This photo appears in today’s online Idaho Statesman skewspaper story headlined Armed man’s Capitol intrusion unnerves Idaho lawmakers. Mouse-click on the photo to enlarge it.
The photo’s caption reads, “An unidentified man carrying a gun looked through legislators’ papers and also took photos of documents on the floor of the Idaho House of Representatives on Jan. 10. SEE THE VIDEO AT IDAHOSTATESMAN.COM” I am unable to locate the video at Idahostatesman.com, but the online photo seems very odd to me.
The photo appears to be a frame-grab from the state’s video recording of the incident. It also appears to show the man’s left hand grasping something above the top of the desk. If so, the man’s left hand is disproportionately large in comparison to his right hand. It is also far more red that the other skin tones in the photo. Finally, there appears to be a coat or jacket draped over the man’s left forearm. If the “reddish left hand” is represented to be the man’s left hand holding a paper, the man’s lower forearm, wrist, and hand appear to be misaligned with and both longer and thicker than his upper left forearm. The man is wearing a white or light colored shirt, but the left wrist area appears dark.
What appears to be a hand is actually the pretty pinky-peachy lining of the jacket that is draped over the arm of the chair.
Just another optical delusion. details, details But let not the press create a tempest in a teapot or something out of absolutely nothing….
Comment by mrs abear — January 27, 2013 @ 9:35 am
Possibly so.
I ran the photo through several iterations of color filtering and reversals. It could also be a darker item (e.g., a suit coat) on top of a lighter item (e.g., an overcoat), both draped over the left arm of the chair.
Comment by Bill — January 27, 2013 @ 9:53 am
Also look at the angle of the left elbow in comparison to what is presumed to be a hand. The elbow is at such an angle pointing back towards his right hand. The Ulna and Radius would have to be rubber or broken to be at that angle. And if broken he wouldn’t be reaching for anything. 🙂 lol
Comment by concerned citizen — January 27, 2013 @ 1:08 pm
Looks photoshopped to me. But why?
Comment by mary — January 27, 2013 @ 3:20 pm
Mary,
It did to me, too, when I first looked at it. But after running it through several of the PhotoShop filters to get rid of some of the noise, I concluded as mrs abear did that it was not. Even the Idaho Statesman could do a better job of photoalteration than that.
Comment by Bill — January 27, 2013 @ 3:52 pm