Manufacturing Reality

#1 I scouted around for a reasonably clear photo of Osama Bin Laden in which he appears a little younger than in his most recent photos(see attached).

Please keep in mind that if this was a paying gig (especially hourly) many of these steps would take hours, including the research. In this case, for most of the steps I went with the first thing that looked good. If this was a CIA job, they would have blown millions of tax-payers' dollars. But then, CIA funding is all hidden so you never really know...

Lee Harvey

#2 I searched for an image that 1) would reasonably allow the first image to be added in, and 2) would "say" what I wanted. In this case, that at some point in time GWB welcomed OBL into the oval office. (See attached.) In this case, I used the image of GWB welcoming Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R) from the great state of Mississippi. Things I considered were the lighting, positioning of the two people, angle and positioning of their heads and the overall quality (grain or pixelization) of the image. I wanted something that would match the image of OBL reasonably well. It is very difficult to increase the clarity of an image, so when combining two images, I usually degrade the better image to match the lesser quality one.

Step #3

I proceeded to "rubber stamp" the background image. This is a process in which small parts of the existing are copied and pasted to "fill in" missing areas or areas which need to be covered, namely Mr. Lott's head. (See image.)

I did this quickly and you can see a little squib in the bookshelves, but like I said, I wasn't working for the CIA...or the "Inquirer."

Step #4

Time to invite OBL in. I selected, then cropped his head (something I'm sure many people would like to do) then flopped the image and rotated it slightly, and finally pasted it into a layer on top of our background image. I "rubber stamped" portions of his turban to fill in gaps and let it run over Mr. Lott's shoulder. (Small details such as this go a long way in making the overall image appear more real.) You'll note that I dimmed the background image here. It makes it easy to work with the top image in relation to the bottom one without confusing which is which. Finally I adjusted the focus, brightness and contrast to make the two layers more closely match.

Step #5

I fairly carefully placed OBL's head so that it appear as though it was correctly placed on Mr. Lott's shoulders. I adjusted it's size slightly. Here it was very important that it appear as though GWB and OBL were looking into each others eyes. It works OK, but if MSNBC was footing the bill... I then added details such as the shadows on Mr. Lott's shirt collar and shoulder cast by the turbin. Lastly, I darkened Mr. Lott's hands to more closely match OBL's. (It's been a while since Mr. Lott worked in the fields...)

Step #6

Finally, I added the "USA Today" graphics. Every publication has a "look" or graphic identity. Stealing from those elements can greatly add to the believability of an image. I don't read "USA Today" so I did these from my impression of what I see in airports. The headline and caption text adds to the sham, hopefully without going overboard. Note the date...

I'd prefer that you showed these images, without passing the electronic versions out. There's enough of this crap on the web.

Here's what I mean about ripping off identity graphics. Feel free to share it with the class if it's of any use.