dated 8/30/03 9:59:14 AM, leicaman@sympatico.ca writes: << The original showed Stalin surrounded by about 5 or 6 people. Over time, the photo was reproduced in official Party literature in the USSR, but with fewer and fewer people visible as they were eliminated, one by one. Eventually, the pictured showed only Stalin, all by himself. In many cases, the alterations were works of art. >> - ------------------------------------------------------------- I think the name of the darkroom specialist who did most of Stalin's work is known. He was a master at it. It isn't easy to do well. He must have worked for days on one print. In Photo Fakery by Dino Brugioni, 1999, he makes the point that every film camera, like every firearm, leaves distinctive marks on a negative, which find their way even onto the most carefully made prints. The better the camera is, the less apparent those characteristic signatures are; but they are there if you know what to look for. I wonder whether the same is true of digital cameras. In time we may come to recognize them, probably in the way they handle color. The book goes into morphing. The pixels are shifting under our shoes. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to be on the lookout for unadmitted skullduggery. And it has a lot of humor. br br - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html