Reuters’ Editor’s Choice Photo Accused of Being Photoshopped

Just in a short time after Reuters published a photograph of a rebel firing RPG in Libya as an Editor’s Choice Photo, controversy immediately raised. Readers are questioning whether the photograph is true or fake; some even accused the photograph of being Photoshopped.

Some comments left by readers who believed that the photograph is fake stated, “You would see the launcher in the shadow- an RPG & its launching tube are over a meter long. You would also see the shadow of the smoke and exhaust that we can see. Uneven ground can play tricks on shadows, but this looks like flat ground.” Another reader commented, “The fire would be brighter than the sun on his shirt and there would be no shadow side. There would be a hot core that would get cooler at the edges. Sorry. Photoshop fail.”

Still, there are several other readers who take the photograph as true, commenting that, “This photo could very well be real. The lens is focused to the distance of the rebel on crutches. The area around him is the most pristine, clear, detailed part of the image. The background is blurred because of the aperture, iris, f-stop, shutter settings, lens, etc, etc. Based on this, one can logically state that the explosion, which is at approximately the same distance from the camera as the rebel is, would be in clear focus…”

Apparently, the debate had caused the photograph to be taken down, but you can still make your own analysis through this direct link. petapixel.com