Manipulated images of Obama?

January 19, 2011 3:27 PM

What famous photos of Obama have been the most heavily contrived or manipulated by PhotoShop? I am trying to figure out how his public visual image is manipulated by a PR team and the media. I would love to know anecdotes and specific images. For example, I heard that he was almost never shown smoking, as Americans dislike smoking today.
posted by tnygard to Media & Arts (10 answers total)

I can't imagine his people spin him much differently than any other public figure with a PR staff. If you cast your net a bit wider to include non-Obama examples, you might get a better idea of the way this sort of thing is done.
posted by Zozo at 3:32 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Almost certainly, this image is the most widely circulated image of Obama, and I guess, in a way, it was manipulated in Photoshop by artist Shepard Fairey.
posted by fake at 3:32 PM on January 19, 2011

I'm not aware of any examples of image manipulation done to make him look better, either by his team or by anyone else (in a non-obvious way, at least). It doesn't strike me as his style, and any attempt would surely blow up big in the conservative blogosphere. On the contrary:

tnygard: "For example, I heard that he was almost never shown smoking, as Americans dislike smoking today."

This reminds me that the most famous image of Obama smoking is, itself, photoshopped. You'll probably find far more defamatory examples like this than any flattering, Soviet-propaganda-style photo-editing. For instance. There are a lot more like this at Snopes; do a Ctrl+F search for "photograph."
posted by Rhaomi at 3:56 PM on January 19, 2011

Barack smoking, or not.
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 3:57 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you're in a position to have a professional photographer follow you around all day, you don't have to modify your photos to manage your image. Your PR people just release the ones that look good to them and bury the rest.
posted by Kid Charlemagne at 4:12 PM on January 19, 2011 [1 favorite]

Actually, I seem to recall this recent National Geographic special on PBS saying that they save every single picture ... that they are considered government records.
posted by pmurray63 at 4:25 PM on January 19, 2011

There was the issue of the Economist manipulating their cover photo of Obama during the oil spill.
posted by nowmorethannever at 6:42 PM on January 19, 2011

That presidential photographer has a Flickr page; unfortunately I can't find my bookmark of it.
posted by gjc at 7:47 PM on January 19, 2011

gjc, you're probably thinking of Pete Souza's official White House account.
posted by Rhaomi at 8:14 PM on January 19, 2011

Journalists cannot manipulate their images in photoshop. It does happen on occasion with some unethical photographers but I know of no incidents involving President Obama. People stealing the photos and manipulating them and then putting them on their right wing blog, sure, happens all the time.

The regular coverage of the President is generally all contrived and controlled. The photographers are only allowed to be in specific locations, and the angles provided are often done so to cast a favorable light on the President. The personal photos of the President are mostly candid, but to a point. The photographer does not have free reign. He can only photograph the President when he is allowed to. The man is allowed private time that and the top secret stuff.

For specific images, google image search 'President Obama halo' you can do the same with Bush. It's not manipulation though, its photographers looking for a hook or something catchy rather than a standard podium photo.
posted by WickedPissah at 1:46 PM on January 21, 2011